23-58177/A - Service and training of Oxford Plasma tools

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 of Canada, Security and Disruptive Technologies Research Centre (NRC SDT), in Ottawa, ON; is seeking the acquisition of an extended warranty package and additional training for a set of equipment acquired from Oxford Instruments America Inc. in January 2023.

NRC has prepared this document as a specifications guide to assist suppliers in preparing and submitting technical proposals for the supply of the extended warranty package and additional training.
The National Research Council of Canada has a requirement for Process Training package for the following Oxford Plasma processing tools:
a. Plasma Pro100 PECVD (2x)
b. FlexAl ALD
c. Plasma Pro100 Estrelas ICP etcher
d. Plasma Pro100 Cobra ICP etcher
e. Plasma Pro100 IPCVD/Plasma Pro100 Cobra ALE cluster

The National Research Council of Canada also has a requirement for an Extended service package for 2 years for the Oxford Plasma processing tools:

a) Plasma Pro100 PECVD (2x)
b) FlexAl ALD
c) Plasma Pro100 Estrelas ICP etcher
d) Plasma Pro100 Cobra ICP etcher
e) Plasma Pro100 IPCVD/Plasma Pro100 Cobra ALE cluster

3. Criteria for assessment of the Statement of Capabilities (Minimum Mandatory Requirements):

Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that its services meet the following requirements:

Service must be supplied by an Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology factory technician/engineer.
Supplier must have detailed knowledge of hardware and software of the systems and the ability to modify without voiding the factory warranty.
The service provider must be able to supply factory approved parts required to perform the activities as specified.

4. Applicability of the trade agreement(s) to the procurement

Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
World Trade Organization – Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO-AGP)

5. Justification for the Pre-Identified Supplier:

The pre-identified supplier is the sole provider that meets all or the minimum essential requirements as described in Section 3 and owns the associated intellectual property (IP) for the system.

Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology (OIPT) is the OEM of the tools for which these two service packages have been identified. Only OIPT has access to the hardware and software for these tools and has the intimate knowledge of process and tool interaction for the identified systems.

6. Exclusions and/or Limited Tendering Reasons:

Only one vendor is able to meet the unique technical requirements listed herein.
The following exception to the Government Contracts Regulations is invoked for this procurement under subsection 6 (d) as only one supplier is capable of performing work.

7. Ownership of Intellectual Property:

OIPT is the manufacturer (OEM) of the proposed system and owns the associated intellectual property (IP) for the system.

The Crown will have the right of use for normal business operations of the system once purchased. The design and system’s intellectual property are solely owned by the contractor.

All IP generated on this instrument during its use by the NRC would belong entirely to NRC and its Research partners.

8. Period of the proposed contract or delivery date:

NRC is expecting Contract start date to begin within 2 months of ACAN closure. The contract duration is expected to be 24 months from date of award.

9. Name and address of the pre-identified supplier:

Oxford Instruments America INC
300 Baker Ave
Suite 150
Concord, MA 01742
United States

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, within 15 days, 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 each of the advertised requirements in Section 3.

11. Closing date for a submission of a statement of capabilities:

The closing date and time for accepting statements of capabilities is December 15th, 2023 at 2:00PM EST.

12. Inquiries and statements of capabilities are to be directed to:

Paul Hewitt
National Research Council Canada
Procurement Specialist
Email: Paul.Hewitt@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca