Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN)
[23-58169]
[PM Analyzer]
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
The National Research Council (NRC) Energy, Mining and Environment (EME) has a requirement to the supply of one (1) transient exhaust particle analyzer (hereafter referred to as “Analyzer”) suited to measure the size distribution, number, and mass of particles in the exhaust gas of heavy-duty vehicles, engines, and equipment. The Analyzer will be used in the heavy-duty engine laboratory at NRC, Ottawa Montreal Road campus. The Analyzer must meet all of the mandatory technical requirements as specified below and must be compatible with the existing gas analysis and engine control system in the NRC laboratory.
3. 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:
I. Test Method and Configuration:
Ia. The Analyzer must include an integrated dilution and sampling system to allow direct measurement of particles in the exhaust flow (as per 2. Range of Measurement given below) immediately downstream of the exhaust manifold of an internal combustion engine or other locations in the exhaust piping of the engine without the use of a partial flow tunnel or constant volume sampler.
Ib. The Analyzer must be compatible with exhaust gases of alternate fuel engines using hydrogen, ammonia or methane as fuels.
Ic. The Analyzer must be suited to estimating solid particle number which correlates to the existing Euro VI and the proposed Euro VII regulations of the European Union.
Id. The Analyzer must include means to allow the user to include or exclude volatile particles in the measurement. Such means must consist of hardware that physically removes volatile particles when desired to do so by the user.
Ie. The Analyzer must be able to operate within an ambient temperature range of 15 to 40 °C. If. The Analyzer must allow the user to control the dilution ratio of at least one stage of sample dilution.
Ig. The Analyzer must have a response time (T10-90%) of 400 ms or lower. Ih. The Analyzer must inform the user when instrument cleaning is required due to soot accumulation and must include a suitable cleaning tool for this purpose.
Ii. The Analyzer must include automatic zeroing function.
Ij. The Analyzer must have an output data rate of 1 Hz or higher.
Ik. The Analyzer must include suitable pumps for drawing the exhaust sample into the analyzer.
Il. The Analyzer must include at least four software configurable analogue outputs, and at least four software configurable analogue inputs.
Im. The Analyzer must include a calibration check kit for calibrating sizing accuracy.
In. The Analyzer must have means for data to be read by or transmitted to other data acquisition systems either through one or more of the following interfaces – Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, web-based, digital signal, or AK protocol.
Io. The Analyzer must use corona discharge to charge incoming particles and use at least 20 electrometer detectors in its mechanism.
Ip. The Analyzer must use suitable methods to ensure that the measurement is not affected by fluctuations in sample pressure.
Iq. The Analyzer must use dilution at the point of sampling to minimize condensation and agglomeration.
Ir. The proposal must include at least one application note clearly highlighting the use of the Analyzer with heavy-duty engines or heavy-duty vehicles and must include sample data.
II. Range of Measurement:
IIa. The Analyzer must measure particle sizes in the range of 5 to 2500 nm.
IIb. The Analyzer must measure raw particle number of up to 1X10^11 particles/cubic cm.
IIc. The Analyzer must have a root mean square sensitivity of 1000 dN/dlogDp/cc (normalized concentration per unit volume) or better for particle diameter of 10 nm and larger when data rate is 1 Hz.
IId. The Analyzer must either measure the particulate mass directly through suitable means or estimate the particulate mass by using the particle size and number data.
IIe. The Analyzer must be capable of functioning up to an altitude of 4000 m or greater.
IIf. The Analyzer must be capable of measuring exhaust temperatures from 20 to 800 °C.
III. Heated Sample Line:
IIIa. The Analyzer must include a heated sample line with controller and all required accessories. The heated sample line must be within a range of 5 to 8 meters long. Shorter segments connected in series can be acceptable as long as the combined length is within the range.
IIIb. The heated sample line must maintain the sampled exhaust gas at a temperature of greater than or equal to 190 °C up to the inlet of the Analyzer.
IV. Necessary Accessories and Consumables
IVa. The Analyzer must include all necessary and non-standard accessories and consumables for operation of items 1-3 above with the exception of power supply, exhaust pipe connection to sampling line, oil-free compressed air, and piping for pump.
V. Power supply Requirements:
Va. The Analyzer must include Canadian Standards Association approval and must include all power supplies, cables, and adapters to power the Analyzer through 120 V AC 60 Hz supply used in Canada.
VI. Certification:
VIa. At time of delivery the Analyzer must include hardcopy and preferably soft copy of traceable calibration certificate for particle size, particle number, and soot agglomerate.
VII. Computer and software for test operation, data acquisition and analysis:
VIIa. The Analyzer must include a professional-grade laptop (with 15.6” screen or similar/Windows 11/i5 Core or similar /ethernet connection) loaded with perpetual license software for operating the Analyzer and data acquisition. The Analyzer must also include perpetual license software for data analysis, and post-processing to express mass concentration of particles in micrograms/cubic cm.
VIIb. The Contractor must provide backup for the software on flash drive, compact disc, digital versatile disk, or an online link for download.
4. Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement
This procurement is subject to the following trade agreement(s)
o Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
o Revised World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP)
o Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
o Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
o Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA)
o Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
o Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement
o Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement
o Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement
o Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA)
o Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement (Canada-UK TCA)
o Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA
5. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier
No. To the best of NRC’s knowledge, the DMS500 is the only transient particle analyzer which comes with a fully integrated (hardware and software) sample conditioning and dilution system which corrects for losses, and is the only analyzer which can characterize PM for heavy-duty engines operating with ammonia, hydrogen, or methane since the analyzer’s components are compatible with these alternative fuels. The quote also includes a catalytic stripper which allows exclusion of volatile particles from the measurement – such hardware is unique to this analyzer which is operating at a response time of less than 400 ms. It will allow NRC to distinguish between solid and volatile PM which are extremely critical for zero and low carbon fuel combustion. Moreover, particle sizes as low as 5 nanometres and as high as 2.5 microns can be measured – this is the widest range to the best of NRC’s knowledge. Additionally, this analyzer is suited to estimating solid particle number which correlates to existing Euro VI and proposed Euro VII regulations of the European Union. There is no other transient particle analyzer which meets all these requirements.
Cambustion owns the exclusive intellectual property and there are no authorized distributors in Canada able to offer the same brand and model. Cambustion quotes and supplies analyzers to its clients directly without any third-party involvement.
6. 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 contract".
7. Exclusions and/or Limited Tendering Reasons
The following exclusion(s) and/or limited tendering reasons are invoked under the:
a. Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) – Article 513 (1) (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;
b. World Trade Organization - Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP) – Article XIII (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;
c. Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) – Article 19.12 (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;
d. Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – Article 15.10 (2) (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;
e. Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) – Article Kbis-16 (2) (c): necessary to protect intellectual property;
f. Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement – Article 1409 (1) (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;
g. Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement – Article 17.11 (2) (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;
h. Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement – referencing the WTO Protocol Amending the GPA, Article XIII (1) (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;
i. Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement – Article 16.10 (1) (b) (iii): because of the absence of competition for technical reasons;
j. Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) –Article 1409 (1) (b) (iii): due to an absence of competition for technical reasons;
k. Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA) – Annex 10-6 (2) (a): any form of preference, including set asides, to benefit micro, small and medium enterprises; and
l. Canada-United Kingdom Trade Continuity Agreement: refer to CETA as the provisions of CETA are incorporated by reference into and made part of this Agreement. (CETA) Article 19.12 (b) (iii).
8. Period of the proposed contract or delivery date
o The equipment must be delivered by March 31st 2024.
9. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier
Cambustion
J6 The Paddocks, 347 Cherry Hinton Road
Cambridge, CB1 8DH, United Kingdom
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 12th, 2023 at 2:00 pm EDT.
12. Inquiries and submission of statements of capabilities
Name : Jonathan Soles
Title: Contracting Authority
Telephone: 343-548-9258
Email : Jonathan.Soles@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
