Provision of Services in relation to the Online Farm Trials database and website

For full details of this ATM and any associated documents visit:

https://grdc.com.au/research/applying-and-reporting/current-procurement/open-tenders/provision-of-services-in-relation-to-the-online-farm-trials-database-and-website

DESCRIPTION

GRDC invests approximately $70M annually in grower-facing Development and Extension (D&E) trials. To generate enduring profitability from this, growers and the D&E sector need trial results that are FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. As part of delivering against this strategic imperative, GRDC has invested in the development of the Online Farm Trials (OFT) platform. OFT has now amassed quality controlled results from over 10,000 grains D&E trials which are searchable and made freely available via https://farmtrials.com.au/.

OFT’s success in achieving its current database functionality and trial upload numbers has been due largely to active support of OFT contributors, with an associated feedback loop to OFT’s providers.

GRDC now seeks suitable service providers to deliver the following Outputs:

1. Support: ensuring constant and ongoing availability of the OFT database and website, with industry-standard maintenance, documentation, and upgrades to a) keep the database and website usable and relevant to growers, GRDC, and other D&E stakeholders; and b) maintain GRDC’s transition in/out options.
2. Data: conducting ongoing quality control of OFT trial data/metadata entries ensuring at least 90% of all entries meet minimum industry data and metadata standards.
3. Engagement: providing ongoing support to current and prospective OFT data contributors and users.

The Outputs will contribute to the following Outcome:

“By June 2023, Australian grain growers, advisers, and D&E providers have access to an online FAIR data platform that improves adoption of D&E outputs and D&E investment planning.”

Delivery of these Outputs will require professional and technical expertise across several disciplines. Potential tenderers are invited to submit Tenders in response to all investment Outputs or a subset. GRDC particularly encourages applications involving cross-disciplinary teams, potentially involving subcontracting or a consortium, to deliver the Outputs. Given the nature of the procurement, GRDC may enter into one or more agreements in respect of the Outputs.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

By June 2023, Australian grains growers, advisers, and D&E providers have access to an online FAIR data platform that improves adoption of D&E outputs and D&E investment planning.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS

An applicant may tender to deliver all this investment’s Outputs or a subset. Successful applicant/s will need to work collaboratively with other successful applicants (if applicable) toward the Expected Outcome. GRDC may enter into one or more agreements in respect of the Outputs.

Output 1. Support: ensuring constant and ongoing availability of the OFT database and website, with industry-standard maintenance, documentation, and upgrades to a) keep the database and website usable and relevant to growers, GRDC, and other D&E stakeholders; and b) maintain GRDC’s transition in/out options.

Output 2. Data: conducting ongoing quality control of OFT trial data/metadata entries ensuring at least 90% of all entries meet minimum industry data and metadata standards.

Output 3. Engagement: providing ongoing support to current and prospective OFT data contributors and users.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Tenderers must address the Evaluation Criteria in their Tenders. See the RFT Webpage on the GRDC Website for full details:

https://grdc.com.au/research/applying-and-reporting/current-procurement/open-tenders/provision-of-services-in-relation-to-the-online-farm-trials-database-and-website

Additionally, a detailed and itemised budget to deliver each of the proposed Outputs tendered for must be submitted with the application through the Portal. This must be provided in the Pricing Spreadsheet downloadable from the RFT webpage on the GRDC Website. Applicants tendering to deliver Output 1 are also requested to quote pricing for additional OFT database and website development, maintenance, and support services that may be requested in future (see Pricing Spreadsheet downloadable form the RFT webpage on the GRDC Website).

Technical Evaluation Criteria

1. Methodology

A clear and detailed Project Plan to deliver the Outputs. If the Tenderer is not tendering against all three Outputs this should be clearly stated.

The plan should address each Output separately, including

• proposed methodology to deliver the Output;
• additional proposed metrics for assessing Output delivery (where deemed appropriate);
• how the proposed methodology meets the Output needs;
• a plan for coordinating activities with suppliers of other Outputs (where this is necessary because the Tenderer is not tendering against all Outputs).

NB: Please provide all methodological details in the response to this Criterion and respond with ‘information already provided’ in the Grains Investment Portal ‘Methodology’ section.

2. Resourcing

Information regarding the Project Leader, other Specified Personnel, and proposed subcontractors, including:

• descriptions of their specific contributions to delivery of the Outputs; and
• relevant experience, examples of past work, qualifications, and research/industry publications.

NB: Where personnel and/or subcontractors are yet to be recruited/procured, responses to this Criterion should detail the intended contributions and desired track records.

3. Additional Criterion for Output 1 (Support)

• Proposed technical architecture to support the Platform; and
• Transition Plan describing transition from the incumbent supplier (where applicable) and transition out activities enabling GRDC’s ongoing use and maintenance of the Platform beyond the term of this investment.

For reference, OFT is currently hosted on GRDC’s Microsoft Azure tenancy, running an Apache webserver, and using PHP website code and a MySQL database.