Access to New Sweetpotato Varieties

⁠⁠⁠Hort Innovation is a not-for-profit, grower-owned research and development corporation (RDC) for Australia’s $15.1 billion horticulture industry. Hort Innovation invests around $120 million in research and development (R&D) and marketing programs annually to provide benefit to industry and the wider community.

Hort Innovation is seeking a suitably qualified, experienced, and capable delivery partner for the project: Access to new sweetpotato varieties (PW230000).

The objectives of the services being sought are to:

• Access and assess new sweetpotato varieties with consideration of superior agronomic performance, pest, and disease resistance traits, with a focus on Guava root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne enterlobii) and consumer focused attributes for Australian growing conditions.
• Develop a comprehensive data package containing pest and disease resistance evaluations and agronomic performance data for Australian sweetpotato growers on new varieties assessed for the industry.
• Engage with an industry focused project reference group to guide variety assessments.
• Provision of updates on project findings to the Australian sweetpotato industry.

Additional considerations:

• Variety access opportunity is to be open to both public and private (owned or licensed) varieties.
• Inclusion of variety importation/post-entry quarantine (PEQ) costs will need to demonstrate co-investment (in-kind or cash) from the variety owner or licensee towards overall project costs.
• The program is to be open to all including private variety owners, licensees and research organisations. The Delivery Partner will need to directly contact other variety owners listed on IP Australia and advertise widely for expressions of interest in variety provision/access into this project.
• Any variety that has benefited from project funding will need to be offered to all Australian growers on a fair and equitable basis as part of being accessed and/or evaluated in this project.

Hort Innovation has prepared a Request for Proposal (RFP) document that provides background information, outlines the scope of services, the procurement process and the information required from interested parties.