ACAN - COMPREHENSIVE PLANT METABOLOME ASSAY

This Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) is a public notice indicating to the supplier community that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) intends to award a service contract to a pre-identified supplier, thereby allowing other suppliers to signal their interest in bidding, by submitting a Statement of Capabilities. If no supplier submits, a Statement of Capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, on or before the closing date stated in this ACAN, the Contracting Officer may then proceed with the award to the pre-identified supplier.

REQUIREMENT:
The Contractor shall carry out a Comprehensive plant metabolome analysis (amine/phenol, acid, hydroxyl and carbonyl channels) on 120 samples of Chickpea plants, for the Swift Current Research and Development Centre (RDC).

SCOPE OF WORK / DELIVERABLES:
The Contractor shall provide:
- A comprehensive plant metabolome analysis (amine/phenol, acid, hydroxyl and carbonyl channels) on 120 samples of Chickpea plants provided by AAFC, Swift Current's experiment considering different soil condition (in which chickpea that were either healthy or un-healthy, potentially suffering from an emerging health issue grew in the 2023 field season) from Redvers, Saskatchewan and different water stress (well watered, mild drought and severe drought) as treatments.

- Analysis that includes sample preparation, CIL, sample analysis, data analysis, metabolite ID and statistical analysis including PCA, PLS-DA, Volcano plots will be conducted.

- Final Reporting and Results submitted to AAFC.

- Optional analysis may be required on additional samples for AAFC during 2024-2025.

CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT OF THE STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES:
Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a Statement of Capabilities that they are capable of performing metabolome analysis (amine/phenol, acid, hydroxyl and carbonyl channels) including Principal component analysis (PCA), Partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and Chemical isotope labeling (CIL) on Chickpea plants.

CONTRACT PERIOD: From Contract Award to March 31, 2024, including optional analysis that may be required from April 1 2024 - March 31, 2025.

ESTIMATED VALUE: $48,080.00 (excluding GST)
Optional Services, if required:
April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025 - $30,000.00

PRE-IDENTIFIED CONTRACTOR:
The Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC) Li-Node
Department of Chemistry
University of Alberta
11227 Saskatchewan Drive
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2G2

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION:
Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC) has developed the Plant Metabolome Assay (PMA) technique and has the ownership and rights to use of the PMA technique. Alternative sources for this type of analysis could not be found. We compared the metabolomics services provided by others vendors but we determined that TMIC's CIL LC-MS service provides a unique quantitative analysis of metabolites with high coverage that meets the requirement of the Pulse Pathology research program at AAFC Swift Current.

Government Contracts Regulations Exception and Limited Tendering Reason:
Section 6 (d) has been invoked for this procurement as only one supplier (person/firm) is capable of performing the Contract.

Where, for works of art, or for reasons connected with the protection of patents, copyrights or other exclusive rights, or proprietary information or where there is an absence of competition for technical reasons, the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists.

ACAN NOTICE:
You are hereby notified that the government intends to negotiate with one firm only as identified above. Should you have any questions concerning this requirement, contact the Contracting Authority.

An ACAN allows departments and agencies to post a notice, for no less than 15 calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that it intends 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.

Submission of Statement of Capabilities:
Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services described herein, may submit a Statement of Capabilities in writing, either via letter, facsimile or email 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 Solicitation Number, Name of Contracting Authority and closing date of the ACAN must appear within your Statement of Capabilities in block letters.

The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.

CONTRACTING AUTHORITY:
Melissa Smith, Contracting Specialist
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Western Service Centre
300 – 2010 12th Avenue
Regina, SK S4P 0M3
Phone: 306-515-4796
Facsimile: 306-780-5018
Email: melissa.smith3@agr.gc.ca