NGN - Making sorghum reliable for Central NSW

Reference number: PROC-9177165

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Release date:: Tuesday 25 February 2025
Closing time:: Friday 28 March 2025, at 05:00 PM ACT local time
Enquiry deadline:: Friday 21 March 2025, at 05:00 PM ACT local time

Summary

Sorghum is a popular choice in the feedlot industries, especially for pork and poultry. However, transporting grain outside the local region is often not economical for intensive animal facilities. This presents a great opportunity for growers in Central NSW to diversify their cropping enterprises and meet local demand. There are potential markets in boxing (Bathurst or Dubbo), two large pet food manufacturers in Bathurst / Blaney, and an emerging demand for feedlot sorghum.

While growers in Central NSW have been experimenting with sorghum, variable yield have made it a high-risk and uneconomical option. By understanding varietal selection and optimal planting conditions, such as times of sowing (TOS), row spacing, and plant populations, growers can achieve consistent yields. This knowledge will give them the confidence to implement crop production strategies on a commercial scale.

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, Contracts 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 21 March 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

Outputs

Output 1.

Title: Demonstration trials - By 30 June 2027, G*E*M studies over consecutive summer seasons which include a range of sorghum hybrids by nutrition, TOS, plant density and row configuration, and seasonal outlooks.

Description:

Conduct sorghum field trials in red soil with no subsoil constraints and pretty good PAW (180mm plus), over 2 seasons in Central NSW where yield is currently considered unreliable. Small plot and/or field scale trials are expected to achieve the output.
Field sites must be well characterised (environment and soil) and in crop measurements should include but not limited to emergence, establishment counts, tiller count and crop biomass, flowering date and harvested yield.
Water dynamics should be monitored pre, in and post crop.
All field trials recorded Online Farm Trials (https://www.farmtrials.com.au) and datasets published to an approved data repository.

Output 2.

Title: Extension Activities - By 30 June 2027, Central NSW growers have attended sorghum field days and/or crop walks and can access published resources relating to ideal hybrid by agronomic management to improve the reliability of sorghum performance.

Description:

Develop a communication and extension plan, including activities and schedule, themes, technical expertise, publications and key stakeholders (animal facility operators, breeders, advisors, growers) for the term of the contract
Report delivery of communication and extension plan to GRDC, referencing field day fliers, tweets of key learnings, publications as appropriate to demonstrate delivery.
Document grower practice and changes in attitude, confidence or adoption resulting from the investment.

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 30 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 clear and thorough plan to achieve the project outputs, specifying: a) method to be used (including anticipated statistical analysis capacity) b) proposed milestones c) proposed locations of field experiments (if required to deliver project outputs) d) staffing (including relevant skills, experience and availability of key personnel and proposed subcontractors) e) budget (defining the funds sought in each year of the project and the potential investment from all parties) f) project structure and management arrangements	30%
1b	Demonstrated track record of the project team and organisation, 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 and industry knowledge and experience of all key personnel (including proposed subcontractors) in the research area c) 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 d) summary of the organisations capability (infrastructure, equipment and timely business support) to effectively deliver the tendered work	30%
1c	A clear and thorough plan to deliver the project outcome, specifying: a) expected steps to deliver the outcome (pathway to market) b) identification of target users of the project outputs (who will the project directly deliver to e.g. grower, adviser, plant breeder, pathologist, the GRDC) c) specific information, products and/or services to be delivered to target users d) potential for the development of commercial IP	20%
1d	An overview of your approach to Intellectual Property (IP) and data management including: (a) existing IP and data that you intend to use during the project and any potential restrictions on its use, including in publication or commercialisation of the intended project outputs (b) how all data and IP will be managed during the investment (c) new valuable data that will be created during the project and the Approved Repository where it will be stored. (d) A draft Data Management Plan template completed (e) A draft Intellectual Property Project Outputs (IPPO) register	20%
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