Intellectual Property:
The Crown will own the foreground intellectual property arising from work under this contract in accordance with exception 6.4.1 of the federal policy on Title to Intellectual Property Arising from Crown Procurement Contracts on the grounds that the main purpose of the Crown Procurement Contract, or of the deliverables contracted for, is to generate knowledge and information for public dissemination.
Mandatory Criteria:
The Bidder clearly identifies its Key Personnel for the project AND demonstrates in the proposal that at least one team member has at least 3 years experience in constructing biodiversity indicators using species population data.
The Bidder must demonstrate in the proposal that it has successfully carried out at least one project to produce a species-level biodiversity indicator at a national scale, or over a geographic extent larger than 1 000 000 km2.
Purpose:
To develop, in cooperation with Environment Canada scientists, a Canadian Species Index that will provide an indicator of trends in the health of Canadian ecosystems and biodiversity. To supply to Environment Canada the annotated dataset required to produce the indicator.
Background:
Environment Canada requires a number of indicators, to be used for a variety of reporting purposes. The indicator set reported by the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) Initiative serves to report to Canadians on environmental issues and on progress towards the goals and targets of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS); these indicators also support Departmental Performance Reports. Missing from the current suite of CESI indicators is a measure of the overall state and trends of biodiversity and ecosystem health in Canada. A Canadian Species Index, based on methodology developed for the World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Index (LPI), could fill this gap, but needs to be developed for Canada and assessed for suitability. The LPI is an indicator of the state of the world’s biodiversity, measuring trends in populations of vertebrate species in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. Canada has been involved in the successful development of the similar Arctic Species Trend Index, currently used to track trends in marine, terrestrial and freshwater Arctic vertebrate populations.
Objectives:
The final objective of this project is to report a scientifically sound, credible indicator of Canadian biodiversity and ecosystem health based on trends in animal populations.
In the first year of the contract , the contractor will identify data gaps, gather additional species data, annotate (“tag”) data with a range of taxonomic, geographic, habitat, and other information as agreed, explore the utility and feasibility of additional tags, conduct preliminary analyses, identify outstanding issues and potential solutions, and make recommendations for finalizing the indicator in following years. Option years 1 and 2, if exercised, will continue data acquisition, exploratory analysis, and critical examination of results, in close consultation with Environment Canada. At the close of each fiscal year, the contractor will supply Environment Canada with a “snapshot” of the tagged data.
Statement of work:
Initial Contract Period (contract award to March 31, 2014):
The first year of the contract will lay the ground work.
During the initial contract period, the contractor must complete the following tasks:
1) Have an initial meeting by teleconference to discuss the scope of the work with the Departmental Representative.
2) Examine existing data holdings and identify key data gaps.
3) Gather additional species data to support a Canadian Species Index (CSI), with a specific focus on acquiring data that address key data gaps.
4) Annotate data with data tags as used in the reporting of similar indicators (Living Planet Index, Arctic Species Trend Index).
5) Examine the feasibility and utility of additional data tags and make preliminary recommendations on their use. The purpose of the tags will be to extract useful subsets of data for analysis. Potential new tags to be considered should include i) Canadian ecozones and marine bioregions, ii) the conservation status of species under the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), iii) species ranks as assigned by The General Status of Species in Canada, iv) location of the population within a protected area, and v) others as suggested and agreed by CESI or the contractor during the course of work.
6) Conduct preliminary analysis, including an overall CSI and sub-indices as required to support interpretation and detect potential problems in data or design.
7) Identify outstanding issues that may affect the production of the final indicator and propose solutions if any.
8) Secure all necessary rights to any and all background (existing) intellectual property required to perform the Contract or required by the Crown to use the deliverables provided.
9) Have regular contact with the Project Authority, and any others as directed by the Project Authority, throughout the work to discuss scope of work, expectations, potential additional data sources, and direction of indicator development.
Project Deliverables:
In the initial contract period, the contractor must provide the following deliverables:
1. Work plan, to include the identification of data gaps and planned efforts to address key gaps,
2. An annotated collection of population data for Canadian species, to include terrestrial, marine, and freshwater species and representing most of Canada’s ecological regions, and to include no less than 100 annotated species population trends.
3. Preliminary data analyses to support discussion and identification of outstanding issues, including i) feasibility and utility of including additional tags appropriate to the Canadian context, ii) issues arising for the continued development of the indicator
4. Final report documenting issues identified in step 3, including an examination of potential solutions any problems identified and including recommendations on work required to finalize the indicator. Additional data for Canadian species to be included.
Deliverables must adhere to the following:
- Reports and methodology prepared in Word or a mutually agreed alternate format and submitted electronically;
- Database submitted in Excel or other spreadsheet or database program as agreed, and submitted electronically.
Payments and Deliverables Schedule for Initial Contract Period:
Payments will be made in Canadian dollars.
Year 1:
Due Date Amount
Deliverable #1: workplan One month after award of contract 20% of initial contract amount
Deliverable #2: tagged dataset February 15, 2014 25% of initial contract amount
Deliverable #3: analysis February 28, 2014 25% of initial contract amount
Deliverable #4: report March 28, 2014 30% of initial contract amount
Option Periods:
The resulting contract will include the option to extend for 2 additional 1 year periods.
If the option years are exercised, work will proceed through individual task authorizations. If a requirement for a specific task is identified, a draft “statement of task” will be prepared by the Environment Canada and sent to the Contractor. Once it receives the statement of task, the Contractor must submit a response to the Departmental Representative identified in the Task Authorization (TA), detailing the cost and time to complete the task. The Contractor’s response must be based on the firm, all-inclusive per diem rates set out in the Contract. The Contractor will not be paid for providing the response or for providing other information required to prepare and issue the TA. The Contractor must provide any information requested by Canada in relation to the preparation of a TA within three working days of the request, unless otherwise specified. If the Contractor’s task response is approved, Environment Canada will issue the TA.
First option year (April 1, 2014 – March 31, 2015):
The work of this option year, if exercised, will follow a pattern similar to the first year. Work in the first option year will address issues identified and recommendations made during the first year of work. Additional data to fill gaps will be sought and appropriately tagged for analysis. Data tags appropriate for Canadian analysis will be tested and applied to existing and new data. The analysis and production of an overall CSI and sub-indices will focus on the sensitivity of the indicator to known information gaps; address issues related to data, methods, and continuity in maintaining and updating the indicator; and consider ease of interpretation.
Second option year (April 1, 2015 – March 31, 2016):
The work of this option year, if exercised, will involve the acquisition and addition of new data sets. It will focus on ensuring outstanding gaps and issues are addressed, and the completed database will be provided to Environment Canada. Adequate knowledge transfer to Environment Canada will include appropriate documentation, methodology, and tools. Analyses will be completed to produce a publication-ready CSI and any sub-indices required.
The tasks to be performed in option years will include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following:
- Identification, acquisition, processing, and tagging of data contributing to the Index,
- Analysis of suitability of particular tag sets, including acquisition and evaluation of ancillary data to support tagging,
- Analysis of issues, challenges and recommendations arising in earlier work, development and implementation of recommendations or potential solutions, and testing,
- Generation of an overall index and sub-indices, with an analytical assessment of their quality including their credibility, sensitivity to uncertainty in the underlying data, ease of understanding, suitability and relevance for reporting, and sustainability for future reporting,
- Reports on methodology, issues, recommendations, analytical results, or other aspects of knowledge transfer as requested by the Departmental Representative,
- Provision of a complete and up-to-date database and analysis tools.
Option Period Basis of Payment:
For option years 1 and 2, if exercised, the contractor will provide invoices as per each individual Task Authorization, once agreed deliverables have been provided. Payments will be made in accordance with the firm, all-inclusive per diem rates provided in the successful bidder’s proposal. A per-diem rate is the rate for working a full 7.5 hour day.
Payment will be made within 30 days following the receipt of invoices and upon satisfaction and acceptance of deliverables by the Departmental Representative.
Project Budget – Initial Contract Period and Option Periods:
The total cost of this contract shall not exceed $45 000 in the first year. This covers the period from the date of award to March 28, 2014.
Environment Canada reserves the irrevocable right to exercise two option years for FY 2014-2015 (April 1, 2014-March 31, 2015) and FY 2015-2016 (April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016), with a maximum budget of $50,000 in each option year. The option years will be paid in accordance with the firm, all-inclusive per diem rates proposed by the successful bidder in the financial proposal.
