Detection of cetaceans (primarily beluga whales and narwhal) from satellite imagery from the Canadian High Arctic

TITLE: Detection of cetaceans (primarily beluga whales and narwhal) from satellite imagery from the Canadian High Arctic

1. ADVANCED 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 Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has a requirement to evaluate beluga and narwhal distribution and abundance in estuaries and waterways in the Canadian high Arctic using satellite imagery. The Contractor experienced with reading satellite imagery for marine mammals, will manually count narwhals and belugas in satellite imagery collected in 2021-2022, up to a maximum of 18,000 km². We will not accept imagery read through crowd sourcing or full autodetection. The imagery needs to be read manually by experienced technicians.

1. Tasks:

   The work will include but is not limited to the following tasks:

1. Experienced technicians will manually examine photos for narwhal and beluga whales and create georeferenced points for each whale like feature identified. Other large whales such as bowhead whales and killer whales should also be flagged if seen.

2. Identify and create shapefiles to outline any cloud cover/sun glare in the photo, and provide a percentage of the proportion of the photo that is unreadable due to sun glare/cloud cover.

3. Colour contrast/sharpen the images and adjust the bands as needed to improve ability to detect whales, and provide a metadata file describing how each image was manipulated.

4. Identify any duplicate sightings that occur as a result of photographic overlap among the images.

5. Throughout analysis 5% of the total km² from each image should be re-read at the end of the contract in order to obtain an accuracy rate.

6. Submit a .CSV or .XLSX spreadsheet containing photograph ID’s, counts of whales in each photograph, and any other information noted regarding the imagery (sun glare, high Beaufort sea state, cloud cover, etc.).

7. Submit a .CSV or .XLSX spreadsheet containing the final total counts of whales for individual images, and for all images combined for each estuary/waterway, with duplicate sightings removed.

8. Provide GIS files with all whales identified with shapefiles (.shp).

B. Deliverables

The main project deliverables will include but is not limited to:

1. Provide preliminary counts and shapefile of cetacean identification: On or before March 1, 2023

2. Complete cetacean identification and count in satellite imagery: On or before March 15, 2023.

3. Submission of electronic data and return of hard drive: On or before March 31, 2023

Upon completion of each point above, the Contractor will send a report via email to the Project Authority that includes the data from the defined task. The electronic data in a proper format (see tasks 6, 7, and 8) and return of the hard drive containing the imagery will be returned to the Project Authority by March 31, 2023.

C. Constraint

• Language of work must be English at intermediate or advance level.

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: 

1. The supplier must have staff with a minimum of 5 years of experience in reading satellite imagery for the detection of marine mammals in the Canadian High Arctic.

2. The supplier must have staff with a Masters of Science, a minimum of 10 years of experience working in Arctic ecosystems, and a strong knowledge of narwhal and beluga behaviour, distributions, and abundance in the Canadian High Arctic.

The supplier must have proprietary AI technology to process imagery for the detection and identification of marine mammals for the checking manually read imagery.

4. Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement and Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier

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

• Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA).

• Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA)

• Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

• Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement

• Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement

• Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement

5. Government Contracts Regulations Exception(s) or Limited Tendering Reasons

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

6. Period of the proposed contract or delivery date

The proposed contract is for a period of one (1) year, from the contract award to March 31, 2023.

7. Cost estimate of the proposed contract

The estimated value of the contract, including option(s), is $ 145,440.00 (GST/HST are extra).

8. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier

Whale Seeker, Inc.

Montréal, QC, H2G, Canada

9. 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.

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

The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is December 6, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. AST.

11. Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities

Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:

Pascal Busungu

Contracting Officer – Contracting Services/ Procurement Hub – Fredericton

Telephone: (506) 429-6269

Email: DFOtenders-soumissionsMPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca