VOICE PLATFORM AND COMPONENTS

Trade Agreement: WTO-AGP/NAFTA/AIT/Canada FTAs with
Peru/Colombia/Panama
Tendering Procedures: Generally only one firm has been invited
to bid
Attachment: None
Non-Competitive Procurement Strategy: Exclusive Rights
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Vendor Name and Address: 
CommPower
1040 Flynn Road
Camarillo California
United States
93012
Nature of Requirements: 
VOICE PLATFORM AND COMPONENTS

K3A40-131056/A
Roy-Laflèche, Johanne
Telephone No. - (819) 956-1142 
Fax No. - (819) 956-1156

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.

1.  REQUIREMENT:

Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), on behalf
Environment Canada, has a requirement for the supply and
delivery of up to 145 Chatterbox Weatheradio Voice Platforms and
components including up to 320 software licenses, programming
consulting, on-site customer training and development services,
on-site hardware and software maintenance services all to be
delivered across Canada.  There is also an option to extend the
period of the Contract by up to three additional one-year period
under the same terms and conditions.

2.  VENDOR:

It is proposed to issue a contract to CommPower of Camarillo,
California, USA

3.  BACKGROUND:

Weatheradio Canada is a mission critical service of the
Meteorological Service of Canada.  This unique alerting
broadcast technology, available in Canada and the United States,
has the ability not only to broadcast continuous weather updated
information but also to trigger unique receivers to alert users
immediately after warnings have been issued.    

The current system, in use at Meteorological Services of Canada,
is disseminating broad use weather information and alerting when
severe weather messages and tsunami warnings are in effect.  
The system is nearing the end of its life cycle and is not
capable of implementing new advancements being made in public
alerting and the fast pace of products enhancement done within
the Meteorological Services of Canada.  The US National Weather
Service has invested significant resources to develop new
technology which is available only through the proposed vendor. 
The new system represents substantial and unique technological
advancement and is commercially available for the Weatheradio
service. 

The proposed contract is for a technological solution which is
the only system that is commercially available, and which
ingest automatically weather information products,
provides capacity for continuous automated broadcast of
non-alerting content,
event triggered programming changes without human intervention,
broadcast program and audio control,
interrupt broadcast capability and emergency override,
specifically designed for public alerting,
incorporates high quality TTS and licenses,
TTS with substitution dictionary capability, 
provides safeguards against failure,
station monitoring, 
event and programming logs and archives, 
certified as an all alerting platform,
can handle XML Alert, 
capable of implementing the Specific Area Message Encoding
(SAME) protocol for the issuance of warnings to activate
receivers compliant with Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)
Technology Standard "CEA-2009-B (ANSI), and
capable of producing the 1050 Hz bursts standard, that predates
the SAME protocol, for the issuance of warnings to activate
older receivers still in use.

4.     APPLICABLE TRADE AGREEMENTS:

This procurement is subject to the requirements of the World
Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement
(WTO-AGP), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), FTAs
with Peru/Columbia/Panana and the Agreement on Internal Trade
(AIT).

5.    DELIVERY:

Delivery Date will be 30 days from the date of the contract.

6.    STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES:

Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available
to provide the services described herein, may submit a statement
of capabilities in writing to the Contracting Authority
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.

7.   CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES:

The closing date to submit a Statement of Capabilities is:
October 25th, 2013 at 2:00 p.m.

8.    INQUIRIES AND SUBMISSION OF STATEMENTS OF CAPABILITIES:

Inquiries and Statements of Capabilities must be submitted to
the PWGSC Contracting Authority only and may be submitted by
e-mail, facsimile, or mail.
 	
You are hereby notified that the government intends to negotiate
with one firm only as identified above. 

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.