Crystal Liquid Handling Robot

Trade Agreement: NAFTA / CFTA / FTAs with Peru / Colombia / Panama / Korea
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: 
TTP Labtech Ltd.
Melbourn Science Park
United Kingdom
SG8 6EE
Nature of Requirements: 

Crystal Liquid Handling Robot

01689-190869/A
Littlefield, Mike
Telephone No. - (613) 545-8058 (    )
Fax No. - (613) 545-8067 (    )

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 

Crystal Liquid Handling Robot

The Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) has a requirement to acquire a Crystal Liquid Handling Robot, including on-site training for their site located in London, Ontario. 

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/equipment/system meets the following requirements: 

a) The system must utilize positive displacement pipetting technology and disposable pipettes for the reliable, repeatable, accurate and precise pipetting of sub-microliter volumes of liquid for the purpose of the crystallization of proteins and other biological macromolecules. Positive displacement is needed because we use viscous solutions such as glycerol and polyethylene glycol in our crystallization experiments and air displacement pipetting technology is unable to achieve reliable and accurate pipetting of these solutions.

b) The system must use disposable pipette tips in order to ensure zero cross-contamination risk for biological samples or small molecule compounds. Disposable pipettes also save on large amounts of washing solutions such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and ethanol that must be discarded.

c) The system must be fully automated and able to dispense reliably, repeatedly, accurately and precisely aqueous solutions of proteins or small molecule compounds in 100%DMSO solution in the range of25 nL to 1 microliter (1 µL). This is necessary because we want to minimize our precious protein samples in crystallization experiments as well as minimize the amount of small molecule compound we place into each experiment.

d) The system must be fully automated and able to dispense reliably, repeatedly, accurately and precisely solutions of proteins solubilized in detergents in the minimum range of 25 nL to 1 µL range. We need to be able to crystallize membrane proteins and therefore the system has to be able handle detergents. This is where the positive-displacement requirement really helps.

e) The system must be fully automated and able to reliably, repeatedly, accurately and precisely pipette from stock solutions of seeds of crystalline and synthetic materials. This is needed because our crystallization projects will need microseeding to produce X-ray quality crystals.

f) The system must be fully automated and able to dispense reliably, repeatedly, accurately and precisely protein and mother liquor for an entire 96 well plate in both "Sitting Drop" and "Hanging Drop" modes in less than 2 minutes whilst using the same pipetting mechanism. This is important to us because small volumes of liquid can evaporate quickly. We need to setup and seal the plates as quickly as possible. In addition, we need to be able setup both Sitting Drop and Hanging Drop with the same system because protein crystals often only grow from one approach.

g) The system must be able to aspirate multiple liquid sources down to 10 nL and dispense them simultaneously, and must be able to do so in 1536-well formatted plates. We use a lot of different liquids with different viscosities in my lab so the system must be able handle solutions such as PEG, DMSO, Glycerol and alcohols.

h) The system must be able deliver zero cross-contamination of protein samples and small molecule compounds to ensure the contents of the wells are what we think they are without even 1 % of a carry over. Our enzymes in high-throughput screening cannot end up in our control wells or our results will be flawed.

4.  Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement 

This procurement is subject to the following trade agreement(s): 
a. Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
b. Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement 
c. Canada-Columbia Free Trade Agreement
d. Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement
e. Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement
f. Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement
g. North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

5. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier 

Company "TTP Labtech" is the only authorized distributor of MOSQUITO crystallography Instruments in Canada.  Thus, according to the purchasing policies of Government Contracts, PSPC proposes to award the contract to "TTP Labtech", that is, to our knowledge, the only company able to provide the required goods. 
 
6. Government Contracts Regulations Exception(s) 

The following exception(s) to the Government Contracts Regulations is (are) invoked for this procurement under Section 10, subsection 6(d) only one person is capable of performing the contract.

 
7. Exclusions and/or Limited Tendering Reasons

The following exclusion(s) and/or limited tendering reasons are invoked under the section of the trade agreement(s) specified:

Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
Chapter Five - Government Procurement
Article 513: Limited Tendering
1. Subject to paragraphs 2 and 3, and provided that it does not use this provision for the purpose of avoiding competition among suppliers or in a manner that discriminates against suppliers of any other Party or protects its own suppliers, a procuring entity may use limited tendering in the following circumstances:
(b) if the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute goods or services exist for any of the following reasons:
(iii) due to an absence of competition for technical reasons.

Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement 
Canada-Columbia Free Trade Agreement
Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement
Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement
Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement
Article XIII Limited Tendering
1. Provided that it does not use this provision for the purpose of avoiding competition among suppliers or in a manner that discriminates against suppliers of any other Party or protects domestic suppliers, a procuring entity may use limited tendering and may choose not to apply Articles VII through IX, X (paragraphs 7 through 11), XI, XII, XIV and XV only under any of the following circumstances:
b. where the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute goods or services exist for any of the following reasons:
iii. due to an absence of competition for technical reasons.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
Part Four: Government Procurement
Chapter Ten Article 1016:
Limited Tendering Procedures: 2. An entity may use limited tendering procedures in the following circumstances and subject to the following conditions:
(b) where there is an absence of competition for technical reasons, the goods or services can be supplied only by a particular supplier and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists.

8. Period of the proposed contract or delivery date 

a. The equipment must be delivered and initial training must be performed before 31 March 2019.

9. Cost estimate of the proposed contract 

a. The estimated value of the contract, is $145,000.00 (GST/HST extra). 

10. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier 

TTP Labtech Ltd 
Melbourn Science Park 
Melbourn 
Royston 
Herts SG8 6EE, UK

11. 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.

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

The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is January 25, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. EST. 

13. Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities 

Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to: 

Name: Mike Littlefield
Title: Supply Specialist
Public Services and Procurement Canada
Acquisitions Branch
86 Clarence Street, 2nd Floor
Kingston, Ontario, K7L 1X3
Telephone: (613) 545-8058
Facsimile: (613) 545-8067
E-mail address: mike.littlefield@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.