FactSage software

Trade Agreement: CETA/WTO-AGP/CPTPP/CFTA/FTAs with Peru/Colombia/Panama/Korea/UK
Tendering Procedures: Generally only one firm has been invited to bid
Non-Competitive Procurement Strategy: Exclusive Rights
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Vendor Name and Address: 
Thermfact Ltd.
447 Berwick
Mont-Royal Quebec
Canada
H3R1Z8
Nature of Requirements: 

FactSage software

31184-207363/A
Pignat, Michael
Telephone No. - (873) 354-4163 (    )

Nature of Requirements: Computational Software (ACAN)

Please Note, for any additional information regarding this ACAN or to obtain copy of the criteria for assessment of the statement of capabilities, please contact the following Contracting Authority:

31184-207363
Michael Pignat
Email: Michael.Pignat@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca

DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUIREMENT

An Advanced Contract Award notice (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.

The purpose of this Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) is to signal the Government’s intention to enter into a Sole Source Contract with Thermfact Ltd., the developer of FactSage software and the FACT solutions databases package. 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 successfully demonstrating that they are able to 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.


DEFINITION OF REQUIREMENT FOR NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA

National Research Council of Canada’s (NRC) Energy Mining and Environment (EME) research center mandates to carry clean technology to support government emission reduction goals. The development of novel materials is critically important for advancing clean energy and any new technologies.

The identified software is expected to provide material and chemistry theoretical prediction for multiple projects of EME programs with a yearly effort of 1.45M of this FY. The Factsage software is an integrated database computing systems that is used for thermodynamics calculation to predict the materials properties, especially for those material with no physical properties that can be found from literature. It is a critical tool that can assist novel materials R&D through science-based theoretical projection, which greatly speeds up the research progress.

CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT OF THE STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES

Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that their product and services meet Canada’s requirements, as listed in Annex A. 

REQUIREMENTS

Canada has a requirement for the supply of a COTS application to meet the general concept of operations of the FactSage software in Canada, as it relates to mission coordination, and the intent of how it is to be used to support EMME operations, as well as specific technical requirements. Canada seeks to acquire an application that meets or exceeds the operational capabilities of the application it is replacing to perform thermodynamics calculations to predict materials properties. This replacement must be an off-the-shelf solution that is already in operation for material and chemistry theoretical prediction, and would not require developmental effort to meet Canada’s requirements to be ready for use in Canada.

MANDATORY SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that their product and services meet the requirements in Annex A with a commercial-off-the-shelf solution (i.e. no development or integration work) that is already in use.

JUSTIFICATION FOR THE PRE-IDENTIFIED SUPPLIER

ThermFact Ltd.’s proprietary software has an optimization process to interpolate and extrapolate from its existing databases.  ThermFact Ltd.’s software uses large database(s) that are large evaluated datasets.  The optimization process increases the accuracy of predictions for unknown material properties because the calculations are linked to lab results in the vast dataset.

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS REGULATIONS EXCEPTION(S)

Section 6 of the Government Contract Regulations is being invoked in this procurement as only one person or firm is capable of performing the contract.

EXCLUSIONS AND/OR LIMITED TENDERING REASONS

Chapter 5 article 513(b)(iii)of the CFTA is applicable on the basis of limited tendering where the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute goods or services exist due to an absence of competition for technical reasons.

Article 15.10(2)(b) of the CPTPP is applicable on the basis of limited tendering under the circumstance that the good or service can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute good or service exists due to the absence of competition for technical reasons.

Article XIII(b) of the WTO-AGP is applicable on the basis of limited tendering following circumstances where the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute goods or services exist due to an absence of competition for technical reasons.

OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Ownership of any Foreground Intellectual Property arising out of the proposed contract will vest in the Contractor.

THE PERIOD OF THE PROPOSED CONTRACT 

The proposed contract is for a period of 1 year.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE PRE-IDENTIFIED SUPPLIER:

ThermFact Ltd.
447 Berwick
Mont-Royal, QC
H3R 1Z8

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

The conditions of the developer's shrink-wrap license are not acceptable to the Crown. This software is proprietary, and the proposed Contractor must have the authority to negotiate the terms and conditions of the contract and the related software licensing terms including, but not limited to; limitation of liability, indemnification, transferability of license, termination/refund to the Crown. Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada

INQUIRIES AND SUBMISSION OF STATEMENTS OF CAPABILITIES

Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:

Michael Pignat
Supply Specialist
Public Works and Government Services Canada
Gatineau, Québec, Canada 
Michael.Pignat@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca
Government of Canada
 
ANNEX A

The key mandatory requirements leading to this sole source procurement of the required Computational Software are listed below. Canada requires the solution to be compliant with the following:

ESSENTIAL APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Software Requirements

-M1  The application of this software must base on our current PC window system. (Windows 10)

-M2  The outputs must be in the forms of tables, graphs and figures.
Computational Requirements

-M3 The software package must be able to calculate and display thermochemical equilibria and phase diagrams in multiple formats. Should be able to calculate the conditions for multi-phase, multi-component equilibria.

-M4 The software must be able to calculate the optimal composition to target two properties under constraints of compositions and/or properties.

-M5 The software must be able to plot selected thermodynamic properties on X- and Y-axes, i.e. temperature (T(or 1/T K) ; Total pressure; Volume; Composition (mole fractions, molar ratios, weight fractions, weight ratios); Chemical potentials, and Enthalpy relative to a standard state temperature.

-M6 The software must be able to run macros (or scripts) to automate the calculation process. For example, this enables calculating/plotting the properties of several related materials in an automated fashion, in order to save operating time.

Database Requirements

-M7  NRC expects to access the maximum available compounds (pure substances), the minimum requirement is 4,900 compounds. 

-M8 The  databases of oxides, salts, and metals must be evaluated and optimized from primary sources.

-M9 The database must contain evaluated thermodynamic parameters for Ag, Au, Ir, Os, Pd, Pt, Rh, Ru,  alloyed amongst themselves, and also in alloys with the metals, such as Al, C, Ce, Co, Cu, Fe, Mo, Nb, Ni, Si, Sn, Ti, Zn, Zr. 

Technical Requirements

-M10  the software package must provide access to 
a) Solution databases, which contains optimized model parameters for the Gibbs energy of solution phases as functions of composition and temperature.
b) Compound databases contain the properties of stoichiometric compounds (pure substances), either obtained from published experimental data and phase diagram optimizations or taken from standard compilations.

Application Requirements

-M11  The application must be in use as of the posting date of this ACAN.

-M12  The application must not require any development or integration work as of the posting date of this ACAN to meet the requirements above and be ready for deployment for operational use.

You are hereby notified that the government intends to solicit a bid and negotiate with one firm only as identified above.

If you wish to submit a written response showing that you are capable of meeting this requirement, it must be done not later than the specified closing date and time. The file number, contracting officer's name must be included in the statement of capabilities. As it is intended to proceed in a timely manner, responses received after the closing date will not be considered.

Responses received on or before the closing date will be considered solely for the purpose of deciding whether or not to conduct a competitive procurement. Information provided will be used by the Crown for technical evaluation purposes only and is not to be construed as a competitive solicitation. Your written response must provide sufficient evidence (e.g. specifications, technical data, screen captures, reference training material, or any other proof) that clearly demonstrates that your product or service is capable of fulfilling this requirement.

Suppliers that have submitted a response will be notified in writing of Public Services and Procurement Canada’s decision whether continue with the non-competitive procurement or compete the requirement.

Delivery Date: Above-mentioned

An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows departments and agencies to post a notice, for no less than fifteen (15) calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that it intends to award a good, service or construction contract to a pre-identified contractor. If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a Statement of Capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the contracting authority may then proceed with the award.  However, should a Statement of Capabilities be found to meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, then the contracting authority will proceed to a full tendering process.

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services/goods described herein, 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.

The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.

Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.
Delivery Date: Above-mentioned

You are hereby notified that the government intends to negotiate with one firm only as identified above. Should you have any questions concerning this requirement, contact the contracting officer identified above.

An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows departments and agencies to post a notice, for no less than fifteen (15) calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that it intends to award a good, service or construction contract to a pre-identified contractor. If no other supplier submits, on or before the closing date, a Statement of Capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the contracting authority may then proceed with the award.  However, should a Statement of Capabilities be found to meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, then the contracting authority will proceed to a full tendering process.

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services/goods described herein, 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.

The PWGSC file number, the contracting officer's name and the closing date of the ACAN must appear on the outside of the envelope in block letters or, in the case of a facsimile transmission, on the covering page.

The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.

Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.