Standing Offer - High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) and plasma spray cells

TITLE: High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) and plasma spray cells / Standing Offer

1. Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN):

An ACAN is a public notice indicating to the supplier community that a department or agency intends to award a contract for goods, services or construction 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 the ACAN, the contracting officer may then proceed with the award to the pre-identified supplier.

2. Technical Requirement:

The National Research Council Canada (NRC), Automotive and Surface Transportation (AST) Research Centre has a requirement to develop a combined working cell to accommodate the High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) and the Plasma Spray laboratories into one new custom pre-fabricated facility to be implemented in the Large-Scale Laboratory area in the NRC Boucherville, QC. The NRC AST Research Centre, currently has two existing separate HVOF and plasma spray working cells located on opposite sides in the Large-Scale Laboratory within the Boucherville Research Centre. As part of this project the two cells will be combined in a new working cell with a separate space for the HVOF and the plasma rooms and a combined control room. The existing HVOF cell will be decommissioned by the Contractor to make space for the new working cell, while the existing plasma cell will remain. Some of the equipment in the existing plasma cell will be relocated to the new combined working cell, while some will be decommissioned. The plasma cell will be then repurposed to accommodate equipment that are currently located within the area outside the HVOF cell.

The Contractor will carry out to draft designs and build a project and infrastructure plan to carry out any necessary development to make the upgrade functional or 'ready to use'. The work will involve the following: Project management; Engineering design of the integrated working cells; Acquisition packages of materials, systems and/or equipment; Surplus and decommissioning planning support; Existing material and equipment update, moving and integration plan; Control system development, site integration; System testing, commissioning and training. The scope of work under this contract will be delivered in packages of services, materials and equipment and/or a combination of those using task authorizations to approve the work.

3. Criteria for assessment of the Statement of Capabilities:
Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that they have the necessary expertise to carry out the project from start to completion. Must be a Subject Expert in the field Robotics Integration for Metal Addictive Manufacturing Facilities. Must have expert knowledge in the following areas: Surface preparation; Coating/build-up by Thermal Spray and Cold Spray; Robotic machining & surface finishing; Integration of sensors and diagnostics tools; Feeding of low flowability/hard to feed material (metallic and ceramic powders); Controlled atmosphere to reduce oxidation; Helium & Argon gas recovery system; Switchover and automatic tools changer to reduce manipulation and rework; and Automation of equipment form various OEMs, Sensors, Robotics, Data logging, analytics and machine learning.

4. Experience of the Project Team:
The Integrator project team must be comprised of engineers with specialties in mechanics, electricals, software, robotics, automation, and physics related to thermal & cold spray fields of expertise;
1. The Integrator must have 10 years plus experience in delivering integration projects based on ABB and KUKA robotic platforms, as well as capability to deliver projects based on other platforms (if NRC so requires) in robotics applications related to thermal spray field of engineering;
2. The Integrator team must have more than 15 years of experience in the thermal & cold spray fields as well as in related materials science fields;
3. The Integrator must have a dedicated specialist with over 15 years’ experience in the development and implementation of advanced NDE sensors for online process monitoring & controls. Including sensors specialized for thermal spray and coating characterization, as well as a variety of IoT devices;
4. The Integrator must have over 15 years’ experience in the design, manufacturing & commissioning of custom fluid management systems for material science industry/research applications.
5. The Integrator must have experience in integration of equipment in industrial facilities and for process automation as well as in the implementation of strategies for safe operation of equipment in at least ten (10) different applications/projects.
6. The Integrator must have experience delivering at least three (3) projects where existing thermal spray equipment within the new project was integrated allowing the recycle/reuse of existing equipment and to seamlessly integrate those in the overall package, and/or the integration of multiple process/equipment/devices/facilities from various manufacturers in such a way that they can be operated from one centralized platform.
7. Supplier must be capable of delivering a control system compatible with SmartCSAM operating platform to ensure compatibility with NRC existing systems.
8. Supplier must be able to integrate NRC’s existing M4 powder feeder designed for sub-micron powder feeding as well as existing liquid suspension feeder.
9. Supplier must have a dedicated team to deliver on-site services at the National Research Council, as required during the execution of the project with an onsite response of 1 hour from the point of electronic /text notification.

5. Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement:
• Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
• Revised World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP)
• Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
• Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
• Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA)
• Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
• Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement
• Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement
• Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement
• Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA)
• Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement (Canada-UK TCA)
• Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA)

6. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier:

The pre-identified supplier meets all the minimum mandatory requirements in Section 3 and is an expert in the area of interest. Polycontrols has significant years of experience developing custom Thermal Spray applications with high degree of complexity. Polycontrols offers a complete Integrator package from initial design, to procurement, development and fabrication of components and systems, control system development, integration of the system components, testing, commissioning and training in the fields of Material Science. Polycontrols has experience working with the existing equipment and systems at NRC and is fully capable of integrating .

7. Exclusions and/or Limited Tendering Reasons:

Only one vendor is able to satisfy the unique technical requirements listed herein.
The following exception to the Government Contracts Regulations is invoked for this procurement under subsection 6 (d) as only one supplier is capable of performing work.

8. Limited tendering reasons:

• Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) – Article 513 (1) (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;
• World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP) – Article XIII (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical
reasons;
• Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) – Article 19.12 (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical
reasons;
• Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – Article 15.10 (2) (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for
technical reasons;
• Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) – Article Kbis-16 (2) (c): necessary to protect intellectual property;
• Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement – Article 1409 (1) (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;
• Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement – Article 17.11 (2) (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;
• Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement – referencing the WTO Protocol Amending the GPA, Article XIII (1) (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for
technical reasons;
• Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement – Article 16.10 (1) (b) (iii): because of the absence of competition for technical reasons;
• Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) –Article 1409 (1) (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;
• Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA) – Annex 10-6 (2) (a): any form of preference, including set asides, to benefit micro, small and medium
enterprises; and
• Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement: refer to CETA as the provisions of CETA are incorporated by reference into and made part of this
Agreement. (CETA) Article 19.12 (b) (iii).

9. Ownership of Intellectual Property:

During the development of the project under this Advanced Contract Award Notice new intellectual property may be created to address development challenges. In the case that a foreground “technological innovation” or “technological invention” arises out of the proposed contract it will be managed as follows:

In the case that the “technological innovation” or “technological invention” is proposed and developed independently by the service provider, the Intellectual Property will vest in the service provider. In the case that the “technological innovation” or “technological invention” is proposed and developed independently by the NRC, the Intellectual Property will vest in the NRC. In the case that the “technological innovation” or “technological invention” is proposed by any of the two parties and co-developed in any way by a collaboration of the NRC and the service provider, the Intellectual Property will vest in the NRC and the service provider. For this case, both parties agree that a separate Intellectual Property agreement, will be made.

10. Period of the proposed contract or delivery date:
NRC is expecting the onsite work to take place from January 29th 2024 to January 29th 2027.

11. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier:
Polycontrols Inc
3650 Matter (Suite A1),
Brossard, Quebec, Canada,
J4Y 2Z2

12. Suppliers' right to submit a statement of capabilities:

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the goods, services or construction services described in the ACAN may submit a statement of capabilities in writing, within 15 days, 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 each of the advertised requirements in Section 3.

13. The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is January 22nd 2023 2pm Eastern Time.

14. Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:

Johnathon Gillis
Manager, Procurement and Contracting Services | Gestionnaire, Services d'approvisionnement
Office of Facility Renewal Management | Bureau de la gestion du renouvellement des installations
Special Projects | Projets spéciaux
Telephone | Téléphone : 343-552-4124
Email | Courriel : Johnathon.Gillis@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Address: 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa Ontario K1A 0R6