Integrated pest management and insect resistance management for the Western Bean Cutworm (WBC) in Canada

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has a requirement for information related to western bean cutworm (WBC) in Canada, specifically technical details related to its environmental impact, integrated pest management, and insect resistance management.

The purpose of this Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) is to signal the government's intention to award a contract for these services to the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus, Department of Plant Agriculture: 120 Main Street East, Ridgetown, Ontario N0P 2C0.

Minimum Essential Requirements

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

• be located in Canada in proximity to naturally occurring WBC populations;
• have knowledge and experience rearing WBC in laboratory settings for insect bioassays, conducting field trials with natural and artificial infestations of WBC, and statistical analysis of data from insect bioassays and field trials;
• have a proven track record in the field of entomology specifically relating to insect resistance management of key corn pests in Canada over the past 3 years including publication of related studies in the scientific literature;
• have adequate insect rearing facilities, access to field trials sites, access to populations of WBC, and record keeping capabilities;
• must be operated in accordance with federal, provincial and municipal requirements;
• be able to provide access to at least 1,000 WBC for testing on diet bioassays, representative of various WBC populations from across their range in Canada
• have laboratory equipment capable of storing and processing test plant tissue from experimental plots for exposure levels of both Bt protein and foliar-applied insecticides.