Individually Ventilated (IVC) Racks

Trade Agreement: NAFTA/AIT/Canada FTAs with Peru/Colombia/Panama
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: 
ALLENTOWN CAGING
EQUIPMENT ROUTE 526
P.O. BOX 698
ALLENTOWN New Jersey
United States
8501-0698
Nature of Requirements: 

Individually Ventilated (IVC) Racks

H4067-163563/A
Shannahan, Cassandra
Telephone No. - (819) 420-1068 (    )

1. Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) 

An ACAN is a public notice indicating to the supplier community that a department or agencyintends 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 

Health Canada’s Food Directorate requires one (1) individually ventilated (IVC) rack for mice and four (4) for rats to carry out Research and Scientific Horizontal Technical Services and Animal Care Services in support of Regulatory, Diagnostic and Regulatory Research activities for clients in the Health Products and Food Branch (HPFB).

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 individually ventilated (IVC) rack meets the following requirements: 

a) Must have high efficiency blowers with ratings at or below .024 KW/h;
b) Acoustic testing on air blowers which are located within close proximity to the animals must meet or have lower values than 20 dBa;
c) Must have a HEPA filter replacement indicator that is based on filter loading, NOT running hour timer;
d) Must have cage lock indicators that only flag the location of a cage that is not docked correctly; cage lock indicators that display flags when the cage space is left vacant are not acceptable;
e) Must be compatible with racks that fit our bottle and cage washer equipment; and
f) Rat cages must provide a minimum of 142 square inches and mouse cages should provide a minimum of 77.5 square inches.

4. Applicability of the trade agreements to the procurement 

This procurement is subject to the following trade agreements: 
- Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)
- North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

5. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier 

The IVC rack from Allentown Inc. has the following unique technical features not available through other vendors: 

a) Must have high efficiency blowers with ratings at or below .024 KW/h.  
 
This type of equipment is used 24/7; therefore high efficiency blowers with ratings at or below .024 KW/h are paramount. Allentown uses brushless high efficiency motors which exceeds these requirements.

b) Acoustic testing on air blowers which are located withinclose proximity to the animals must meet or have lower values than 20 dBa.

Animals to be housed in these type of units are very sensitive to noise; acoustic testing on air supply blowers that are located within close proximity to the animals must have values that meet or are lower than 20 dbA. Noise and vibration have a huge impact on rodent housing; thus acquiring low dba equipment reduces this impact.

c) Must have a HEPA filter replacement indicator that is based on filter loading, NOT runninghour timer. 

HEPA filters are extremely expensive to replace and we require the HEPA filter to be used to its full potential. The HEPA filter replacement indicator technology in the units must be based on filter load and not by an hourly timer. The technology on the equipment proposed is based on filter load which will greatly reduce our costs on filter replacement. 

d) Must have cage lock indicators that only flag the location of a cage that is not docked correctly; cage lock indicators that display flags when the cage space is left vacant are not acceptable.

Ensuring that air supply to the cages is appropriate depends on the cage being docked properly.  Cage lock indicators that will only exhibit or flag the location of a cage that is not docked correctly must be available. A cage lock indicator that exhibits a flag when the cage space is left vacant is undesirable, because staff waste large amounts of time checking flagged space when no problem exists.

e) Must be compatible with racks that fit our bottle and cage washer equipment.

The proposed equipment is compatible with the racks that fit our bottle and cage washer equipment. There are only two types of equipment which our bottle and cage washing equipment are templated for and this is one of them.  These templated racks are used many times per day and allow the user to easily load and unload washers and reload supplies with ease.

The cage washers currently in use are: 
- Steris Basil 4700 cage washer with Ancare Corp. custom stainless rack template for cages from Techniplast (140 square inches, 75 square inches)
- Allentown polysulfone (142 square inches, 77.5 square inches)

The bottle washer currently in use is:
- Steris Reliance 450 with Ancare Corp. stainless bottle racks templated for the Techniplast 300ml bottle and the Allentown 250ml and 350 ml water bottle

f) Rat cages must provide a minimum of 142 square inches and mouse cages should provide a minimum of 77.5 square inches.

Maximum internal cage space must be provided for the rodents. Animal health and well-being are directly related to living space.

6. Government Contracts Regulations Exception

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

7. Exclusions and/or Limited Tendering Reasons 

The following exclusions and/or limited tendering reasons are invoked under the: 
- Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) - Articles506.12(b)
- North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) - Article 1016.2(b)

8. Period of the proposed contract or delivery date 

- The equipment must be delivered on or before March 31, 2017 

9. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier 

Allentown Caging
165 Route 526 
Allentown, NJ
08501 USA

10. 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.

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

The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is December 20, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. EST.  

12. Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities 

Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to: 

Cassandra Shannahan
Public Works and Government Services Canada
Acquisitions Branch
Commercial and Consumer Products Directorate
11 Laurier Street, 6A2, Phase III
Place du Portage, Gatineau, Québec, K1A 0S5

Telephone: (819) 420-1068
Facsimile:  (819) 956-3814
E-mail address: cassandra.shannahan@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.