This Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) is a public notice indicating to the supplier community that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada intends to award a service contract 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 this ACAN, the Contracting Officer may then proceed with the award to the pre-identified supplier.
REQUIREMENT:
The Contractor shall develop an ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutagenized population for the crops Camelina sativa and Brassica carinata. The development of these populations will allow the identification of genetic variation for a number of key traits to contribute to agronomic improvement of these important oilseed crops.
SCOPE OF WORK / DELIVERABLES:
The Contractor shall undertake the following tasks from the seed AAFC will provide:
Phase 1 - EMS dose determination and large-scale treatment;
Phase II - Estimation of mutation density from M1 plants and preliminary screen for ALS mutants;
Phase III - M2 tissue archiving and DNA extraction;
Phase IV - Mine M2 population for variants in 3 ALS genes
The Contractor shall provide the following deliverables for each of the crops C. Sativa and B. Carinata:
By end of Phase I (6 months from start of project): Dose response curves, preliminary mutations rates and bulk mutagenized seed; M2 seed from at least 4000 M1 lines, with at least 20 seed per line;
By end of Phase II (8 months from start of project): Estimated global mutation density based on amplicon sequencing from up to 960 M1 individuals;
By end of Phase III (9 months from start of project): Pooled DNA and tissue from at least 5000 M2 lines;
By end of Phase IV (12 months from start of project): Characterised mutations for three target genes.
CRITERIA FOR ASSESSMENT OF THE STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES:
Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a Statement of Capabilities that they have exclusive access to Canadian Patent (CA 2911002) for high-throughput screening of populations for individuals comprising mutations in target sequences. This includes the capability to identify mutations in genes from polyploid species. The supplier must have a proven track record of developing and screening EMS populations for multiple plant species.
CONTRACT PERIOD: From Contract Award and conclude on or before March 31, 2021
ESTIMATED VALUE: $182,364.00 (including GST)
PRE-IDENTIFIED SUPPLIER:
Platform Genetics
4890 Victoria Avenue North, Box 4000
Vineland Station, Ontario
L0R 2E0
SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION:
Platform Genetics Inc. is the ONLY service provider that offers the ability to generate and screen mutagenized populations for crops in Canada. They have exclusive access to a Canadian patent (CA 2911002) for high-throughput screening of populations for individuals comprising mutations in target sequences. More importantly they have developed this proprietary methodology to allow them to identify mutations in genes from polyploid species. Both B. carinata and C. sativa are polyploid species, with multiple distinct but related genomes found within the nucleus; two in the case of B. carinata and three in the case of C. sativa.Thus genes inherited from each of the genomes control most traits and the contributing duplicate genes are highly conserved at the sequence level.Thus identifying single point mutations in individual genes is difficult, since the duplicate copy will mask potential mutations in simple assays.
Government Contracts Regulations Exception and Limited Tendering Reason:
Section 6 (d) has been invoked for this procurement as only one supplier (person/firm) is capable of performing the contract.
Where, for works of art, or for reasons connected with the protection of patents, copyrights or other exclusive rights, or proprietary information or 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.
STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES CLOSING DATE AND TIME:
The closing date and time for acceptance of Statement of Capabilities is November 8, 2019 at 2:00 pm CST.
Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services 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.
ACAN NOTICE:
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 Authority.
An ACAN allows departments and agencies to post a notice, for no less than 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.
Submission of Statement of Capabilities:
Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services described herein, may submit a Statement of Capabilities in writing, either via letter, facsimile or email 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 Solicitation Number, Name of Contracting Authority and closing date of the ACAN must appear within your Statement of Capabilities in block letters.
The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.
CONTRACTING AUTHORITY:
Melissa Smith, Senior Contracting Officer
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Western Service Centre
300 – 2010 12th Avenue
Regina, SK S4P 0M3
Phone: (306) 523-6545
Fax: (306) 780-5018
Email: m••••••••@••••••.ca
