ACAN – Monitoring of the Greater Snow Goose population demographic parameters on Bylot Island (Nunavut) and on the southern Québec migration areas.

ACAN – Monitoring of the Greater Snow Goose population demographic parameters on Bylot Island (Nunavut) and on the southern Québec migration areas. 

1.	This Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN)  is a public notice indicating to the supplier community that Environment Canada intends to award a contract for services to Laval University about the monitoring of the Greater Snow Goose population demographic parameters on Bylot Island (Nunavut) and on the southern Québec migration areas.  
Before awarding a contract, however, the government would like to provide other suppliers with the opportunity to demonstrate that they are capable of satisfying the requirements set out in this Notice, by submitting a statement of capabilities during the 15 calendar day posting period.
If other potential suppliers submit a statement of capabilities during the 15 calendar day posting period that meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, the government will proceed to a full tendering process on either the government's electronic tendering service or through traditional means, in order to award the contract.
If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a statement of capabilities meeting the requirements set out in the ACAN, a contract will be awarded to the pre-selected supplier.

2. Background / Definition of the requirement:
Facing a problem of arctic habitat degradation caused by increasing populations of Greater Snow Geese, Canadian Wildlife Service implemented special management actions to control these populations. These actions were based upon the recommendations made by the special AGJV committee chaired by Bruce Batt (Giroux et al. 1998) and a recent report by the scientific committee that evaluated the success of these actions (Reed and Calvert 2007) suggested these management actions have been successful in curbing population growth of the Greater Snow Goose; key to this assessment was the quality of demographic information collected at the Bylot Island (Nunavut)colony along information collected at the spring and fall staging areas in Quebec. Monitoring those measures will be especially important in the coming years because, on the one hand, there are indications that the effectiveness of these initial actions is now lessening and, on the other hand, significant changes in the US regulations (e.g. special conservation harvest) since 2009. The Canadian Wildlife Service want to obtain essential information on reproductive success, survival and harvest rate of the Greater Snow Goose population, an overabundant species, to help our organization to monitored the impact of those actions on Arctic habitats.   

SCOPE OF WORK / DELIVERABLES 
The following tasks will be undertaken:
1.     Elaborate of protocols and submission of data acquisition plan.
2.     During the second week of August, between 3000 and 4000 geese must be banded in the major brood-rearing areas of Bylot Island. Flocks of flightless, moulting adults with their young must be rounded up with the help of a helicopter and driven into a corral net. All geese captured must be sexed and banded with a metal band, and all recaptures (web-tagged or leg-banded birds) must be recorded. A sample of about 600 adult females ust be fitted with coded yellow plastic neck-collars. Finally, a sample of about 800 young must be measured (mass and length of culmen, head, tarsus and 9th primary) in order to determine the quality of the growth that will have taken place during the summer.
3.     Plant production and grazing impact of geese must be assessed in wetlands of the Qarlikturvik Valley, the most important brood-rearing area for geese on Bylot Island, and in the center of the goose nesting colony . At both sites, 12 1×1m goose exclosures must be installed and graminoid above-ground biomass inside and outside exclosures must be sampled in mid-August. Also near each exclosure a 1 x 10 m transect must be established to count goose droppings to assess use by geese during the summer.
4.     Submission of a preliminary report on the 2013 monitoring of goose reproductive activity on Bylot Island.
5.     A presentation the status of the population must be made to the Table de concertation sur la gestion de la Grande Oie des neiges on September 19, 2013.
6.     During the fall migratory period in Québec, an observer must survey all major sites used by staging geese in the upper St-Lawrence estuary east of Quebec City, as well as at key staging sites south-west of Quebec City (e.g. Victoriaville) to re-sight neck banded birds as part of the mark-recapture study to monitoring demographic parameters used in the assessment of this population.
7.     Submission of the banding data to the Bird Banding Laboratory in Ottawa prior to the fall hunting season.
8.     Preparation and submission a final report on details activities and results of the reproductive season of the Greater Snow Goose reproductive season 2013.

The following deliverables will be provided: 
1.     Submission of data acquisition plan.
2.     Submission of preliminary report from the monitoring of goose reproductive activity on Bylot Island during summer 2013.
3.     Present a talk to the members of Table de concertation sur la gestion de la Grande Oie des neiges on September 19, 2013.
4.     Submission of the full banding data to the Bird Banding Laboratory in Ottawa, and
5.     Submission of the final report on details activities and results of the reproductive season of summer 2013. 

3. Minimum Essential Requirements:
Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that it meets the following requirements: 
-   Constraints: the contractor must own, or have access to, field facilities on the Bylot Island colony and obtain valid permits from Canadian Wildlife Service and Parks Canada  to perform field activities.
-   Transportation and personnel: the contractor need to provide personnel with appropriate training (e.g. firearm certificate, first aid training), be familiar with logistics and banding operations using helicopters to capture geese and transporting personal and field equipment to and from the field site as well as flight time (helicopter) to accomplish banding activities.
-   Experience: The principal investigator of the project must have at least ten year of experience in Arctic field work and establishment of large remote field camps (arctic logistics and areas).
-   Knowledge: the contractor must have a good knowledge of ecology and reproductive biology of the Greater Snow Goose, and the Arctic ecosystem.   The contractor must also have experience working with various northern agencies such as, but not limited to, the Polar Continental Shelf Program, Parks Canada, Nunavut Government and the Pond Inlet Hunters and Trappers Association.

 4. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier:
Laval University is the only institution that owns accommodation and lab facilities on the study area in the High Arctic.  This organization as a proven record of managing field logistics on Bylot Island from its base camp and has support staff on site. Moreover, Laval University has agreements in place for air support (Twin Otter and Helicopter) with Polar Continental Shelf program of Natural Resources Canada for the field site in 2013.  The field staffs from Laval have been working on this colony since 1989. In doing so, they have developed have good working relationships with Parks Canada, the Nunavut Government and the Pond Inlet Hunter Trappers Association, accumulated local knowledge that is important to the success of Artic field projects (e.g. weather conditions, bear behavior etc. ), and their Principal Investigator (Gilles Gauthier) is the worlds’ leading scientific authority on demography of the Greater Snow  As such, engaging the service of Laval University is the most efficient way to obtain the information required to manage this overabundant population.

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

6. Ownership of Intellectual Property:
The intellectual property rights for any goods and services shall vest in and remain the property of the Contractor but the Department retains the right to use them under license.

 7. Period of the proposed contract or delivery date he proposed contract is for a period of contract award to March 14, 2014.

 8. Cost estimate of the proposed contract: 
The estimated value of the contract, including option(s), is $50,000.00 (GST/HST extra).

9. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier: 
Université Laval
Département de biologie et Centre d’études nordiques,
Pavillon Vachon, 
Québec (Qc) G1V 0A6

10. 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. 

11. Closing date for a submission of a statement of capabilities:
The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is July 11, 2013, 2pm. Est.

12. Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to: 

Jonathan Perron, Environment Canada, 
801-1550, avenue d’Estimauville, 
Québec (Québec) G1J 0C3 
Tel.: 418-648-5002 Fax : 418-648-5643
Jonathan.perron@ec.gc.ca