Intelligent Services Building Automation System Maintenance

Requirement:

The Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN) requires a service maintenance contract for an existing Trane BAS (Building Automation System). This system uses Tracer SC and includes BACnet programmable controllers. Also included is Trane Connect, a secure, cloud-based portal to access building systems for remote monitoring, building management and maintenance.

Services Required

The contractor will be required to provide:
a) On Call Maintenance Service during regular business hours.
b) On-Site Maintenance Services which will include but is not limited to:
I. Custom programming and application services
II. Software and hardware services
III. Central system services and minor system upgrades
IV. Periodic maintenance following OEM standards and proprietary maintenance procedures.
c) Remote inspections at building level to digitally review HVAC and BAS equipment enabled through connected system and unit controllers.
d) Performance Check-ins including regular reviews of critical equipment and systems and early detection of issues to prevent downtime.

The estimated value of the potential procurement is $890,707.06, taxes excluded.

Period of Contract:

The service contract will be for 5 years beginning on November 1, 2023.

Sole Source Justification:

CMN’s BAS uses proprietary software / firmware and IP of the computerized controlling aspects. Trane also hosts and manages the offsite servers and provides patch management, security, performance, and function updates.

No other company can access or purchase the software upgrades or conduct the required programming language that Trane uses for replacing / troubleshooting / updating the control nodes / modules.

The entire BAS was developed by Trane, and they are the original equipment manufacturer. This includes computer programming related language. The software and firmware are only developed and available through Trane. The entire BAS is built and programmed using Trane software / firmware Intellectual property and parts. Multiple versions cannot be managed with this hardware/ software.

Other companies can supply / replace physical operating parts of the Trane BAS, however they cannot provide any type of work or parts that deal with the computerized control system of the BAS.

If CMN is to contract with another supplier of this type of BAS, it would be required to outfit the entire control structure to the alternate supplier’s product and then still must sole source the service contract to them. The cost to re-outfit the control structure would be prohibitive and considerably more costly than continuing with the current supplier. The time requirement on the part of CMN facility maintenance staff alone to support a reconfiguration of replacement software would be extremely onerous and highly disruptive to building operations.

ACAN NOTICE

You are hereby notified that the Canadian Museum of Nature intends to negotiate with one vendor only as identified above. Should you have any questions concerning this requirement, contact the Contracting Authority.

An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows departments and agencies to post a notice, for no less than (15) calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that it intents to award a good, service or construction contract to a pre-identified contractor. If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a Statement of Capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the Contracting Authority may then proceed with the award. However, should a Statement of Capabilities be found to meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, then the Contracting Authority will proceed to a full tendering process.

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services/goods described herein, may digitally submit a Statement of Capabilities in writing to the contact person identified in this Notice on or before the closing date of this notice. The Statement of Capabilities must clearly demonstrate how the supplier meets the advertised requirements.

The Canadian Museum of Nature reference number, the name of the Contracting Authority and the closing date of the ACAN must appear in the subject line of the email and on the electronic document cover page.

The Canadian Museum of Nature retains the right to negotiate with supplier on any procurement.

Closing date: October 13, 2023, at 4:00 P.M.

Documents may be digitally submitted in either official language of Canada to:

Michelle Garber
Head, Contracts & Procurement
Approvisionment-procurement@nature.ca