SKA PRE-CONSTRUCTION

Trade Agreement: Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)
Tendering Procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid
Attachment: None
Non-Competitive Procurement Strategy: Government Objectives
Representing Best Interests/Value to Govt
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Vendor Name and Address:
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.
13800 COMMERCE PARKWAY
RICHMOND British Columbia
Canada
V6V2J3
Nature of Requirements:
Square Kilometre Array pre-construction

31034-135332/A
Park, Isabell
Telephone No. - (250) 363-3981 ( )
Fax No. - (250) 363-0395
Email: j••••••••@•••••.••.ca

Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) 31034-13-5332
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.
Definition of the requirement
The NRC-Hertzberg has a requirement to provide domain specific
project management, project engineering, system engineering, and
engineering services in support of leading an international
consortium in the study, prototyping, and design of the Central
Signal Processor (CSP) of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio
astronomy project. The CSP will be a state-of-the-art digital
signal processing system processing vast amounts of data
received from radio frequency receptors distributed in the
Australian outback and the South African desert. Canada has
decided to lead this consortium which is one of eleven consortia
working together in the larger SKA program. The supplier will
work closely with the NRC to co-lead this work.
The work will involve the following:
Key Tasks and Objectives
" Provide domain specific project management services to lead a
consortium of about 80 people from more than 25 organizations
and more than 10 countries through the Pre-construction design
phase of activities.
" Provide domain specific project and system engineering
services to lead the consortium through requirements analysis,
preliminary design, prototyping, critical design, and
preparation of a design data package for the construction of the
CSP. This design package may subsequently be used by the SKA
Organization in an international competitive construction
request for proposal process.
" The intermediate documentation and final resulting data
package will meet industry standards in terms of quality,
completeness, and content.
" The proposed solution must meet the stringent requirements
imposed by the SKA Project Office for deployment in the
Australia outback and the South African desert where power is
limited and there are harsh environmental conditions.
" The objective is to arrive at the solution that provides the
most delivered science value for the least capital and
operations cost within the project constraints.
" The consortium is made up of a wide range of organizations and
personnel, consisting of astronomers, mathematicians, computer
scientists, and engineers. As such, the leadership team must
assemble, train, mentor, and monitor the participants, as well
as negotiate scope of work, content, value, and approach with
the consortium and with the SKA Organization throughout the
process to ensure a successful outcome.
" As the consortium is comprised of many organizations with a
wide range of personnel, experience, expertise, and track
record; and as the nature of the work is highly technical and
uncertain in terms of quantifying construction costs; and as the
primary objective of the pre-construction stage is to develop
accurately costed specifications, it is a requirement that the
supplier have a proven track record in accurately estimating
budget and schedule for large, complex international projects to
ensure that the costs and specifications resulting from
pre-construction can be successfully executed within budget in
the construction stage. To achieve this goal, the supplier must
have a proven track record, with demonstrable time and
cost-proven metrics, based on direct experience with previous
large projects of a similar nature, to demonstrate that it can
ensure delivery of accurate specifications, with an accurate
cost, to be executed within an accurate schedule.

Criteria for assessment of the Statement of Capabilities
(Minimum Essential Requirements)
Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement
of capabilities that it meets the following requirements:
o Must be in good standings with SKA Organization.
o Extensive corporate and individual experience (>15 years in
related fields) and credentials (relevant post-graduate degrees)
in the domain specific project management, technical project
engineering, system engineering, digital signal processing, and
full life-cycle development of operational, high speed,
real-time, Radio Frequency (RF) signal processing solutions
within large, complex computing systems.
o Corporate and individual experience in leading large,
international, distributed, multi-disciplinary, multi-sector
(government, academia, industry) teams in the development of
complex engineering solutions.
o A proven track record, with demonstrable time and cost-proven
metrics, based on direct experience with previous large projects
of a similar nature, to demonstrate that it can ensure delivery
of accurate specifications, with an accurate cost, to be
executed within an accurate schedule.
o Knowledge and understanding of Square Kilometer Array radio
astronomy project.
o Must demonstrate ability and capacity to perform key tasks and
objectives outlined above.
Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement
This procurement is subject to the following trade agreement(s):
Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT)
Canadian Content Policy
This procurement is limited to Canadian goods and service.
Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier
The nature and scale of the work requires the capability to
provide technically complex and successful large international
project management expertise, coupled with large systems
development experience in specific segments of Industry. MDA
Systems Ltd. is the only bidder known to the Government that
fully satisfies the essential requirements noted above. MDA has
expertise across highly specialized industry sectors (including
Space, Robotics, and Information management) and has repeatedly
delivered highly complex, long term programs. MDA has the
expertise to manage the complex linkages required within
industry and Government to facilitate the execution of large
scale international projects such as the SKA. MDA serves a
worldwide customer base which includes the Government of Canada,
from its operations located throughout Canada, USA and
internationally.
With respect to the technical capabilities required per the
"Central Signal Processor", MDA has unique in-Canada system
expertise in the field of operational, high speed, real-time
radio signal processing within large complex computing systems
that is essential to NRC in establishing and leading a
cooperative, credible, international consortium for the SKA CSP
within the very tight time-frames required. MDA, Canada's
foremost aerospace and radar company, is internationally
recognized as a world leader in radio frequency signal
processing and has extensive experience in bidding and
successfully executing international programs of this type.
MDA has been engaged in the SKA program for more than two years
and has key staff who each have more than 20 years of experience
in these domains, have suitable graduate level education in
engineering and the sciences relevant to this work, and are
available and fully up to speed on the SKA program and can
therefore provide immediate and long-term critical support to
the NRC.
There is a potential that members of the international
consortium ( which includes MDA) formed to conduct the work in
the Pre-construction phase intend to bid for subsequent
construction phase work through a competitive international
tender process, which may include RFP documents produced by the
international consortium managed by the SKA Organization. It is
possible that part or all of the CSP design package will be used
by the Crown in a Canadian RFP process to support Canada's role
in future CSP construction activities.
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".
Ownership of Intellectual Property
Ownership of any Foreground Intellectual Property arising out of
the proposed contract will vest in the Contractor. But, the
Crown and the SKA Organization will have unrestricted rights to
any FIP (and co-mingled Background IP) created during the CSP
Pre-construction work for the purposes of the SKA project.
Period of the proposed contract or delivery date
The proposed contract is for a period of three years. The
Preliminary Design Review is expected in late 2014 and the
Critical Design Review is expected in the fall of 2016.
Comprehensive review packages will be generated by the
consortium under the supervision of the leadership team.
Cost estimate of the proposed contract
The estimated value of the contract, including option(s), is
$1.75M (GST/HST extra).
Name and address of the pre-identified supplier
MDA SYSTEMS LTD.
13800 Commerce Parkway
Richmond, British Columbia
CANADA, V6V 2J3

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.
Closing date for a submission of a statement of capabilities
The closing date and time for accepting statements of
capabilities is November 5, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. PDT
.
Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities
Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:
Isabell (Ji-Yon) Park
Supply Specialist
401-1230 Government Street
Victoria, B.C V8W3X4
Telephone : (250) 363-3981
Facsimile : (250) 363-0395
Email : j••••••••@••••••••.••.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.