Kongsberg TOPAS PS 120 Parametric Sub-Bottom Profiler

Trade Agreement: CFTA / FTAs with Peru / Colombia / Panama / Korea
Tendering Procedures: Generally only one firm has been invited to bid
Non-Competitive Procurement Strategy: Goods Purchased on a Commodity Market
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Vendor Name and Address: 
KONGSBERG MARITIME CANADA LTD.
261 Brownlow Avenue
Dartmouth Nova Scotia
Canada
B3B2B6
Nature of Requirements: 

Nature of Requirements: 

Title: Kongsberg TOPAS PS 120 Parametric Sub-Bottom Profiler
Solicitation Number: 5P047-210389/A

1. Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) Explanation

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 requisition is raised to establish a sole-source contract for Parks Canada (PC) for a parametric sub-bottom profiler system to support its underwater archaeological surveys across Canada.

These surveys can focus both on the detailed inspection and analysis of individual sites or more broadly on the inventory of many cultural sites in the conduct of more expansive area surveys.
The equipment will principally serve in the detection of buried archaeological sites, features, and artefacts (large and small). It will also assist the UAT in establishing the depth and stratigraphic context of these archaeological materials, including allowing detailed substrate analysis in association with embedded shipwrecks and other cultural sites, to determine potential effects on structural stability where sediment migration and/or shear movements are a concern. The equipment will similarly serve in delineating underwater archaeological site extents, for example in locating detached debris field materials surrounding disarticulated shipwreck sites.
The primary performance criteria of the equipment, therefore, is the optimization of horizontal and vertical resolution of the stratigraphic data in order to maximize the potential for the successful detection and differentiation of buried cultural objects. These archaeological requirements differ markedly from the typical geological and limnological application of sub-bottom technology, where maximum penetration is sought for identifying oil and gas deposits and different sediment interfaces at considerable depths below the surface.

The advantage of parametric sub-bottom technology to object detection in underwater archaeology relates to the narrow beam widths that it generates at low frequency, these produced from the linear interaction of two higher parent frequencies. The resulting low frequency (long wavelength) parametric signal shares the narrow beam width of the parent frequencies, with no acoustic side-lobe interference (and thus no ringing). The result is a sub-bottom signal that more directly focusses its acoustic energy at a normalized incident angle to the seafloor, allowing adequate penetration, without the noise and poor spatial resolution that inheres with traditional sub-bottom technology with its much wider beam angles. As such, parametric sub-bottom technology is particularly well suited to the detection of archaeological materials, where penetration beyond 40 m is generally not required, but very high horizontal and vertical resolution are. This degree of penetration can also be achieved with much smaller and more portable transducer arrays, given the highly directional nature of the parametric signal.

Advanced signal post-processing can further improve the spatial resolution of parametric sub-bottom profiler data using synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) processing algorithms. UAT specifically requires SAS post-processing capability as a component of the sub-bottom profiler acquisition, as it can serve to dramatically enhance the detection, localization, definition, and differentiation of buried objects, including archaeological materials, by significantly improving the along-track resolution of the resulting acoustic profiles.

UAT will also deploy the parametric sub-bottom profiler to identify submerged Palaeo landscapes for predicative archaeological site modelling purposes. This relates to the search of habitation and other cultural-use areas associated with the coastal migration of marine-adapted human populations along the Pacific Coast between 14,000 and 16,000 years ago. Due to post-glacial sea level change and isostatic rebound, such landscapes would now be situated in near coastal waters at depths beyond 90 m and concealed by extensive sedimentation.

Furthermore, UAT will explore the documented potential of an observed phenomenon related to the use of CHIRP (Compressed High Intensity Radar Pulse) transmit waveforms to acoustically excite and detect culturally knapped flint lithic deposits in underwater archaeology. This phenomenon involves inducing an acoustic response in culturally modified lithic materials when 2-30 kHz CHIRP resonant frequencies are applied with a sub-bottom profiler, and has been used successfully to locate Mesolithic archaeological sites in Europe. This technique holds similar promise in allowing the possible detection of Palaeolithic sites in coastal British Columbia using acoustic remote-sensing technology.

Another priority use of the equipment will come in the quantification of near shore sediment migration over time to document the effects of climate-change induced coastal erosion. Coastal erosion threatens the integrity of vulnerable shoreline cultural sites, ecosystem conservation areas, and Parks Canada infrastructure nationwide, and is thus of acute and growing concern to the Agency.

The parametric sub-bottom equipment will be used by UAT across Canada, in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans, but also in the Great Lakes and other fresh water environments, in depths ranging from 2 m (or less) to 400 m.

The equipment needs to be portable to the extent that it will be used variously on the Parks Canada 29 m research vessel David Thompson, smaller survey vessels in the UAT fleet including 6.5 m Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats, as well as other vessels of opportunity. Typically, the transducer array will be deployed in an over-the-side pole-mount configuration.
The equipment will also be used in conjunction with the UAT’s survey grade inertial navigation systems (INS), allowing precise position and attitude control (pitch, roll, and heave) to be applied in the sub-bottom processer in support of dynamic beam steering and accurate XYZ data plotting, essential to achieving uniform coverage and highest possible positional accuracy.

Finally, the equipment will also routinely be used alongside the UAT’s multi-beam echosounder (MBES) equipment, which can provide topographic slope information to the sub-bottom processor in order for it to steer the parametric signal at a normal incidence angle to the seafloor, ensuring optimal penetration, stratigraphic data quality, and the avoidance of data gaps.
Accordingly, the sub-bottom equipment must be capable of both along-track and across-track dynamic beam steering, in order to take advantage of these considerable UAT investments in INS and MBES technology.

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:

o The system MUST allow for user selectable Continuous Wave (CW), CHIRP, and Ricker transmission waveforms.

o The system MUST provide a selectable parametric (i.e. secondary) frequency range of 2 to 30 kHz, or wider.

o The system MUST provide a parametric (i.e. secondary) beam angle of  +/- 2 degrees or narrower.

o The system MUST be operable in water depths ranging from 2 m to 400 m, and be able to achieve penetration of up to 40 m depending on sediment type.

o The system MUST be capable of pulse lengths of 0.04 ms or shorter and ping rates of 30 Hz or faster (in shallow water CW transmission mode).

o The system MUST be capable of a sediment layer resolution of 5 cm or better.

o The system MUST be capable of both along-track AND across-track beam steering, enabling active pitch and roll stabilization.

o The system MUST also be capable of dynamic terrain compensation (when provided with topographic slope data from a multi-beam echosounder). In this case, the transmit beam should be steerable either automatically or manually, selectable by the user.

o The system MUST provide integrated capacity for synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) post-processing of the sub-bottom profile data.

o The system MUST provide integrated capacity for real-time de-reverberation processing to minimize display of acoustic multiples in shallow water survey conditions.

o Connectivity between the computer workstation and the transceiver unit MUST be ethernet based, allowing remote operation via shipboard LAN.

o The transceiver unit MUST accept vessel attitude inputs from an Applanix POS MV Ocean master INS, either through ethernet or RS-232/RS-422 serial connections.

o The transceiver unit MUST accept depth, vessel position, and GPS time synchronization inputs in standard NMEA-0183 serial data formats.

o The transceiver unit MUST allow external trigger input to enable coordinated operation with other acoustic survey equipment.

o The transducer MUST be small enough to be readily portable and mountable in an over-the-side pole-mount configuration in small boats, the transducer NOT weighing more than 30 kg and NOT measuring larger than 50 cm by cm in length and width.

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-Korea Free Trade Agreement;
c) Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA);
d) Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement;
e) Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement;
f) Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement;

5.  Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier

The only known supplier meeting the specifications required is Kongsberg Maritime Canada Ltd. For this reason it is proposed to negotiate directly with them for this requirement.

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 or firm 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 agreements specified:

o Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) - Article(s) 513, b, iii
o Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) - Article(s) Kbis-09, 1.b
o Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement - Article(s) 1409, 1.b 
o Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement - Article(s) 17.11, 2.b 
o Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement - Article(s) 14.3
o Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement - Article(s) 16.10, 1.b

8.  Period of the proposed contract

The system must be delivered on or before March 31st, 2022.

9. Cost Estimate of Proposed Contract

The estimated value of the contract is $161,170.77 CAN including taxes. 

9.  Name and address of the pre-identified supplier

Name: Kongsberg Maritime Canada Ltd.
Address: 261 Brownlow Avenue, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada   B3B 2B6 

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 22 February, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. EDT.

12.  Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities

Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:

Lorraine Larose
Supply Officer
Telephone: (873) 355-4839
E-mail: Lorraine.Larose@tpsgc-pwgsc.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.

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.