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NGN Integrated Disease Management and Disease Identification Workshops Northern Region

NGN Integrated Disease Management and Disease Identification Workshops Northern Region

Reference number: PROC-9177210

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Release date:: Tuesday 04 February 2025
Closing time:: Monday 03 March 2025, at 05:00 PM ACT local time
Enquiry deadline:: Thursday 20 February 2025, at 05:00 PM ACT local time

Summary

Disease can pose a significant constraint on crop yield due to misdiagnosis and inappropriate disease response. Effective disease management strategies require accurately identifying the disease through visual symptoms or laboratory diagnosis; however, misdiagnosis of disease is common due to symptoms often being confused with other diseases or abiotic stresses. At an NGN forum in Bellata, growers raised concerns around disease identification and the need for better tools to assist with identification. In lieu of easily accessible and comprehensive tools for in-paddock identification of disease, there is an opportunity to upskill advisers in their own ability to identify disease symptoms. Furthermore, at an NGN forum in Thallon, growers raised interest in learning about management of diseases such as root lesion nematodes and crown rot through genetic resistance/tolerance. As single tactic management strategies may not always be effective, it is often necessary to take an integrated management approach, using a combination of tactics to ensure sufficient disease control.

Through the delivery of workshops across GRDC’s Northern grains region, this investment will provide advisers with the practical knowledge, skills and resource materials to correctly identify disease and how to effectively manage disease using an integrated approach. Advisers will be better equipped to guide appropriate management decisions through correctly identifying crop disease symptoms and understanding the most effective set of management approaches available.

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: Lyndal Gordon - Contract Administrator
Grains Research and Development Corporation
Email: lyndal.gordon@grdc.com.au

Make all requests for further information or clarification in relation to this procurement in writing (email) prior to 20 February 2025.

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

TBC.

Description

Outcome

By July 2027, advisers in the Northern region are equipped with the knowledge and ability to correctly identify crop diseases and implement an integrated disease management approach, reducing the rate of misdiagnosis and subsequent loss in yield due to incorrect management strategies, improving disease control and reducing the incidence of fungicide resistance due to overreliance on chemical disease control.

Outputs

Output 1.

Title: Workshop delivery.

Description: By July 2027, develop and deliver at least 8 workshops to advisers in GRDC's Northern region, with 4 workshops to be delivered in the 2025/26 financial year period and a further 4 workshops delivered in the 2026/27 financial year period. Workshops will:

Develop and deliver workshop material that provide advisers and/or growers with the practical knowledge, skills and resource materials to correctly identify diseases common to each workshop region along with commonly confused non-disease symptoms, and implement integrated disease management strategies for these diseases.
Be located across Qld and NSW, including one workshop in the Bellata region and one workshop in the Thallon region. Locations are to be approved by the GRDC Investment Manager.
Where diseases are difficult or unable to be visually identified, provide advisers and/or growers with the contacts and procedures for submitting samples for non-visual confirmation of causal pathogens.
Workshops are to make use of and promote the GRDC disease ute guides, including those in development through ACO2406-001SAX.
Workshops will discuss the role of PREDICTA B tests in identifying disease risk and provide an opportunity for participants to submit samples for PREDICTA B testing.
Disease management information will be tailored to the location where each workshop is held, ensuring diseases typical of the region are discussed.
Workshops will discuss the current state of knowledge for how to implement an integrated disease management strategy, including how best to incorporate tactics including genetic resistance, crop rotation, green bridge management, foliar fungicide application and seed treatments.
Conduct monitoring and evaluation to understand participant’s prior knowledge of the topics and key takeaways from the workshops. Workshops to be branded as GRDC workshops with GRDC to hold access to and ownership of workshop material and be provided with e-copies of all material presented.

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 2 years and 4 months.

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	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.	40%
1b	Evidence of the ability and experience to deliver similar investment outcomes and outputs, including details of previous relevant project/s where the organisation has: met contractual obligations delivered extension programs managed sub-contractors collaborated with relevant organisations and industry (national and/or international) achieved impact. Note: include details of the impact.	30%
1c	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%
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
4	Australian economy - The economic benefit of the procurement to the Australian economy.	N/A

Lodging a Tender

Questions and Answers

Q1. Is the focus of this workshop to include diseases in all major crops, or primarily focus on cereals? If coverage of multiple crop types is included, do you envisage different workshops for different subgroups of crops, or would the same workshop (regionally adapted) be expected to cover all crops?

A1. The content of the workshops should be tailored to each location where the workshops will be held. As such, a workshop held in the Bellata region will include information on major crops typically grown in that region and the locally relevant diseases that occur in those crops. Therefore, as per the question, this will be the same workshop although content may be omitted or modified to suit the location of each workshop.

Q2. Providing workshops are run relevant to the needs of advisers in the Bellata and Thallon areas (as specified in tender details), is it a correct assumption that the remainder of the workshops are to be spread across the northern grains region?

A2. Correct. Bellata and Thallon have been specified to respond to grower needs as raised through National Grower Network forums held at these locations. The remaining workshops will be located throughout the Northern Grains Region and are to be approved by the GRDC Investment Manager.