Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2019-01-14
Buyer: Havforskningsinstituttet
Country: NO
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 34930000 | 35125100: Sensors | 35512400 | 48614000 | 71352130
Estimated value: 3000000 NOK

Technical requirements: 19/00034 Testing an Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) so as to carry out Autonomous Long Distance Assignments for the Collection of Marine Eco-System Data in the North Sea
IMR sees drone technology as potential important future sensor platforms to improve the understanding of spacial and modern dynamics in the marine eco-system. IMR would like to have a pilot study to examine how much extra information can be obtained with drone technology, compared to short term traditional ship based mission surveys, and whether time with ships can, in some cases, be replaced by drone technology in the future.
This contract is for a short term project of four months, where IMR will hire a USV from Saildrone INC. (hereafter called Saildrone), which will be continually tested in the North Sea. IMR will examine the variation in the amount of animal plankton, fish (for example sandeel, herring and coalfish) and oceanographic conditions in space and time. This information will be validated against data collected from traditional ship based methods. IMR would like to examine how much the echo amount of fish varies, in order to evaluate how well standard, short term missions estimate the amount of fish.
The contract with Saildrone is for a full service package, where a USV is transported to the operation area, released, controlled and later collected by Saildrone. Saildrone will make calibrated and quality assured data available in real time and high resolution raw data will be available after the assignment has finished. The contract with Saildrone does not include the procurement of hardware and it does not depend on employing personnel to control the drone (pilots). It is also not necessary to make new database structures at IMR, as all the collected data will be available through Saildrone data portals.
IMR emphasises that we do not intend to enter into a new contract with Saildrone after the pilot study has ended. We will first assess how far the technology has come and whether it is useable for our monitoring and research purposes. If we believe that this is the case, the use of USV will be published as an open tender competition at a later date.
IMR deems that the contract applies for R&D services, cf. the PPR §2-5, which are not covered by the procurement regulations. IMR is not completely paying for the service, cf. (2). IMR believes that the offer from Saildrone is significantly different from other systems on the market at this point in time, amongst other things as regards the number of sensors and the total package provided.
IMR sees the contract as a possibility to test the potential of new technology that is continually being developed and that can be of interest to us in the future, without having to procure hardware (drone) and advanced sensors in advance and educate or hire pilots, build up separate databases and data collection routines. The testing, will, in other words, have a low risk for IMR, and it is decisive for IMR that Saildrone offers a total package where the company is responsible for the vessel functioning properly. Saildrone is responsible and has competence that ensures that all the sensors are calibrated and functional. Saildrone is also responsible for all data being properly saved and made available for users. Saildrone will be the operator, i.e., they will remotely control the vessel, based on a route proposed by IMR. Saildrone will ensure that the vessel is released at the correct time and, if there is an error, they will also be responsible for collecting it and correcting the error.
19/00034 Testing an Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) so as to carry out Autonomous Long Distance Assignments for the Collection of Marine Eco-System Data in the North Sea


Winner: Saildrone INC
Award value: 3000000