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

   The objective of this contract is to access expert assistance regarding the extension, enhancement, maintenance and application of the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM). GCAM is a long-term model. It is intended to explore long-term trends and relationships. GCAM is an integrated assessment tool for exploring consequences and responses to global change developed and maintained by the Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI) at Battelle Memorial Institute - Pacific Northwest Division and the University of Maryland.

   The Strategic Policy Branch (SPB) of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has been using the GCAM model to support environment policy development since 2015. In 2015, SPB acquired a copy of the community-based GCAM model (i.e., a freely available GCAM community model) and has been working with staff at the Joint Global Change Research Institute to ensure that the model reflects accurately Canada’s energy, environment and economic situation. SPB extensively used the GCAM model in support of the development of “Canada's mid-century long-term low-greenhouse gas development strategy” which was released in November 2016. GCAM model was used as it was the main tool being used by the United States of America and Mexico in the preparation of their respective countries’ mid-century long-term low-greenhouse gas development strategy. Consistency and complementary of approach was ensured by using the similar tool.

   GCAM is an integrated assessment tool for exploring consequences and responses to global change developed and maintained by the Joint Global Change Research Institute at Battelle Memorial Institute - Pacific Northwest Division and the University of Maryland. The Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI) is the primary development institution for the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM), a comprehensive integrated modeling tool for exploring energy, water, land, and climate interactions over timescales of decades to a century. While a community-based version of GCAM is available, the main model remains within JGCRI and it solely and exclusively own the intellectual property rights of the models. As such, all enhancement and extensions of the main model that involves changes to the model code must be carried out by them.

   The objective of the expert support from the Joint Global Change Research Institute is to enhance the existing economic modeling and analytical capability both with advanced tools and training in Economic Analysis Directorate at SPB to meet the requirements for in-depth analysis. This includes extension and enhancements to the CGAM modeling framework, assistance in apply GCAM to policy issues and alternative futures, and training of ECCC staff. The deliverables associated with this support will ensure the Economic Analysis Directorate is be able to address evolving and changing analytical needs of the Department. It will also provide an analytical basis for responding to policy questions and analytical needs at the national, North American and global levels.

3. scope of work

The contractor will be tasked to provide training, technical support, and advice to the Model Development and Quantitative Research Division’s analytical work related to the GCAM model. The contractor will be asked to support and undertake specific model development activities aimed at enhancing the Division’s capability for supporting ECCC’s, as well as the Government of Canada’s, domestic and international environment and energy-energy-economy policy agenda.

The areas of technical support and model training that will be accessed through this multi-year requirement include, but are not limited to the following broad area:

• Area 1: Sectoral and Technological improvements in the model
  • Endogenous representation of hydro power generation
  • Natural gas supply by processing types (e.g. LNG, CNG)
  • Decomposition of Conventional crude oil by types (i.e. light and heavy)
  • Decomposition of unconventional oil production by technology and alternative energy inputs 
  • Decomposition of industry by energy intensive sectors such as oil and gas, pulp-paper-printing, Iron and Steel
  • Representation of CO2 emissions accountings from fugitive, industrial process, and other non-energy sources
  • Clear representation of biofuels (i.e. biodiesel and biogas) in all energy end-use sectors such as transport, industry, and buildings
  • Incorporation of investment and cumulative capacity in the reporting features of energy supply and end-use sectors
  • Transition of the model’s last historical period from 2010 to 2015 
  • Integration of all above improvements with the model’s new features such as water resources
• Area 2: Trade/market developments in the model
  • Electricity, crude oil, and natural gas bilateral trade within North America
  • International trade of Canadian unconventional oil such as to China and India
  • Endogenous representation of macro indicator in the model
  • Track of domestic versus imported energy resources in Canada’s final energy demand
• Area 3: Design and explore Canadian scenarios that focus on
  • Current Technologies
  • Breakthrough Technologies
  • Demand-side Reductions/Low Carbon Global Economy
• Area 4: Furthering the Mid-Century Policy Strategy
  • Design a Canada-specific Energy and Emissions Pathways that cover:
  • Low Carbon Fuel Standards and its extension to 2050 and beyond
  • Close to 100% non-emitting/ clean electricity by 2050 and beyond
  • Electrification of end- use (stationary and mobile) by 2050 and beyond
  • Increase in nuclear, bioenergy, carbon storage to backstop challenging areas
  • Non-energy sector considerations: fugitive, industrial processes, agriculture, etc.
• Area 5: Design a suitable inter-regional Energy and Emissions Pathways that cover:
  • Short-term regional pledges (if applicable) such as INDC
  • Long-term pathways consistent with 2°C and/to 1.5°C
  • Decomposition of 2°C/1.5°C target by CO2 removal and CO2 mitigation
  • Long-term pathways achieved through CO2 as well as non-CO2 reductions
  • Long-term pathways of 2°C and/to 1.5°C achieved by introducing Sustainable Development Goals and SSPs
• Area 6: Development of province-level GCAM-Canada Model
  • Compile downscaling data for provincial model development
  • Decompose unconventional oil production by technology and alternative energy input
  • Data system redesign to accommodate multiple sub-regions in Canada
  • Interaction of water resources with energy, agriculture, and land use systems
  • Develop province-level baseline scenario and cross compare with the national level model for energy as well as emissions accounting
• Area 7: Policy analysis with the province-level GCAM-Canada Model
  • Mid-century strategy analysis
  • Carbon pricing and Western Climate Initiative policies by using province-level GCAM-Canada Model
  • Provincial government regulatory initiatives such as Alberta Climate leadership plan and Methane gas regulation by Oil and gas sector
  • Technological innovation under pan Canadian Framework such as incentives for solar energy adaptation by end-use sectors

8. 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:

• 10 years of experience in building integrated energy, emissions economy models using the GCAM modeling framework and related software.
• 10 years of experience in developing long term forecasts using integrated energy, emissions and economic equilibrium models using the GCAM model.
• 10 years of experience in providing training and technical support relating to the GCAM modeling software.
• 10 years of experience in publishing integrated assessment modeling research in international recognized academic journals.

  10. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier

  The Joint Global Change Research Institute at Battelle Memorial Institute - Pacific Northwest Division (JGCRI) is the institutional home of the GCAM model. While JGCRI periodically releases the model as an open-source platform to foster community research, the intellectual copyrights to GCAM vest with JGCRI. Furthermore, JGCRI has developed a specialized research version of GCAM-Canada tailor-made to align the model to Canadian energy and emissions system. This customized research model GCAM-Canada, and its respective product, are not subject to the same open-source licensing requirements. These rights can only be granted by the express written permission of JGCRI. JGCRI does not authorize value-added resellers or distributors for their models.

  The expertise of JGCRI extend beyond the nominal access to the GCAM-Canada model itself. With more than 10 years of continued development of the model, and combined expertise dating back to 1970’s, JGCRI is the only institution capable of providing modeling expertise to develop GCAM-Canada and tailor its usage for each region’s specific needs. As the main requirement of the contract is provision of on-demand expert assistance to the Economic Analysis Directorate’s Model Development and Quantitative Research Division regarding the enhancement, maintenance, and application of its in-house version of GCAM-Canada, access to the source code and the core data system is a required prerequisite. All members of the JGCRI team have access to the source code and the core data system and expertise to manipulate it for a region specific customization.

  Given the nature of the requirements, and need to have access to the model’s intellectual property, only the JGCRI team can successfully complete the work outlined in the Statement of Work. There is no other firm which has the capacity to offer the technical support and make the model modifications required by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

  11. Government Contracts Regulations Exception(s)

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

  12. Ownership of Intellectual Property

  Contractor Owns Intellectual Property Rights

  “1. In this section:

  "Material" means anything that is created or developed by the Contractor as part of the Work under the Contract, and in which copyright subsists.

  "Background Information" means all Intellectual Property that is not Foreground Information that is incorporated into the Work or necessary for the performance of the Work and that is proprietary to or the confidential information of the Contractor, its subcontractors or any other third party;

  "Foreground Information" means all Intellectual Property first conceived, developed, produced or reduced to practice as part of the Work under the Contract;

  2. Material that is created or developed by the Contractor as part of the Work under the Contract belongs to the Contractor.

  3. The Contractor grants to Canada a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, world-wide, fully-paid and royalty-free license to exercise all rights comprised in the Material, for any non-commercial government purposes. Canada may use independent contractors in the exercise of Canada's license pursuant to this clause.

  4. At the request of the Contracting Authority, the Contractor must provide to Canada, at the completion of the Work or at such other time as the Contracting Authority may require, a written permanent waiver of moral rights as defined in the Copyright Act, R.S., 1985, c. C-42, in a form acceptable to the Contracting Authority, from every author that contributed to the Work. If the Contractor is an author, the Contractor permanently waives the Contractor's moral rights.

  5. The Contractor also grants to Canada a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, world-wide, fully-paid and royalty-free license to use the Background Information to the extent that this information is required by Canada to exercise its rights to use the Material.

  6. Copyright in any improvement, modification or translation of the Material made by or for Canada belongs to Canada. Canada agrees to reproduce the Contractor's copyright notice, if any, on all copies of the Material, and to acknowledge the Contractor's title to the copyright in the original Work on all copies of translations of the Material effected by or for Canada.

  7. No restrictions other than those set out in this section must apply to Canada's use of the Material or of translated versions of the Material.”

  13. Period of the proposed contract or delivery date

  To be determined. The proposed contract is for a period of contract award to January 31, 2020, with four options to extend the contract period for a one year period each.

  14. Cost estimate of the proposed contract

  The estimated value of the contract, including option(s), is $375,000. US dollars (GST/HST excluded).

  Base Year (incl travel) = $  75,000.

  Option Year 1 (incl travel) = $  75,000.

  Option Year 2 (incl travel) = $  75,000.

  Option Year 3 (incl travel) = $  75,000.

  Option Year 4 (incl travel) = $  75,000.

  Total = $375,000.

  Invoices:  cost + fee

  15. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier

Joint Global Change Research Institute

Battelle Memorial Institute

5825 University Research Ct. STE 3500

College Park, MD

20740

16. Suppliers' right to submit a statement of capabilities

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.

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

The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is December 13, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. EST.

18. Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities

Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:

Reg Landry
Procurement and Contracting Division
Corporate Services and Finance Branch
Environment Canada
200 Sacre-Coeur Blvd, Gatineau, QC K1A 0H3
E-Mail: reg.landry@canada.ca