F103--Legionella and HPC Water Testing 36C26126Q0131

The Department of Veterans Affairs, Network Contracting Office (NCO) 21, intends to issue a solicitation for Legionella and HPC Water Testing services at VA Central California Health Care System. The contractor shall provide management, supervision, labor, parts, reagents, sample bottles and testing materials, tools, incidental engineering services, shipping and transportation necessary to perform the legionella and heterotrophic plate count services of selected potable water outlets, dental chair water lines, industrial cooling tower basins and supply and return lines and other sampling and laboratory water testing where required by Directive 1061. The anticipated contract will be a firm-fixed-priced and will include a base year and four option years. All work shall be performed in accordance with VA standards and applicable regulatory guidelines. This requirement will be set aside for Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses, and the applicable NAICS code is 561210. Further details will be provided in the solicitation, which will be published on SAM.gov. Interested parties are encouraged to monitor the platform for updates.

The contractor shall provide management, supervision, labor, parts, reagents, sample bottles and testing materials, tools, incidental engineering services, shipping and transportation necessary to perform the legionella and heterotrophic plate count services of selected potable water outlets, dental chair water lines, industrial cooling tower basins and supply and return lines and other sampling and laboratory water testing where required by Directive 1061. The anticipated contract will be a firm-fixed-priced and will include a base year and four option years. All work shall be performed in accordance with VA standards and applicable regulatory guidelines. This requirement will be set aside for Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses, and the applicable NAICS code is 561210.

36C26126Q0131 0001 Is this a new requirement? If not a new requirement, who is the incumbent and what is the contract number? This is a follow-on requirement. The previous contract number is 36C26120P0947 and was awarded to HGS Engineering, Inc. for $199,965.70 for a base plus four option year contract. Page 44 Can the government confirm if Clause 52.222-43 applies to the contract and, if so, provide an amendment with it selected? FAR Clause 52.222-43 has been added and will be incorporated in the awarded contract. Page 54 Section (d) Factor 2 Price states, The pricing information will consist of the price schedule that includes a flat monthly rate. The Price Schedule B.2 on page 4 shows Unit price is EA for total number of samples. Will the government provide a Price Schedule showing a flat monthly rate as the Unit and 12 as the quantity or clarify if Offerors should provide pricing as shown in Table B.2? Contractor offers shall be submitted in accordance with the CLINs as listed in the Price Schedule. Invoicing shall also reflect the CLIN unit pricing for samples collected and testing in a subject billing period. Based on historical data, can the government indicate the approximate expectation of the number of off-cycle Legionella tests required each quarter to assist us in pricing as accurately as possible to provide the best value to the VA? Unit pricing shall be provided for off-cycle laboratory testing of both legionella and HPC. The allocation shall be for 100 legionella tests and 50 HPC tests. Not all allocated quantities may be needed each year. Any unused tests will de-obligated at the end of each year. Based on historical data, can the government indicate the approximate expectation of the number of off-cycle HPC tests required each quarter to assist us in pricing as accurately as possible to provide the best value to the VA? Unit pricing shall be provided for off-cycle laboratory testing of both legionella and HPC. The allocation shall be for 100 legionella tests and 50 HPC tests. Not all allocated quantities may be needed each year, and any unused tests will de-obligated at the end of each year. Can the government confirm the statement in the solicitation that the 73 samples for dental testing is to be done in full in a single day? Affirmed. Dental testing shall be completed in full on a single day, prior to the clinics opening at 0700. For the dental testing, what is the earliest time a collector can be on site to perform the collection prior to 7 am? Historically have all 73 samples been collected in this time frame? Historically the sampling has started between the hours of 0400-0500 to complete the sampling by 0700. Upon award, will quarterly Legionella and dental testing for FY26 Q1 be required or has this testing already been completed? FY26 Q1 sampling is to be the first testing performed under the new contract. It must be completed before December 31, 2025. Page 13, section 2.7.7 says Cultures found positive for any species of Legionella will be stored in a manner which will allow further levels of identification (DNA) as requested by the Government. Can the government indicate for how long positive cultures need to be retained? Retain for 90 days. Page 13, section 2.1.1 indicates sample reports are provided as Attachment B1, B2 and B3 but these were not provided, can the government please provide these if they will be examples of what is required of the contractor? These documents are being provided in this solicitation amendment. Page 11, Section 2.2.5 references the ANSI/AAMI ST108:2023 Water for the Processing of Medical Devices standard. Can the government please clarify its relevance to this solicitation and identify which services, if any, are expected to comply with this standard? Off-cycle HPC samples may be collected and sent for testing from the facility s pure water or utility water feeds within our Sterile Processing Service space which is governed by ST108 standards. Currently routine SPS pure water and utility water sampling is accomplished through the equipment owner which is leasing the pure water system to the VA under a separate contract. For quarterly sample collection, can you please clarify if both Legionella and HPC sampling are expected to occur during the same 2-day collection period, or on separate dates? Same 2-day collection period. Can the government clarify Section 2,2.1 what is meant by incidental engineering services ? What is expected of the contractor? Incidental engineering services would be limited to consultative feedback based on the prevalence of testing results such as industry standard recommendations for changes to engineering controls, supplemental testing recommendations and similar recommendations when requested by the VA. These would not require supplemental site visits to the site. The selected contractor may be requested to join the facility s quarterly water safety committee meeting remotely on occasion to answer requestions about the sampling and testing protocols and processes. The document refers to 98 Legionella samples and 83 HPC samples per quarter. Are all sites pre-determined? Yes, refer to the Attachment A for legionella sample locations. The 83 routine HPC samples is a maximum. In the event a dental chair is taken out of service and testing is not required, the quarterly count may be lower than 83. For all cases only the number of samples collected can be billed for, whether during quarterly sampling or off-cycle testing. Are there any pre-flush or post-flush samples needed/specified? Sample process must be accordance with the VHA Directive 1061 and ES-2019-001. Certain measurements such as temperature are collected post flush whereas the sample for legionella testing is first draw per the policy. The VA does not constitute this to be separate samples but rather represents a single sample for testing. Will the government extend the Quote due date to allow time for questions and answers? Yes. The quote due date has now been extended to November 12, 2025, at 8:00 AM PST.