Vessel Charter - Beaufort Sea

Trade Agreement: Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
Tendering Procedures: Generally only one firm has been invited to bid
Non-Competitive Procurement Strategy: Government Objectives Representing Best Interests/Value to Govt
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Vendor Name and Address: 
FROSTI FISHING LIMITED
Suite 1 - 330 3rd Ave West
Prince Rupert British Columbia
Canada
V8J1L4
Nature of Requirements: 

Vessel Charter - Beaufort Sea

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 
Fisheries and Oceans Canada has a requirement for the provision of a ship and crew, as well as handling of permits, certifications and providing logistics support for readying the ship for work in Canadian Arctic waters, transit through US waters, mobilization to/from the study area, fueling, and crew changes.

This ship and crew charter is in support of survey work to establish regional baselines for diversity, habitat uses, and relative abundances of fishes and invertebrates in the sampled region.

The sampling region will span east-west from the Northwest Territories-Nunavut border north of Victoria Island to the Yukon-Alaskan border; north-south from Canadian coast to M’Clure Strait north of Banks Island (to a maximum sampling depth of 2000 m).

The period of work is for one year, with an additional two one-year option periods.

The annual task schedule is as follows:
Task 1. Gear-up and outfitting of the ship for the scientific survey. To be completed by June 30th of each survey year.

Task 2. Mobilization. To be completed by the end of the first week in July of each survey year.

Task 3. Sea trial(s) in southern waters. To be completed by July 7th of each survey year.

Task 4. Transit to and from the study area. The vessel must be in the study area no later than August 1st (ice-permitting), and plan to depart the study area by no later than September 15th of each survey year.

Task 5. Scientific survey. To be completed during the period of July 25th and September 15th of each survey year. A minimum of 28 sampling days during this period. 

Task 6. Demobilization. To be completed immediately upon return to the vessel’s home port at the end of each survey.

3. Criteria for assessment of the Statement of Capabilities 

Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that it meets the following requirements: 

Experience
- Ship’s Captain and first mate have at least 5 years’ experience operating bottom and mid-water fishing trawls;
- Ship’s Captain has at least two (2) years’ experience conducting trawling operations in the Arctic during the summer;
- Each additional crew member has at least one (1) season experience working aboard a commercial stern trawler;
- The vessel’s operations manager has at least three (3) years’ experience coordinating permitting and logistics (e.g., fueling, shore support) within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the western Canadian Arctic, and logistics for transit and fueling in Alaskan waters.

Certifications
- The Contractor must meet necessary operating standards, and acquisition of all required insurance, certifications and permits, to conduct work in Canadian waters and for transit through US Arctic waters beginning July 2020 through to end of October 2022. If the Contractor does not have the required insurance or certifications, a description of deficiencies and timelines and strategies associated with attaining the requirements is required. Permits are required for each applicable year.
- Vessel has a minimum ice classification of ICE-C (Det Norske Veritas Classification), or equivalent.
- Ship’s Captain meets all of the requirements of Transport Canada (http://www.tc.gc.ca) to conduct work in the study area, and its equivalent in the US to transit through Alaskan waters.

Vessel Specifications
- Vessel is equipped for, and capable of, operating specified benthic and pelagic research trawls (including otter trawls) to depths of 2000 m;
- Vessel has at least 2 auxiliary winches, one equipped with 3/8 in diameter stainless steel cable and the other with insulated conductor cable, sufficient to deploy sampling equipment (e.g., 24 bottle CTD-Rosette, 0.5 m box-core) to depths of 1500 m;
- Vessel has wet-lab space for 8 people with stainless steel work bench, sink with freshwater, two additional 6 foot workbenches, and electrical power;
- Vessel can accommodate a minimum of 8 science crew including cabins, beds and full board meals (including a minimum of 2 hot meals per 12 hr shift) that may include provision for vegetarians and other special diet needs;
- Food services must include: 1) three meals per 12 hour shift, including a minimum of two hot meals, and snacks, 2) meals that are well balanced, nutritious, palatable and varied with provisions for vegetarians and special diet needs if necessary, and 3) flexible meal times to accommodate variable work hours;
- Vessel has sufficiently small draft to operate safely in waters as shallow as 20 m;
- Vessel has indoor catch sorting facilities sufficient to accommodate up to 4 people;
- Vessel has trawl-way catch sorting facilities sufficient to accommodate up to 4 people.
Availability
- The supplier must provide a minimum of 28 days of science work within the study area annually, for up to three (3) consecutive years, during the period of 25 July to 15 September, exclusive of transit days to and from its home port.

4. Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement 
This procurement is subject to the following trade agreement(s) (insert the applicable trade agreement(s)):
- Canadian Free Trade Agreement

5. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier 
Previous work under the Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment (BREA, 2012-2014) established regional baselines for diversity, habitat uses, and relative abundances of fishes and invertebrates in the offshore Canadian Beaufort Sea. The proposed survey aims to 1) extend baseline coverage to new areas of the western Canadian Arctic and 2) to build a time-series documenting ecosystem variability among years through repeat sampling of stations visited during the BREA. Rigorous scientific understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of fishes and associated prey and habitats is essential to establishing reliable baselines and understanding of ecosystem structure, functioning, and change over time.

Random vessel effects introduce variations in sampling as a result of attributes of the vessel, gear deployment, and crew actions. These variations negatively influence catch data, sampling effort and thus overall results and scientific interpretations. Significant effects on both within-year and inter-annual variations result in data and knowledge which precludes effective scientific knowledge outcomes. For example, fishing effort of an individual vessel may be impacted among years of sampling as a result of improvements to gear, changes to vessel characteristics, and improvement of skipper skills with time (Gulland 1983), thus greater variation is introduced when more than one vessel is compared. In addition to major factors such as engine power and gear types (Beverton and Holt 1954), individual factors such as gear specifications, variances in gear deployment, availability of electronic equipment, the experience level of the crew and rigging of the gear also contributed to variations in fishing efficiency (Mahévas et al. 2004). Thus, among vessel variation ultimately affects data collected and correlations between catch-per-unit-effort and the local abundance of fishes, contributing to biases in statistics and error in the estimation of fish abundance (Gillis and Peterman 1998). These effects may negate scientific validity of the findings. 

Variations among vessels as a source of error in research findings must be minimized to effectively deliver scientific knowledge. Comparability of data among years is essential to meeting our project objectives, and is a key element of the science advice that will result from this work. The F/V Frosti was used to establish preliminary baselines during the BREA program, and it is imperative to use the same platform to eliminate vessel-based variation in our time-series to deliver accurate project results for temporal and spatial aspects of this research.

Should a vessel other than F/V Frosti be used, a multi-day paired-vessel comparison will be required to verify that there is no significant difference in fish catch composition and relative abundances. This comparison will add substantial cost to the requirement in order to pay for time of two vessels, and will only be feasible for potential suppliers within the Pacific Region.

Coordination of logistics in the western Canadian Arctic is extremely challenging due to limited suppliers, unpredictable and harsh weather resulting in unreliable transportation infrastructure, and poor communications infrastructure over a huge and isolated geographic region. Previous work in the region has shown that knowledge of available logistical resources, and established relationships with local suppliers, are both essential to delivering safe and effective research programs. The management team of the F/V Frosti have a pre-existing network of suppliers with whom they developed strong working relationships during the BREA program.

Literature cited:
Beverton, J.H. and Holt, S.J. 1954. Fishing mortality and effort. On the dynamics of exploited fish populations. Chapman and Hall, London. 533pp. 
Gillis, D.M., Peterman, R.M. 1998. Implications of the interference among fishing vessels and the ideal free distribution to the interpretation of the CPUE. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 55: 37-46. 
Gulland, J.A. 1983. Fish Stock Assessment: A manual of basic methods. FAW/Wiley Series on Food and Aquaculture. XII-223 pp. 
Mahévas, S., Sandon, Y., Biseau, A. 2004. Quantification of annual variations in fishing power due to vessel characteristics : an application to the bottom-trawlers of South-Brittany targeting anglerfish (Lophius budegassa and Lophius piscatorius). ICES Journal of Marine Science. 61: 71-83. 

6. Government Contracts Regulations Exception(s) 
The following exception(s) to the Government Contracts Regulations is (are) 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 limited tendering reason is invoked under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement - Article 513, subarticle 1. (b)(iii) where there is an absence of competition for technical reasons.

8. Period of the proposed contract or delivery date 
The proposed contract is for a period of 1 year, with two, one-year option periods.

9. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier 
Frosti Fishing Ltd.
330 3Rd Ave W Unit 1
Prince Rupert, British Columbia V8J 1L4
Canada

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 24, 2020 at 2:00PM Pacific Time.

12. Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities 
Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:
Name:  Torrey Buchan
Organization: Marine Acquisitions, Pacific Region
Public Works and Government Services Canada

Address: Suite 401 - 1230 Government Street
Victoria, BC
V8W 3X4
Telephone: 250-216-2092
E-mail: Torrey.Buchan@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.