NGN Summer Planter Workshops

Reference number: PROC-9177216

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Release date:: Wednesday 26 March 2025
Closing time:: Wednesday 23 April 2025, at 05:00 PM ACT local time
Enquiry deadline:: Tuesday 15 April 2025, at 05:00 PM ACT local time

Summary

The ability of farmers to achieve optimal plant emergence can be significantly affected by improper setup and maintenance of planters and airseeders. Feedback from growers at various field days across Southern QLD has consistently highlighted the need for training in how to appropriately setup and maintain of planters and airseeders. Proper setup and maintenance of planters and airseeders involve several technical aspects, including the calibration of seed meters, adjustment of row units, and ensuring uniform seed depth and spacing.

Seed meter calibration is crucial for accurate seed delivery, as it ensures that the correct amount of seed is being planted per hectare. Row unit adjustment is essential for maintaining consistent seed-to-soil contact, which is vital for seed germination. Additionally, uniform seed depth and spacing are critical for achieving even plant stands and maximizing plant vigour.

Training in these technical areas would be highly beneficial in ensuring precise seed placement, which is essential for improving seed emergence and enhancing potential plant vigour outcomes. By addressing these setup and maintenance issues, farmers can greatly improve their crop yields and overall productivity.

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: Contract Administrator Lyndal Gordon
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 15 April 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: Communication, monitoring, evaluation and review

Development of communication materials as agreed and monitor and evaluate workshop delivery and impact.

Details:

Agree with GRDC appropriate resulting communication materials such as Editorials, Podcasts, Social media posts, Media release, factsheets etc.
Provide a recommendation on any further demonstration and extension if required.

Output 2: Workshop delivery

By April 2027, deliver 8 hands on agreed summer planter and airseeder workshops targeted at growers and contractors in Southern / Central Queensland and Northern NSW.

Details:

It is envisaged that the half day workshops will be delivered via a hands-on format with interactive presentations.
It is expected that the workshops will have a range of summer planter and airseeder types (disc and tyne as relevant to the local farming system) at the workshops where machinery specialist can talk about the planter and airseeder setup and maintenance. The planter and airseeders will be positioned at field stations outdoors where each planter will be talked about by local machinery experts. A requirement of the workshops will be in-kind support by growers bringing along potential 3 different planters or airseeders organised by the contracted advisor.
Key Topics at workshops to include: 1. Planter and airseeder setup and maintenance focusing on the various ‘machinery mechanisms’. 2. Main issues arising from poor planter and airseeder set-up. 3. Seed quality and planting rate understanding, dependant of crop choice. 4. Impacts of climate and soil type on planter setup and timing. 5. The use of herbicide and fertilizer injection systems on planters.

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 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.	60%
1b	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%
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