Autonomous Acoustic Recorders

Trade Agreement: Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)
Tendering Procedures: Generally only one firm has been invited to bid
Non-Competitive Procurement Strategy: Interchangeable Parts
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Vendor Name and Address: 
JASCO Applied Sciences (Canada) Ltd
Unit 202/301 - 32 Troop Avenue
Dartmouth Nova Scotia
Canada
B3B1Z1
Nature of Requirements: 

Autonomous Acoustic Recorders

F5957-160107/A
Conrad, Darren
Telephone No. - (902) 496-5353 (    )
Fax No. - (902) 496-5016 (    )

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 Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO) has a requirement for the supply of four (4) Autonomous Marine Acoustic Recorders (AMARs) and associated equipment.  Underwater autonomous acoustic recorders must be a waterproof standalone system able to record acoustic signals from the marine environment, operate at great depths and store large quantities of acoustic data over long time periods.  The G3 and G4 models are currently utilized by DFO and BIO and are known to meet all the outlined requirements.

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 its product meets the following requirements: 


The AMARs shall:
a) effectively record acoustic data spanning the frequency range of 10 Hz to 160 KHz, thereby allowing for the capture of acoustic signals of all cetacean species of interest (including 19 Hz blue whale calls to 130 KHz harbor porpoise clicks); 
b) have sufficient battery power to allow for a minimum of one (1) year of deployment and recording; 
c) have sufficient memory space (at least 1.5 TB) to allow for capture of acoustic signals both at high frequency sampling rates (at least 320 KHz) for several minutes/hour and lower frequency sampling rates (at least 8KHz) for many minutes/hour for at least one (1) year of deployment and recording;
d) have the ability to easily program custom recording duty cycles, includingswitching between multiple sampling rates, recording durations and sleep cycles during a single deployment (e.g. ability to cycle between making a recording at a high frequency sampling rate for one specified time period, and a time period when no recording is made);;
e) have low levels of system self-noise to allow for accurate measurement of ambient acoustic noise levels;
f) be deployable to depths of at least 2000 meters for long periods of time;
g) store date and time-stamped acoustic files thatcan be downloaded in .wav format;
h) have a user-friendly interface for interacting with the system including turning the system on/off, setting the system internal clocks, programming duty cycles/sampling rates/recording durations and downloading data; and
i) be successfully field-tested to do (a) through (h) above..
4. Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement 
This procurement is subject to the following trade agreement(s) 
o Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)

5. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier 
The supplier selected in advance and identified in section 10, JASCO Applied Sciences (Canada) Ltd., is to our knowledge the only supplier meeting all the specifications required in the section 3.  

DFO Science, in both Atlantic and Pacific regions, currently owns several AMARs supplied by JASCO Applied Sciences (Canada) Ltd.  These AMARS have been used successfully to collect data in support of marine research programs in Canadian Waters since 2010.  The Science Branch therefore already has mooring configurations and protocols established for these instruments.  Purchase of additional AMARs will ensure that the acoustic monitoring work conducted using these instruments will be comparable to past and ongoing datasets being conducted by the AMARs currently owned by DFO.  

Use of a different type of system would require additional costs associated with the development of a new mooring configurations and protocols and new data analysis methods.  Additionally, thedata collected would be more difficult to compare to past and future AMAR datasets.  The most significant cost/implication is that other type of autonomous acoustic recorders are generally not able to record at the desired frequency range and sampling schedule over the required timeframe, and would require more deployments and retrievals throughout the year to collect the data needed which would incur significant increases in costs associated with fieldwork and would not be logistically feasible.

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

7. Exclusions and/or Limited Tendering Reasons 
The following exclusion(s) and/or limited tendering reasons are invoked under the: 

Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) - Article 506.12 (b)


8. Period of the proposed contract or delivery date 
The product must be delivered prior to 12 January 2017.

9. Cost estimate of the proposed contract 
The estimated value for this notice is in the following cost category:  between $100,000.00 and $150,000.00 (applicable taxes included).

10. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier 
JASCO Applied Sciences (Canada) Ltd.
Suite 202 
32 Troop Ave
Dartmouth, NS
B3B 1Z1

11. Suppliers' right to submit a statement of capabilities 
Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the goods, servicesor 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 thesupplier meets the advertised requirements.

12. Closing date for a submission of a statement of capabilities 
The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is:  2:00 p.m. AST, Thursday, 27 October 2016

13. Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities 
Darren Conrad
Supply Specialist
Public Services and Procurement Canada
Atlantic Region - Acquisitions Branch 
1713 Bedford Row
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3J 3C9
Telephone:  (902) 496-5353
Facsimile:  (902) 496-5016
E-mail address:  Darren.Conrad@pwgsc-tpsgc.gc.ca





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.