SOLICITATION NO. T8080-240172
ADVANCE CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE
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(s).
1. TITLE
Railcar-Based Service and Performance Metrics
2. OBJECTIVE
Transport Canada seeks a subscription to a Data Platform, a full-featured interactive data service and web dashboard that provides comprehensive car-based service and performance metrics. This Platform must collect data in near real-time on the movement and performance of nearly 500,000 cars per month using a mix of proprietary sensors installed directly on cars, railway-provided locomotive tracking feeds, and Car Location Messages, the standard way in which the industry provides car tracking data to its customers.
3. DEFINITION OF THE REQUIREMENT
The Data Platform must consist of the following elements:
1. Anonymized and aggregated data available in a spatially enabled web-based interactive platform and dashboard that provides daily updates or better of the following key rail network service and performance metrics:
i. Railcar Counts by Station, Region, and Country
ii. Terminal Dwell times by day, week, month, quarter and year by station, region, province/state, and country (US, Canada & Mexico)
iii. Corridor cycle times by day, week, month, quarter, and year by station, region, province / state, and country (US, Canada & Mexico)
iv. Network Velocity by day, week, month, quarter, and year by corridor
v. Network Congestion by day, week, month, quarter, and year by corridor
vi. Profile of rail car time use at origin, in-transit and at destination
vii. Comparison analytics between commodities, regions, and railcar equipment type
2. The platform will be North American in scope covering domestic and transborder rail car movements;
3. In addition to the interactive web platform, the Contractor will also provide an Application Programming Interface (API) which allows the platform data to be transmitted automatically into TC’s Azure secure cloud storage area.
4. The platform will enable custom monitoring of key corridors and other locations using preset and user-definable geo-fences;
5. Support limited customization of webmaps including geography, time, and related formatting
6. Access to the web platform would be available for up to 75 named users.
7. A user guide explaining how the measures are calculated, including the number of railcar observations used to build the aggregate measures.
8. A limited set of anonymized weekly metrics (to be determined with the Contractor after contract award) that could be published on TC’s Transportation Data and Information Hub (TDIH).
The Contractor must be able to provide the following deliverables:
1. Access to the Data Platform as configured in definition of the requirement for a period of twelve (12) months from data of contract award.
2. Access to the API which will transmit anonymized data directly to TC’s cloud infrastructure
3. Technical support will be made available with business hour coverage (8 hours a day of coverage 5 days a week excluding holidays). Response time is expected to be 24 hours or less and efforts to resolve the problem shall be made to provide a resolution to outages within 48 hours.
4. A user orientation session to be held virtually (no travel required) for users of the system for broader questions about capabilities and support for users building their own maps.
4. 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 system meets the following requirements:
1. Must demonstrate that their system has anonymized and aggregated data available in a spatially enabled web-based interactive platform and dashboard that provides daily updates or better of the following key rail network service and performance metrics:
i. Railcar volume counts by hour by Station, Region/Corridor, and Country
ii. Car terminal Dwell times by station, region, province/state, and country (US, Canada & Mexico)
iii. Corridor car cycle times (the number of days for a car to be shipped from origin to destination and back) for key mainline railway corridors
iv. Car network velocity (miles or kilometres per hour) for key mainline railway corridors
v. Network Congestion (hours of delay) for key mainline railway corridors
vi. Profile of rail car time use (hours spent at origin, in-transit and at destination)
vii. Comparison analytics between commodities, regions, and railcar equipment type
2. The platform must be North American in scope covering domestic and transborder rail car movements.
3. Must provide an Application Programming Interface (API) which allows the activity and performance data to be transmitted automatically into TC’s Azure secure cloud storage area.
4. The platform must enable custom monitoring of key corridors and other locations using preset and user-definable geo-fences.
5. The system must support limited customization of webmaps including geography, time, and related formatting.
6. Must offer access to the web platform for up to 75 named users.
7. Must offer a user guide explaining how the measures are calculated, including the number of railcar observations used to build the aggregate measures.
8. Must demonstrate that their system offers a limited set of anonymized weekly metrics that could be published on TC’s Transportation Data and Information Hub (TDIH).
5. APPLICABILITY OF THE TRADE AGREEMENT(S) TO THE PROCUREMENT
This procurement is subject to the following trade agreement(s) (insert only the applicable trade agreement(s)):
a. Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
b. Revised World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP)
c. Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
d. Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
e. Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA)
f. Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
g. Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement
h. Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement
i. Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement
j. Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA)
k. Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement (Canada-UK TCA)
l. Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA)
6. JUSTIFICATION FOR THE PRE-IDENTIFIED SUPPLIER
Quasar is the only vendor currently operating a data platform (Quasar date platform) which provides reliable and timely measures of railway network activity and performance based on proprietary electronic data loggers installed on a fleet of rail cars belonging to a broad range of participating rail shippers. The Quasar platform is useful in that it provides car-based rail performance metrics for a large and diverse fleet of railcars. The activity and performance data for the railcar fleet covered by Quasar are unique and cannot be obtained from any other vendor.
Quasar’s car-based activity and performance measures provide additional insights complementary to the RailState fixed-site camera platform such as more precise dwell and corridor transit times and links to the commodities carried. Quasar is the only vendor with a multi-year track record of operating a reliable railway data and performance platform over a wide range of climatic and operating conditions across the North American railway network. The IOT sensors are certified for use in the North American rail industry by the American Association of Railroads (AAR), and certified for use in hazardous locations having Class 1, Division 2 Hazardous Location Safety Certification. Furthermore, Quasar is the only vendor capable of feeding timely car-based activity and performance data to subscribers via a scalable, configurable Application Programming Interface (API). As the largest car leasing firm in North America, Quasar is the only vendor currently capable of providing car-based industry coverage across the main sectors which use rail to move their goods to market.
7. 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 is capable of performing the work".
8. EXCLUSIONS AND/OR LIMITED TENDERING REASONS:
The following limited tendering reasons are invoked:
1. Exclusive Rights
9. OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Ownership of any Foreground Intellectual Property arising out of the proposed contract will vest in the Contractor.
10. PERIOD OF THE PROPOSED CONTRACT OR DELIVERY DATE
The proposed contract is for a period of 1 year, from date of contract award to one (1) year later with the option to extend by an additional four (4) optional one (1) year period.
11. COST ESTIMATE OF THE PROPOSED CONTRACT
The estimated value of the contract, including option years, is $2,640,000.00, (GST/HST extra).
12. NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE PRE-IDENTIFIED SUPPLIER
Quasar Platform Inc.
3100, 205, 5th Avenue SW
Calgary, AB
T2P 4B9
13. 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.
14. CLOSING DATE FOR A SUBMISSION OF A STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES
The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is December 17, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. EST.
15. INQUIRIES AND STATEMENTS OF CAPABILITIES ARE TO BE DIRECTED TO:
Tania Cantin
A/Procurement Specialist
Transport Canada
330 sparks street, Ottawa, ON
Telephone : 613-447-7499
Email : tania.cantin@tc.gc.ca
