Requirement for Update of the CSA standards used at NRC, “Guidelines to reflect Climate Change Adaptation and Extreme Weather events”

ACAN - SOLICITATION NUMBER: 17-22078

Requirement for Update of the CSA standards used at NRC, “Guidelines to reflect Climate Change Adaptation and Extreme Weather events”

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. Definition of the requirement

Under the Climate-Resilient Core Public Infrastructure project, the National Research Council’s Building Regulations for Market Access Program has a requirement to update their National Model Codes and referenced standards to reflect climate change adaptation and extreme weather events. While the National Model Codes (e.g. Building, Fire, Plumbing, Energy,) are produced and published by the National Research Council, the referenced model codes refer to CSA Standards that are stand-alone series of documents and owned by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) - a Canadian not for profit standard development organization.

The Climate-Resilient Core Public Infrastructure project aims to integrate climate resilience into design guides, codes and related materials, which will be the basis for future infrastructure builds and rehabilitation work in Canada. The work would involve preparation of proposed changes to national model building, energy, fire, plumbing and updated related guidance documents. The proposed change modules could be adopted by provinces and territories by 2020.

This contract seeks to enter into an agreement with the CSA to update their “Guidelines to reflect Climate Change Adaptation and Extreme Weather events”

to address climate change adaptation and extreme weather events through a consensus based process established by the Standards Council of Canada. The update to the CSA standards will occur concurrently and in harmonization with the work currently underway at the NRC to update their National Model Codes.

NRC requests under the deliverables of this contract that CSA

· Activate the Technical Committee (TC) on Design for Durability in Buildings and conduct a review of the existing Terms of Reference;

· Issue Notice of Intent for the project;

· Develop white paper on Climate Change Adaptation for Durability in Buildings (CSA and external consultant);

· First meeting of TC to confirm the new scope and the ability to publish in mandatory (standard) language, versus recommendations only (Guideline);

· Accept TC proposals for modifications to applicable standards.

· Develop draft of the CSA of the new standards

· Facilitate technical committee meetings;

· Public review, technical committee ballot, editorial correction and publication of revised standards

· French translation of the document;

· prepare cost benefit and impact analysis to support any proposals.

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

Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that it meets the following requirements:

· Association or Company must be a Standards Development Organization with Accreditation under the Standards Council of Canada

· Hold the Intellectual Property Rights to the 2018 edition of renamed standard, “Guidelines to reflect Climate Change Adaptation and Extreme Weather events”

· Significant experience (minimum of 10 years) in the management and development of Codes and Standards by way of established balanced technical Committees

· Demonstration of ability to engage with broad range of industry and regulatory bodies on technical matters related to the Durability Standard

· Demonstration of at least 10 year experience of Code and Standard development as it pertains to the Durability standards

· Demonstration of at least 10 year history working with the National Research Council’s Codes Canada on Code development

4. Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement

This procurement is subject to the following trade agreement(s):

1. • • Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)
     • World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP)
     • North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

5. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier

The CSA Group (formerly the Canadian Standards Association; CSA), is a not-for-profit standard organization which develops standards in 57 areas. CSA publishes standards in print and electronic form and provides training and advisory services. CSA is composed of representatives from industry, government, and consumer groups.

CSA began as the Canadian Engineering Standards Association (CESA) in 1919, federally chartered to create standards. CSA is accredited by the Standards Council of Canada, a crown corporation which promotes efficient and effective standardization in Canada. This accreditation verifies that CSA is competent to carry out standards development and certification functions, and is based on internationally recognized criteria and procedures.

CSA has been publishing and updating the CSA standards since 1995 and holds the intellectual property rights to this document. They have worked with NRC in the past in developing standards that either compliment the NRC’s National Construction Codes or were supported by NRC research.

6. Government Contracts Regulations Exception(s)

The following exception to the Government Contracts Regulations is invoked for this procurement under subsection 6 (d) – Only company is capable of performing the work.

7. Ownership of Intellectual Property

The Intellectual Property is owned by the Canadian Standards Association. All work that is carried out under this contract is for the sole purpose of updating the CSA series to be better aligned with the National Construction Code changes.

8. Period of the proposed contract or delivery date

The Contract will be for a 3-4 month period and commence mid-October 2017.

NRC reserves the right to enter into negotiations with the supplier for similar contracts for a three year period after the solicitation closes.

9. Cost estimate of the proposed contract

Contract value will be to an upset limit of $100K – 100K CAD (HST extra)

10. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier

CSA Group

178 Rexdale Blvd.,

Toronto, ON M9W 1R3

11. 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.

12. Closing date for a submission of a statement of capabilities

The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is October 24th, 2016 at 14:00 hrs. EST.

13. Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities

Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:

NRC Contracting Officer: Johnathon Gillis

National Research Council

Bldg. M-22, 1200 Montreal Rd, Ottawa, ON
Telephone: 613-993-5506

Email: Johnathon.Gillis@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca