Custom Specification, Evaluation, Re-design and Engineering Services for Double Entry transport cases

Advance Contract Award Notice - (ACAN) 220108

Custom Specification, Evaluation, Re-design and Engineering Services for Double Entry transport cases

1.0 - 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.

2.0 - Definition of the requirement:

The National Research Council Canada has a requirement for an engineering company to help re-design, build, engineer and prototype various military grade transport cases. Gryphon Engineering Services was chosen for this requirement as they are the exclusive distributer of Pelican Products Inc. Pelican Engineers have designed the vast majority of reusable double entry transport cases for the Canadian Forces and holds owns the intellectual property designs for legacy versions of these double entry transport cases (DEC). Legacy designs of these double entry transport cases will serve as the platform to aide in the redesigns of these (DEC). Pelican being the original designer of the (DEC) has collaborated with Gryphon Engineering Services, the NRC and the Canadian Military to "qualify" these (DEC) with a series of acceptance tests and standards. These tests include (drop tests, leak tests, vibration tests and shock mitigation control measures. Pelican’s specification ensures protections for rack-mounted electronics from environmental conditions encountered during world-wide shipment and storage.

The products and services meet the Standards for American National Standards including:

ASTM D 4976 Standard Specification for Polyethylene Plastics Molding and Extrusion Materials

ASTM D 951 Water Resistances of Shipping Containers by Spray Method

ASTM D 4169 Performance Testing of Shipping Containers and Systems, EIA 310C Racks, Panels and Associated Equipment

Aerospace Standards:

SAE AS27166 Valve, pressure equalizing, gaseous products.

Military Standards:

MIL-STD-105 Sampling procedures and tables for inspection by attributes

MIL-STD-129 Marking for shipment and storage

MIL-STD-1472 Human Engineering Design Criteria for Military Systems

MIL-STD-595 Colors used in government procurement

Temperature:

The double entry, rack mount shipping and storage container, herein referred to as the container, shall meet the following product characteristics and minimum performance requirements for the temperature range of -20°F to +140°F (29°C to 60°C):

Quality Standards:

ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System

3.0 Criteria for assessment of the Statement of Capabilities (Minimum Essential Requirements)

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 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.

Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities how their technology, engineering methods and protocols are equivalent to the current offer. Interested parties will be expected to define in terms of physical and design characteristics, describe how their technology could interchange in terms of stow-ability and stack-ability with Pelican designs and provides proof that their designs have undergone equivalent testing methodologies as listed in Article 2.0.

4.0 Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement, the proposed procurement is subject to one or more of the trade agreements. This procurement is subject to the following trade agreement(s):

4.1 World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP)

4.2 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

5.0 Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier:

5.1 The proposal is related to commonality/compatibility. The Canadian military has been using these cases for decades and has millions of dollars in infrastructures. The structural designs of the cases have been designed to accommodate a variety of applications including military grade communications, weapons, servers and field hospital storage solutions. Pelican has developed and will be developing a suite of prototypes that will be used to support the Canadian Military. Pelican will be using their existing designs and proprietary methods to customize these double entry cases.

5.2 There are no other known alternative suppliers for the same or equivalent materiel/support that could reverse engineer or offer an equivalent. The vast majority of the engineering work will be done using Pelican’s proprietary technology and designs methodologies.

5.3 Efforts have been taken to identify a variety of suppliers however the cost to reverse engineer the associated with "qualifying" a single case can exceed the value proposed contract and require hundreds of hours of engineering design hours. Thus, and as a corollary, costs would be prohibitive with the number of engineering contracts the NRC maintains.

6.0 Government Contracts Regulations Exception(s): 6.1 The following exception(s) to the Government Contracts Regulations is (are) invoked for this procurement under subsection 6d. "only one person is capable of performing the work").

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; (CAP Code 71)

7.0 Period of the proposed contract or delivery date:

The immediate requirement will begin in early December and end in March 2017. For efficiency and ease to the Procurement process this advertisement will serve for the immediate requirement and for future years. The National Research Council may choose to enter into a comprehensive Standing Offer Agreement or Long Term Contract with the vendor as it pertains to the requirement described herein.

8.0 Name and address of the pre-identified supplier:

2091635 Ontario Inc.

Gryphon Engineering Services

Unit 19, 5380 Canotek Rd,

GLOUCESTER, ON K1J 1H7

9.0 Closing date for a submission of a statement of capabilities: December 15 2016

10.0 Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:

Senior Contracting Officer: Johnathon Gillis

Telephone: (613) 993-5506

E-mail:Johnathon.Gillis@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca