Coordination – Weed Management Initiative

Reference number: PROC-9177140

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Release date:: Friday 18 October 2024
Closing time:: Thursday 21 November 2024, at 05:00 PM ACT local time
Enquiry deadline:: Thursday 14 November 2024, at 05:00 PM ACT local time

Summary

Weeds are a major threat to the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of Australian agriculture, recently estimated to cost $4.1 billion annually in crop losses and control measures. This investment seeks delivery of weed management strategies, nationally, to ensure Australian grain growers have continuing access to innovative, diverse, and cost reducing options.

The Weed Management Initiative (WMI) is a federated model, with nodes across each Grain Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) region, aiming to deliver advanced weed management practices to Australian grain growers. It consists of five key programs covering weed management, herbicide resistance from evolutionary dynamics to practical mitigation strategies, communication, and capacity building. The initiative will foster collaboration among research institutions, ensuring long-term investment and efforts in weed science. A coordination role will facilitate the WMI activities, travel and reporting.

Offer period

Offers will remain open for acceptance by the GRDC for a period of 6 months after the Closing Time.

Document contact and enquiries

Attention: Wendy Bosci
Grains Research and Development Corporation
Email: brtenders@grdc.com.au

Make all requests for further information or clarification in relation to this procurement in writing (email) prior to 14 November 2024.

GRDC will publish all requests and responses to requests on the GRDC website under Questions and Answers at the bottom of this webpage.

Consortia response

GRDC will not accept Tenders from Consortia.

Lodgement of Tender

Submit your Tender response electronically through the Grains Investment Portal.

AusTender

https://www.tenders.gov.au/Advert/Show?Id=97d60b2a-6f99-4673-88aa-9803a41697f5

Description

The proposed Weed Management Initiative (WMI) will be a federated model with nodes in each GRDC region, ensuring the delivery of leading practice weed management to grain growers, nationally. A coordinator role will liaise with the GRDC Investment Manager to facilitate a range of WMI activities.

The WMI will have four nodes, one in each GRDC region, with two in the Northern region to cover the diverse winter and summer cropping systems. Across the nodes, five programs will be delivered that span the continuum of herbicide resistance from evolutionary dynamics to on the ground mitigation strategies, communications and extension along with capacity building and succession planning. The WMI will establish strategic partnerships with key institutions and deliver co-investment and commitment to weed science RD&E, ensuring the long-term ongoing delivery of weed management strategies to Australian grain growers.

This investment will deliver a comprehensive suite of weed management solutions and information for growers, nationally. The WMI will foster a collaborative, well-resourced, and interconnected research community, ensuring cohesion in national efforts across research, development, and extension. The federated structure, with nodes in each GRDC region (two in the Northern region) will facilitate both national strategies and responsive regional outputs. A Program Advisory Committee (PAC) will provide expert advice and guidance to the WMI.

The WMI will deliver five programs:

Program 1. Evolutionary Dynamics of Weed Adaptation and Herbicide Resistance.
Program 2. Biochemical, Molecular and Genetic Basis of Novel Herbicide Resistance.
Program 3. Mitigation and Management of Weeds Using Novel and Integrated Approaches.
Program 4A and B. Capacity, Expertise and Collaborative uplift.
Program 5. Communication, Extension and Adoption of Weed Research Outputs.

Program 4A will co-invest with node institutions to increase the number of PhD and master's students, post-doctoral opportunities, and international collaborations through student internships. The WMI will establish a graduate student cohort program, featuring an annual research showcase where students present their progress. Additionally, Program 4B will facilitate student learning opportunities between nodes, allowing students to benefit from the unique expertise at different institutions.

The WMI will be underpinned by a strategic communication, extension and adoption program (Program 5) ensuring a strong focus on delivery of outputs and information generated being extended to growers with clear demonstration to adoption. The WMI's communications, extension, and adoption program will ensure the prompt delivery of outputs to growers and advisers. Emphasizing regional extension and practical demonstration of developed research will ensure that growers have timely access to cutting-edge information and best practices for addressing their weed management challenges.

Program 4B – this tender – is central to the WMI is coordination of its activities. This includes organizing the annual WMI research forum, PAC meetings, student cohort activities, and managing reporting and communication with nodes and the GRDC investment manager. The WMI research forum requires a budget for venue, catering, and audio/visual costs for about 40 attendees. The annual PAC meeting needs similar arrangements for around 18 participants. The WMI will require coordination support and quality assurance for reporting from nine research programs that will be delivered across all the nodes. There will be close collaboration with the lead of Program 5 to provide support where necessary.

Outcome

Outputs

Program 4B Co-ordination

By July 2025, and yearly thereafter, the WMI will be co-ordinated to ensure Australian weed science researchers are engaged in a collaborative national effort, facilitated by a WMI Co-ordinator.

A national WMI co-ordinator will facilitate and organise the annual WMI research forum, work with the PhD cohort to provide opportunities across nodes, facilitate, organise, and chair the annual Program Advisory Committee (PAC) and provide support and quality assurance for all reporting from nodes for the GRDC Initiative Manager.

By July 2025 and yearly thereafter, the WMI is co-ordinated, nationally.

facilitate and organise the annual WMI research forum.
work with the PhD cohort (12) to provide opportunities across nodes.
facilitate, organise, and chair the annual Program Advisory Committee (PAC).
provide support and quality assurance for all project activity reporting from nodes with the GRDC Initiative Manager.

Proposed Budget

Proposed Contract & Term

GRDC will contract under the terms of the Services Contract.

The schedule(s) attached to the contract will detail the project details: the outcomes, outputs, milestones, budget, participating personnel and required intellectual property.

The template contract containing the proposed Terms and Conditions is available on the Application resources page on the GRDC website.

It is anticipated that any resultant contract in relation to this procurement will commence with a proposed term of 5.5 years.

Conditions for Participation

The following are mandatory conditions with which a Tenderer must comply to participate in this procurement process:

The Tenderer must be a single legal entity or recognised firm of partners
The Tenderer and any proposed subcontractor must be compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, the Modern Slavery Act 2018 and any other applicable labour laws and standards in the jurisdiction in which they operate.
The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not have a judicial decision against it (not including decisions under appeal) relating to employee entitlements and who have not paid the claim.
The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not be named on the Consolidated List, being the list of persons and entities who are subject to targeted financial sanctions or travel bans under Australian sanction laws, as maintained by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Minimum Form and Content Requirements

The following are the mandatory content and format requirements that the Tenderer must complete and provide to participate in this procurement process:

Submit Tenders using the Grains Investment Portal.
Write Tenders in English and express any measurements in Australian legal units of measurement.
Budget details must be submitted on the ‘GRDC Budget Template’ provided in the Grains Investment Portal.

Evaluation Criteria

In the table below are the Evaluation Criteria that the Tender Evaluation Team will use to assess the value for money of all Tenders.

No	Type	Weighting
1	Technical – Qualitative evaluation criteria related to non-price factors such as methodology, project plan, track record, experience.
1a	Personnel Capability A list of all key personnel, including proposed sub-contractors, detailing relevant: knowledge experience, including collaborating with industry personnel and stakeholders achievements of the project lead in providing effective leadership, management and timely delivery of high quality outputs.	30%
1b	Demonstrated Track Record Demonstrated track record of the project team, including: a) relevant achievements of the project leader in providing leadership, co-ordination, management, monitoring and evaluation and the timely delivery of high quality outputs b) relevant technical knowledge and experience of all key personnel (including proposed subcontractors) in the research area c) relevant achievements in the delivery of commercial IP (if relevant) d) ability of the project team to collaborate with the relevant research organisations and industry personnel to build on the research (national and international) already undertaken in this area	40%
1c	A detailed plan to deliver the investment outcome and outputs, specifying the: specific information, products and/or services to be delivered key tasks/milestones, responsible parties and indicative timeframes project team structure and management arrangements, including collaborations with organisations, commercial companies and/or other projects with relevant data.	30%
2	Price - The tendered budget.	N/A
3	Risk - Risks inherent in the application including the degree of compliance with the draft contract and any actual or perceived conflict of interest.	N/A

Lodging a Tender

Questions and Answers

Q1. Please clarify whether the project budget of $900K is intended for one node in each region or if it covers the budget for one year.

A1. The indicative budget provided is for coordination of specific activities across all nodes, for 5.5 years. The Coordinator role will not be involved in the day to day research activities or decisions of the WMI. The coordinator will facilitate and organize the annual WMI research forum, work with the PhD cohort to provide opportunities across nodes (this will be lead by node leads), facilitate, organize and lead the annual PAC meeting and provide quality assurance for Annual reports. Please refer to the description and outputs section of the tender for details.

Q2. There is an indicated budget of $900 000. Could you advise if attendees for both the research forum and advisory committee meetings cover their own travel and accommodation costs?

A2. The attendees for the research forum will cover their own travel and accommodation costs, the advisory committee will have travel and accommodation paid within this budget.

Q3. What is the expected duration of the research forum (eg. 1 day? 2 days?) and the same for the annual project advisory committee meetings?

A3. The expected duration for the research form will be 1-1.5 days and the annual PAC meeting will be 1 day.

Q4. Is there any preference for the coordination role to be located in the Eastern States or is Western Australia an appropriate location for the Coordinator?

A4. There is no preference for the location of the coordination role.

Q5. Are there any anticipated locations or preferred venues for the research forum and the advisory committee meetings to be held or can this be rotated around different nodes across the 5.5 years?

A5. There are no anticipated locations or preferred venues for the research forum and advisory committee meetings although a rotation around different nodes would help with cohesion of the nodes.

Q6. How many PAC meetings are to be held each year? Are all of these to be held in face-to-face mode OR can they also include remote dial in?

A6. We anticipate one face-to-face meeting a year. Additional remote VC meetings may arise if needed.

Q7. Will there be a pre-existing coordination website/networking system that is to be used, or can the successful tenderer provide this to assist with project coordination?

A7. There is no pre-existing coordination website/networking system to be used. Nodes will primarily communicate via email as the research component of the WMI will be lead and run by node leads. Applicants can propose a system there is no preference for inclusion or exclusion.

Q8. Are there expected 'types' of student cohort activities?

A8. There are no expected types of cohort activities, the main coordination role here will be to assist nodes with any internships or visits to other nodes of the WMI. The cohort may incorporate some remote meetings, and other activities can be proposed.

Q9. Do the PAC members receive a sitting fee for the annual meeting and if so, does this come from the $900k budget allocated or a separately managed budget?

A9. PAC members that are representatives from the research nodes will not receive a fee, however, the agronomists will receive a fee and that should come out of the indicative budget.

Q10. Is there intent for PhD students to physically work at a different campus or University for a period during their PhD activities and if yes, how would the costs to do this be funded?

A10. There is an intent for PhD students to work at different nodes for a period where appropriate, the costs for these activities are funded from the node budgets and is separate to the coordinator indicative budget.

Q11. Can you please provide any further details of what is expected for the coordination support and quality assurance for the reporting for the 9 research programs?

A11. The coordinator will work closely with the GRDC Investment Manager to support the node leads in submission of yearly progress reports and annual operating plans, given the reports will be a collation of outputs from multiple nodes there will be a role in ensuring consistent quality and reporting style.

Q12. The TOR outlines to consider budget for venue, catering and audio/visual costs for the WMI Forum. Do you anticipate speakers to be paid a fee plus travel costs from this budget?

A12. Speakers for the forum will be students and researchers from the WMI and will cover travel costs. This will not be a cost associated with this indicative budget.

Q13. What roles make up the target audience of 40 for the Research Forum?

A13. The research forum will include researchers, staff and student members of the WMI.