CALL FOR PROPOSAL NO: EN578-170003/B

CHALLENGE BEING ADDRESSED: User-Centric Verifiable Digital Credentials

1. Title

2. Introduction

The Innovative Solutions Canada Program (ISC) is designed to support the development of early-stage, pre-commercial innovations by small businesses that have no more than 499 employees and demonstrate the capacity to develop an innovative solution to a federal department or agency challenge.

3. Program Background

The ISC program is a multi-stage program that seeks solutions to challenges that start at the earliest level of technology development. Phase 1 targets proposed solutions starting at technology readiness levels (TRLs) 1-4 (inclusive), while Phase 2 is meant to further advance the TRL of the innovation.

• Phase 1: Proof of Concept
  Phase 1 is for the development and delivery of a proof of concept addressing a challenge articulated by a federal department or agency. The proof of concept will have to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility, and commercial potential, of a novel solution that addresses a federal department’s challenge.
• Phase 2: Prototype Development
  Small businesses that successfully complete Phase 1 may receive a contract to develop their solution beyond the proof of concept with the goal of developing and delivering a prototype addressing a federal department’s challenge.

4. Phase Addressed under this Statement of Work

Phase 1 Proof of Concept
This challenge is seeking a portable secure digital credentials (self-sovereign identity) solution held by individuals that can be independently, cryptographically and rapidly verified using emerging distributed ledger standards and an approach that may give rise to a global digital verification platform. For many contexts, ranging from applying for a job to transiting checkpoints for aviation security, paper documents remain the predominant way to prove key attributes about an individual, such as their name, date of birth, academic/professional qualifications, or security clearance. While these attributes might be presented in digital form, there are no widely adopted or standardized methods to issue and rapidly verify digital credentials across many different contexts. There exists no current capability to digitally verify without dependencies on centralized or low-latency network platforms (or both).

5. Objective

The objective of this contract is to develop and deliver a Proof of Concept addressing the Challenge.

This Proof of Concept will demonstrate value for the following use cases

6. Tasks

The tasks are based on the Contractor’s proposal and adjusted to a common work plan outlined below.

6.1 Project Kick-Off

The Contractor must:

1. Develop a Detailed Project Plan that elaborates the tasks outlined Section 6 in relation to the use case and understanding in Section 5 and the Contractor’s proposal
2. Participate in a project kick-off meeting with the Technical Authority to establish and confirm project and meeting expectations

6.2 Development of Standards-Based Approach

The Contractor must:

1. Prepare a Draft Standards-Based Approach Deliverable that includes the following:
   • Review of understandings of technologies in relation to the challenge and use case (see Annex A1 Appendix 2 for list of standards and approaches)
   • Discussion of how solution meets the essential (mandatory) outcomes specified in the challenge
   • Discussion of how solution may meet the additional outcomes specified in the challenge.
   • Proposed user acceptance approach in relation to use case
   • Proposed design architectures and flows
   • Proposed elements (test cases, etc.) for Interoperability Test Suite to prove interoperability between APIs for Resolution, Issuance and Verification, and Credential Formats.
2. If required, notify the Technical Authority of any of the following:
   • Intellectual property used in the approach that may require protection (e.g., technical details, design , trade secrets, etc. that should not be disclosed to other challenge participants)

6.3 Technical Review Workshop

The Contractor must:

1. Participate in a Technical Review Workshop (estimated to be 1 workday)
   • Actively engage with partners and stakeholders
   • Present overview of Implementation of Standards-Based Approach
   • Present user acceptance approach in relation to use case
   • Present design architectures and flows
   • Review Interoperability Test Suite with Technical Authority and with workshop participants
   • Discuss findings and receive workshop feedback
2. Demonstrate that their solution approach is standards-based interoperable (see Appendix 2 to Annex A1 for list of standards) in relation to:
   • Digital Wallets
     1. Credentials can be consumed by digital wallets created/tested in this challenge
     2. Open standard wallets that are not part of the challenge participants can consume credentials offered by the Contractor
   • Verifiable Data Registries
     1. Including functions that a system might perform by mediating the creation and verification of identifiers, keys, and other relevant data, such as verifiable credential schemas, revocation registries, issuer public keys, etc.
     2. Example of verifiable data registries could include trusted databases, decentralized databases, government ID databases, and distributed ledgers. There may be more than one type of verifiable data registry utilized in an ecosystem
   • Issuing and verification services
     1. Issued credentials can be consumed by digital wallets created/tested in this challenge
     2. Issued credentials can be verified by components created/tested in this challenge
3. Provide advice and feedback on any issues relating to, but not limited to:
   • Standards (maturity, applicability, feasibility, etc.)
   • Technology
   • General design or architectural issues
4. Update Standards-Based Approach Deliverable
   • Updated deliverable based on incorporation workshop feedback

6.4 Proof of Concept Development

The Contractor must:

1. Develop Proof of Concept according to Finalized Standards-Based Approach Deliverable
   • Implement Proof of Concept for live demonstration in workshop
2. Finalize Standards-Based Approach Deliverable to include:
   • Considerations, changes required, or issues identified during proof of concept development
   • Requirements necessary for technical workshop demonstration (software, hardware, environment, configuration, installation, etc.)

6.5 Technical Interoperability Demonstration Workshop

The Contractor must:

1. Demonstrate Proof of Concept according to Finalized Standards-Based Approach Deliverable
2. Demonstrate overview of Implementation of Finalized Standards-Based Approach
3. Demonstrate successful passing of tests contained within Interoperability Test Suite
4. Demonstrate user acceptance approach in relation to use case
5. Demonstrate design architectures and flows
6. Demonstrate Interoperability with other workshop participants according to Finalized Standards-Based Approach Deliverable
7. Discuss findings and receive workshop feedback to incorporate into Final Proof of Concept Report

6.6 Prepare Final Proof of Concept Report

The Contractor must:

1. Prepare a Final Proof of Concept Report using the template provided at “Attachment 1 to Annex A1”. All Phase 1 performance metrics must be included

7. Deliverables

7.1 Deliverables for Task 6.1

The Contractor must provide the Technical Authority a Detailed Project Plan that includes:

1. An estimation and elaboration of the tasks outlined Section 6 in relation to the Contractor’s proposal

7.2 Deliverables for Task 6.2

The Contractor must provide the Technical Authority a Draft Standards-Based Approach Deliverable that includes:

1. Review of understandings of technologies in relation to the challenge and use case
2. Proposed user acceptance approach in relation to use case
3. Proposed design architectures and flows
4. Proposed test plan for implementation and Interoperability

7.3 Deliverables for Task 6.3

The Contractor must provide the Technical Authority an Updated Standards-Based Approach Deliverable that:

1. Incorporates the findings and outcomes of the Technical Workshop

7.4 Deliverables for Task 6.4

The Contractor must provide the Technical Authority with a Finalized Standards-Based Approach Deliverable that additionally includes:

1. Considerations, changes required, or issues identified during proof of concept development
2. Requirements necessary for technical workshop demonstration (software, hardware, environment, configuration, installation, etc.)

7.5 Deliverables for Task 6.5

The Contractor must demonstrate to the Technical Authority with a Working Proof of Concept Demonstration that:

1. Technically demonstrates what is documented in the Finalized Standards-Based Approach Deliverable

7.6 Deliverables for Task 6.6

The Contractor must provide the Technical Authority a Final Proof of Concept Report, using the template provided at Appendix 1 to Annex A1.

1. The report must incorporate key content from the Finalized Standards-Based Approach Deliverable and any changes resulting from the Technical Demonstration Workshop
2. The report must summarize the research of and document the components that are required to support the proposed Proof of Concept
3. Document the proposed proof-of-concept, include the characteristics, what is required to enable it, how it would be deployed and include associated performance metrics resulting from the tests of the proposed Proof of concept
4. The Technical Authority will review with the Contractor and adjust if required, the Final Report instructions and template specified in Appendix 1