Software engineering work to develop real time marine transportation information, metrics and scenarios.

Solicitation No. T8080-240054
Advance Contract Award Notice

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.
1. TITLE

Software engineering work to develop real time marine transportation information, metrics and scenarios.
2. DEFINITION OF THE REQUIREMENT
The purpose of this procurement is to contract with GSTS to customize analytics that leverage the OCIANA marine data platform to provide TC's Transportation and Economic Analysis (TEA) team with the necessary tools to monitor, analyze, and predict marine transportation activities effectively. By using advanced data engineering techniques, the leveraged platform will enable TC to make informed decisions, enhancing the resilience of Canada's transportation systems, and providing TC with a greater understanding of and ability to predict supply chain disruptions.
3. CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT OF THE STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES (Minimum Essential Requirements)
TC is seeking a Contractor to develop the following analytic tools based on the OCIANA platform. The Contractor must be able to:
• Have access to the OCIANA platform
• Build key performance indicators (KPI) and forward-looking capabilities.
• Develop aggregate KPIs for vessels and ports and identify inbound vessels to all 17 Canadian Port Authorities (CPA) and top 5 North American ports.
• Identify Great Lakes voyages. Identify cargo vessels and commodities carried on transits between Canadian and American ports on the Great Lakes including identifying cross-lake voyages and estimating cargo volumes.
• Develop a predictive tool to anticipate changes in vessel voyages/routes (diversion), schedules, and arrivals based on various factors, including environmental impact, port congestion levels, and outages or disruptions.

4. DELIVERABLES

The Contractor must enhance the OCIANA real-time marine AIS-based platform with the specified capabilities outlined in Article 3.0, Objective, ensuring that the platform is user-friendly, intuitive, and accessible to TC's Transportation and Economic Analysis Team. In its Work to enhance the platform, the Contractor must employ robust data engineering techniques to process, analyze, and visualize large volumes of marine transportation data. The Contractor must complete the following tasks in accordance with the Contractor’s proposal:

Task 1 Traffic and performance monitoring
- The Contractor must enhance the OCIANA capabilities to provide daily, weekly, monthly aggregate vessel statistics (e.g., vessel dwell at berth, anchorage time, time spend in port) and port performance metrics (e.g., arrivals/departures, time spent) by vessel type for all vessels calling at key North American ports (including the 17 Canada Port Authorities and 5 top U.S. container ports.

- The Contractor must also develop a forward-looking tool that will estimate the expected time of arrival of vessels (by vessel type, size, expect call week) at those ports with a 2 to4 weeks lead time. The tool will allow to identify diverging trends (surge or decline) and provide notification if it is the case.

- The Contractor must deliver an initial version of the augmentations (Deliverable 3) to the PA for discussion and review. The Contractor must deliver a final version of the augmentations (Deliverable 6) to the PA for acceptance.

Task 2 Great Lakes Cross-border Connections
- The Contractor must enhance the OCIANA capabilities to provide a system for identifying cargo vessels routes and commodities transported on transits across the Great Lakes.

- The Contractor must deliver an initial version of the enhancements (Deliverable 4) to the PA for discussion and review. The Contractor must deliver a final version of the enhancements (Deliverable 7) to the PA for acceptance.

Task 3 Predictive Tool for Supply Chain Disruptions
- The Contractor must enhance the OCIANA capabilities to provide a predictive model and algorithms for anticipating changes in vessel voyages/routes, schedules, and arrivals when disruptions occur.

- The Contractor must deliver an initial version of the predictive model (Deliverable 5) to the PA for discussion and review. The Contractor must deliver a final version of the predictive model (Deliverable 8) to the PA for acceptance.

Task 4 Meetings and Workshops
- The Contractor must participate in a Kick-off Meeting within 10 days of Contract Award to review the project schedule and outputs with the Project Authority (PA).
- Progress Review meetings may be held bi-weekly at the PA’s discretion to discuss any issues concerning the data and analytics being made available. All meetings, including the Kick-off Meeting, must be delivered through video conference calls.

- Workshops. The Contractor must deliver Workshops as required by the PA, no more frequently than once a quarter. These Workshops must be delivered through the Internet (e.g., live training through WebEx, Microsoft or other videoconferencing tool). The first Workshop (Workshop 1) must be delivered within 30 days of Contract Award and must review with the PA a Work Plan of the work to be accomplished, including the schedule. The final Workshop must include a review with the PA of the completed functionality of the Work. The goal of this Workshop is to demonstrate the new features and provide TC personnel with training on the use of the platform.

5. APPLICABILITY OF THE TRADE AGREEMENT(S) TO THE PROCUREMENT
This procurement is subject to the following trade agreements: ◦
o Canada-Chile Free trade Agreement
o Canadian Free Trade Agreement
o Canada-Columbia Free Trade Agreement
o Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement
o Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement
o Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement

6. JUSTIFICATION FOR THE PRE-IDENTIFIED SUPPLIER
Global Spatial Technology Solutions owns the Intellectual Property to the OCIANA software code. This software engineering work will configure the OCIANA software application to design three novel analysis tools for Transport Canada.

7. GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS REGULATIONS EXCEPTION(S)
Indicate all relevant exceptions under the Government Contracts Regulations (GCRs).
The following exception(s) to the Government Contracts Regulations is (are) invoked for this procurement under subsection: subsection 6(d) - "only one person is capable of performing the work".

8. OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Ownership of any Foreground Intellectual Property arising out of the proposed contract will vest in the Contractor. Refer to clause 4006 (2010-08-16) Contractor to Own Intellectual Property Rights in Foreground in accordance with the Policy on Title to Intellectual Property Arising under Crown Procurement Contracts: https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/068.nsf/eng/00005.html

9. PERIOD OF THE PROPOSED CONTRACT OR DELIVERY DATE

The proposed contract is for a period of twelve months, from date of award to May 31, 2025.

10. COST ESTIMATE OF THE PROPOSED CONTRACT

The estimated value of the contract is $244,080 including applicable taxes.

11. NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE PRE-IDENTIFIED SUPPLIER
Global Spatial Technology Solutions Inc.
1 Research Drive
Dartmouth, NS., B2Y 4M9

12. SUPPLIERS' RIGHT TO SUBMIT A STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES
Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the 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.

13. CLOSING DATE FOR A SUBMISSION OF A STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES
The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is 21 juin 2024 at 02:00 p.m. EST.

14. INQUIRIES AND STATEMENTS OF CAPABILITIES ARE TO BE DIRECTED BY EMAIL TO:
Natasha Blackstein
Transport Canada
330 Sparks Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0N5
Telephone: 343-550-2321
Email: natasha.blackstein@tc.gc.ca