6515--Brand Name Requirement ROODRA MULTILAB SERIES III VASCULAR SYSTEM

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 12.6, Streamlined Procedures for Evaluation and Solicitation for Commercial Items, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested, and a written solicitation document will not be issued. Solicitation number 36C25720Q0857 is issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2020-05. SET-ASIDE: This requirement is a 100% Total Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) set aside under the authority of 38 U.S.C. 8127(d). In order to be eligible for award an offeror must be certified/verified in Vetbiz (www.vip.vetbiz.gov), and small for the applicable NAICS code at the time of the quote submission and at the time of award. Status as a qualified SDVOSB concern is under the authority of 38 CFR Part 74 in accordance with the VA Acquisition Regulation (VAAR) Part 819. Eligibility determination is performed by the Center for Veterans Enterprise (CVE). Only qualified offerors may submit bids. NAICS Code: 334510 (Electromedical and Electrotherapeutic Apparatus Manufacturing 1,250 Employees) FSC Code: 6515 - Medical and Surgical Instruments, Equipment and Supplies. Introduction: The Government intends to award a firm fixed price purchase order based on this solicitation. Description of Supplies/Services: Network Contracting Office (NCO 17) RPO West is seeking to purchase Roodra Unetixs Multilab Series III for the North Texas Health Care System. See the Statement of Work. All qualified/interested companies shall provide quotations for the following: Supplies Line Item Description Quantity Unit of Measure Unit Price Total Price 0001 Roodra Unetixs Multilab Non-invasive vascular system with accessories 1 EA 0002 HP Printer Office Jet 6230 1 EA Delivery shall be provided by June 29, 2020. FOB - Destination Place of Performance/Place of Delivery Address: VA North Texas Health Care System Dallas VA Medical Center 4500 South Lancaster Road Dallas, TX Postal Code: 75216-7167 Country: United States The full text of FAR provisions or clauses may be accessed electronically at http://acquisition.gov/comp/far/index.html The following solicitation provisions apply to this acquisition: FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors Commercial Items FAR 52.212-3, Offerors Representations and Certifications Commercial Items Offerors must complete annual representations and certifications electronically via the System for Award Management (SAM) website located at https://www.sam.gov/portal in accordance with FAR 52.212-3, Offerors Representations and Certifications Commercial Items. If paragraph (j) of the provision is applicable, a written submission is required. The following contract clauses apply to this acquisition: FAR 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions Commercial Items [Oct 2018] FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders [Mar 2020] The following subparagraphs of FAR 52.212-5 are applicable: 52.204-10, Reporting Executive Compensation & First-Tier Subcontract Awards (Oct 2018) 52.209-6, Protecting the Government s Interest When Subcontracting with Contractors Debarred, Suspended, or Proposed for Debarment (Oct 2015) 52.219-13, Notice of Set-Aside of Orders (Mar 2020) 52.219-27, Notice of Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Set-Aside (Mar 2020) 52.219-28, Post Award Small Business Program Rerepresentation (Mar 2020) 52.222-19, Child Labor--Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies (JAN 2020) 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities (Apr 2015) 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity (Sept 2016) 52.222-50, Combating Trafficking in Persons (Jan 2019) 52.223-18, Encouraging Contractor Policies to Ban Text Messaging While Driving (Aug 2011) 52.225-3, Buy American--Free Trade Agreements--Israeli Trade Act (May 2014) 52.225-13, Restrictions on Certain Foreign Purchases (June 2008) 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer System for Award Management (OCT 2018) FAR 52.232-40, Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors (DEC 2013) FAR 52.211-6, Brand Name or Equal VAAR 852.203-70, Commercial Advertising (May 2018) VAAR 852.211.70, Equipment Operation and Maintenance Manuals (Nov 2018) VAAR 852.212-71, Gary Market Items (Apr 2020) VAAR 852.219-74, Limitations on Subcontracting Monitoring and Compliance (Jul 2018) VAAR 852.232-72, Electronic Submission of Payment Requests (Nov 2018) VAAR 852.246-71, Rejected Goods (Oct 2018) VAAR 852.273-70, Late Offers (Jan 2003) Grey Market Prevention: No used, refurbished, or remanufactured supplies or equipment/parts shall be provided. This procurement is for new Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) items only. No gray market items shall be provided. Gray market items are OEM goods intentionally or unintentionally sold outside an authorized sales territory or sold by non-authorized dealers in an authorized sales territory. 52.233-2 SERVICE OF PROTEST (SEP 2006) Protests, as defined in section 33.101 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, that are filed directly with an agency, and copies of any protests that are filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), shall be served on the Contracting Officer (addressed as follows) by obtaining written and dated acknowledgment of receipt from: Hand-Carried Address: Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Procurement Office West RPO West Network Contracting Office NCO 17 124 E. Hwy 67 Duncanville, Texas 75137 Mailing Address: Department of Veterans Affairs Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Procurement Office West RPO West Network Contracting Office NCO 17 124 E. Hwy 67 Duncanville, Texas 75137 (b) The copy of any protest shall be received in the office designated above within one day of filing a protest with the GAO. (End of Provision) VAAR 852.233-70 PROTEST CONTENT/ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (OCT 2018) (a) Any protest filed by an interested party shall (1) Include the name, address, fax number, email and telephone number of the protester; (2) Identify the solicitation and/or contract number; (3) Include an original signed by the protester or the protester s representative and at least one copy; (4) Set forth a detailed statement of the legal and factual grounds of the protest, including a description of resulting prejudice to the protester, and provide copies of relevant documents; (5) Specifically request a ruling of the individual upon whom the protest is served; (6) State the form of relief requested; and (7) Provide all information establishing the timeliness of the protest. (b) Failure to comply with the above may result in dismissal of the protest without further consideration. (c) Bidders/offerors and Contracting Officers are encouraged to use alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures to resolve protests at any stage in the protest process. If ADR is used, the Department of Veterans Affairs will not furnish any documentation in an ADR proceeding beyond what is allowed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation. (End of Provision) VAAR 852.233-71 ALTERNATE PROTEST PROCEDURE (OCT 2018) (a) As an alternative to filing a protest with the Contracting Officer, an interested party may file a protest by mail or electronically with: Executive Director, Office of Acquisition and Logistics, Risk Management and Compliance Service (003A2C), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20420 or Email: EDProtests@va.gov. (b) The protest will not be considered if the interested party has a protest on the same or similar issue(s) pending with the Contracting Officer. (End of Provision) PLEASE NOTE: The correct mailing information for filing alternate protests is as follows: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Logistics, Risk Management Team, Department of Veterans Affairs 810 Vermont Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20420 Or for solicitations issued by the Office of Construction and Facilities Management: Director, Office of Construction and Facilities Management 811 Vermont Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20420 SUBMISSION OF QUOTE (FAR 52.212-1 INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS COMMERCIAL ITEMS): The Offeror shall submit their quote on company letterhead and shall include unit price, overall total price, name, address, and telephone number of the offeror, firm's DUNS# and ORCA document in SAM at www.sam.gov. Complete copy of 52.212-3 Offerors Representations and Certifications- Commercial Items, and ORCA document. The Offeror shall provide sufficient evidence that they possess adequate resources, capability, experience, responsibility and integrity to meet the technical capabilities to comply with the requirements of the resulting contract. The Offeror shall provide verified SDVOSB certification. The Offeror shall be registered in SAM.gov prior to contract award. The Offeror shall include verification if not the manufacturer that they are authorized distributor or vendor of the proposed manufacturers equipment, instrumentation, and supplies. To facilitate the award process, all quotes must include a statement regarding the terms and conditions herein as follows: "The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document without modification, deletion, or addition." OR "The terms and conditions in the solicitation are acceptable to be included in the award document with the exception, deletion, or addition of the following:" The Offeror shall list exception(s) and rationale for the exception(s), if any. EVALUATIONS: Evaluation of quotes will be conducted using Simplified Acquisition Procedures in accordance with FAR 13.106-2 Evaluation of Quotes. Please read each section below carefully for the submittals and information required as part of the evaluation. Failure to provide the requested information below shall be considered non-compliant and your quote could be removed from the evaluation process. Offeror quotes shall be evaluated under FAR 13.106-2(b)(3) Comparative Evaluation. Comparative evaluation is the side by side pairwise comparison of quotes based on factors resulting in a Contracting Officer decision for the quote most favorable to the Government. The Government reserves the right to consider a quotation other than the lowest price that provides additional benefit(s). Quotations may exceed minimum requirements of the solicitation. The Government reserves the right to select a quotation that provides benefit to the Government that exceeds the minimum requirements of the solicitation but is not required to do so. Each response must meet the minimum requirements of the solicitation. The Government is not obligated to determine a competitive range, conduct discussions with all contractors, solicit final revised quotes, and use other techniques associated with FAR Part 15. The contracting techniques associated with FAR Part 15 are not mandatory. The Government will issue a purchase order to the responsible offeror whose quotation conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following are the decision factors: Price Technical Responses should contain your best terms, conditions. TECHNICAL QUESTION SUBMISSION: All questions must be submitted by email to lawrence.thomas1@va.gov and Victoria.Rone3@va.gov no later than 2:00pm. CT, June 12, 2020. The subject line must specify: RFQ 36C25720Q0857- Questions. Questions received after this date will not be accepted. All responses to questions will be incorporated into a written amendment posted to the Contract Opportunities website (beta.SAM.gov). Telephone calls or faxed questions will not be accepted. RFQ QUOTE SUBMISSION: Quotes must be received no later than June 18, 2020 8:00am CST. Email your quote directly to lawrence.thomas1@va.gov and Victoria.Rone3@va.gov. The subject line must specify: RFQ 36C25720Q0857- Quotes/Offers. There will be no automated email notification of receipt of quotes. All quotes received without requested documentation will not be considered. Late submissions shall be treated in accordance with the solicitation provision at FAR 52.212-1(f). Any questions or concerns regarding this solicitation should be forwarded in writing via e-mail to the Point of Contact listed below. Point of Contact Lawrence Thomas, Contract Specialist, e-mail address: lawrence.thomas1@va.gov STATEMENT OF WORK General: This statement of work defines the effort required for VA North Texas Healthcare System (VANTHCS), Interventional Cardiology Section of Medicine Service to procure an Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI) with Pulsed Volume Recording (PVR) system that is a noninvasive vascular test involving a vascular doppler and blood pressure cuffs used to obtain information about arterial blood flow in the upper and lower extremities. This procurement covers essential equipment required to develop a vascular medicine program. The vascular medicine program will be aligned under the Interventional Cardiology service line and will serve as an early intervention/screening program preceding the need for Vascular Surgery intervention. The program will be managed by the Clinical Nurse Manager, Cardiology under the direction of the Section Chief, Cardiology. The intended place of performance includes multiple sites within the VANTHCS including the Dallas, Bonham, Plano, and Fort Worth campuses. This acquisition will require a single occurrence delivery schedule of equipment with a fixed-rate purchase agreement. The equipment will be delivered to the VANTHCS warehouse, assigned an equipment inventory number through the logistics department, and undergo an electrical-biomedical safety inspection by the Bio-med service at VANTHCS-Dallas campus prior to delivery to the service. The service will inspect the purchase/inventory statement against delivered items and accept the equipment for use upon receipt. Description of Work: The ABI/PVR system will be used to assess the peripheral vascular status in patients screened as "high risk" seen in the Vascular Medicine program. The primary purpose of the ABI/PVR is to identify the anatomy and malfunctioning vessels (arteries and veins) and assess the extent of insufficiency present. ABI is the cornerstone of PAD/PVD evaluation. The equipment involves the use of four blood pressure cuffs place strategically on each upper and lower extremity (see fig 1 below). A measurement is recorded from each cuff. The measurements are compared against standard parameters to diagnose the presence of PVD/PAD and determine significance. A dual ABI/PVR system provides a complete, thorough workup and eliminates the inherent limitations of stand-alone ABI. On-site Equipment and training: Contractor will provide on-site training regarding standard operating procedures of the System. Training will include a demonstration of how to use all the listed features of the System as well as any applicable User configuration including installation support. Requested delivery date is 30 days from award. Manufacturer: Unetixs Model: Roodra, Unetixs Multilab Series III Location: 5B668, Dallas VA Medical Center at 4500 S. Lancaster Rd. Dallas TX 75216 Quantity: 1 a. Common Nomenclature (commercial description): Non-Invasive Vascular Diagnostics System b. Kind of material (i.e., type, grade, alternatives, etc.): Dual Channel Calibrated Pneumoplethysmography - Arterial (PVR) - Dual Channel Photoplethysmography - Arterial & Venous, featuring - Dual auto inflation with selectable auto bleed for pressure studies - 12 Port Manifold Automatic Cuff Selector - Bi-Directional Stereo Dopplers - 24" All-In-One Medical Grade CPU with Touch Screen on Windows 10 -Wireless Ready - Cart with height adjustable functionality includes Storage Drawer, 4 Locking Casters -- Height Adjustable Arm mount, with full range of motion System Standard Accessories 1 - TruDop - 5 MHz Doppler Probe 1 - TruDop - 8 MHz Doppler Probe 1 - 8' Doppler Cable 2 - Right & Left Ultra Sensitive Miniature PPG sensors 1 - Integrated Function Keyboard (conforms to IP68 Standards) 1 - Infrared Full Function Wireless Remote Control 1 -Bottle Ultrasound Gel 4 - SC-10 Blood Pressure Cuff 4 - SC-12 Blood Pressure Cuff 2 - SC-12L Blood Pressure Cuff Long 2 - PC-2.5 Digit Pressure Cuff 1 - MultiLab Series II Operators Manual 1-Mullilab Installation Guide 1 - Vascular Technological Reference Manual c. Electrical Data (i.e., 110 v, 60 Hz, 3 Ph, etc.): DICOM Structured Reporting and Modality worklist, HL7, Windows 10 d. Dimensions, size, capacity: Portable, touchscreen, height adjustable to fit different bed positions, ergonomic monitor arm and hose management, battery system e. Principles of operation: Multi-lab system to perform upper and lower arterial pressures and waveforms. f. Restrictive environmental conditions: Touchscreen, ergonomic design, height adjustable, battery system, mobile g. Intended use: The system would be utilized in multi-specialties for veterans in Cardiology and Vascular Surgery on and inpatient and outpatient basis. It would be used as a non-invasive test to determine if patients are getting adequate blood flow to their extremities at rest and after stress. h. Equipment with which the item is used with (N/A if not applicable): N/A i. End item application: The system is used to determine if the patient s blood supply to the upper and lower limbs can be improved with an intervention by opening blocked arteries. j. Original equipment manufacturer part number: MULTILAB SERIES III ROODRA VASCULAR SYSTEM with DICOM SR k. Other pertinent information that describes the item, material or service required: The equipment must provide Ankle Brachial Index (ABI), pulse volume recording, doppler waveforms, and toe pressures. The Interventional Cardiology Section requires an ABI/PVR system to perform early assessment/identification of patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) and/or peripheral vascular disease (PVD). PAD/PVD affects more than eight million Americans. Despite significant associated morbidity and mortality less than 3% of the screening recommended population undergo early assessment or intervention. The Society for Vascular Medicine recommends screening for the following patients at risk for PAD/PVD: By Specific Age At Any Age <50 years old with Diabetes or other atherosclerotic risk factor Exertional leg symptoms or resting ischemic pain 50-69 years old with history of smoking or diabetes Abnormal pulse in the lower extremity >70 years old with or without risk factors Atherosclerotic disease: coronary, carotid or renal Adaptedfrom Hirsch AT et al. Available at www.acc.org/clinical/guidelines/pad/summary.pdf 45.2% of the veteran population served at VANTHCS are between the ages of 4564 with a mean age of 58 years old, more than 28% of the veterans served at VANTHCS have diabetes, and 62% of the total veterans enrolled for care at the Dallas VA Medial Center. VANTHCS report smoking or prior tobacco abuse. Approximately 45% or greater of the total veterans served at VANTHCS fall into one or more of the recommended PAD/PVD screening groups. We currently cannot provide this needed clinical service secondary to lack of an existing Vascular Medicine program and lack of required equipment. It is intended to develop, structure, and implement a comprehensive Vascular Medicine program using standardized clinical screening and intervention guidelines to address the disparities that currently exists. Place of Performance: Dallas VA Medical Center at 4500 S. Lancaster Rd. Dallas TX 75216 Information technology security & Privacy requirements: The contractor, their personnel, and their subcontractors shall be subject to the Federal laws, regulations, standards, and VA Directives and Handbooks regarding information and information system security as delineated in this contract. The contractor shall comply with all Federal laws and regulations the VA has developed when VA sensitive information is accessed, used, stored, generated, transmitted, or exchanged by and between VA and a contractor; specifically, the contractor will be required to complete VA Privacy and Information Security training, or a privacy training that is equivalent. Privacy training certificates showing completion of the training should be provided by the Contractor upon request by VA. The information made available to the contractor by VA for the performance of this contract will be used only for the purposes of performance under this contract. The certification and accreditation requirements do not apply to this requirement and a security accreditation package is not required. As prescribed in 839.201, insert the following clause: The contractor, their personnel, and their subcontractors shall be subject to the Federal laws, regulations, standards, and VA Directives and Handbooks regarding information and information system security as delineated in this contract. 1. GENERAL Contractors, contractor personnel, subcontractors, and subcontractor personnel shall be subject to the same Federal laws, regulations, standards, and VA Directives and Handbooks as VA and VA personnel regarding information and information system security. 2. ACCESS TO VA INFORMATION AND VA INFORMATION SYSTEMS Information Technology Security & Privacy Requirements. a. A contractor/subcontractor shall request logical (technical) or physical access to VA information and VA information systems for their employees, subcontractors, and affiliates only to the extent necessary to perform the services specified in the contract, agreement, or task order. b. All contractors, subcontractors, and third-party servicers and associates working with VA information are subject to the same investigative requirements as those of VA appointees or employees who have access to the same types of information. The level and process of background security investigations for contractors must be in accordance with VA Directive and Handbook 0710, Personnel Suitability and Security Program. The Office for Operations, Security, and Preparedness is responsible for these policies and procedures. c. Contract personnel who require access to national security programs must have a valid security clearance. National Industrial Security Program (NISP) was established by Executive Order 12829 to ensure that cleared U.S. defense industry contract personnel safeguard the classified information in their possession while performing work on contracts, programs, bids, or research and development efforts. The Department of Veterans Affairs does not have a Memorandum of Agreement with Defense Security Service (DSS). Verification of a Security Clearance must be processed through the Special Security Officer located in the Planning and National Security Service within the Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness. d. Custom software development and outsourced operations must be located in the U.S. to the maximum extent practical. If such services are proposed to be performed abroad and are not disallowed by other VA policy or mandates, the contractor/subcontractor must state where all non-U.S. services are provided and detail a security plan, deemed to be acceptable by VA, specifically to address mitigation of the resulting problems of communication, control, data protection, and so forth. Location within the U.S. may be an evaluation factor. e. The contractor or subcontractor must notify the Contracting Officer immediately when an employee working on a VA system or with access to VA information is reassigned or leaves the contractor or subcontractor s employ. The Contracting Officer must also be notified immediately by the contractor or subcontractor prior to an unfriendly termination. 3. VA INFORMATION CUSTODIAL LANGUAGE a. Information made available to the contractor or subcontractor by VA for the performance or administration of this contract or information developed by the contractor/subcontractor in performance or administration of the contract shall be used only for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without the prior written agreement of the VA. This clause expressly limits the contractor/subcontractor's rights to use data as described in Rights in Data- General, FAR 52.227-14(d) (1). b. VA information should not be co-mingled, if possible, with any other data on the contractors/subcontractor s information systems or media storage systems in order to ensure VA requirements related to data protection and media sanitization can be met. If co-mingling must be allowed to meet the requirements of the business need, the contractor must ensure that VA s information is returned to the VA or destroyed in accordance with VA s sanitization requirements. VA reserves the right to conduct on site inspections of contractor and subcontractor IT resources to ensure data security controls, separation of data and job duties, and destruction/media sanitization procedures are in compliance with VA directive requirements. c. Prior to termination or completion of this contract, contractor/subcontractor must not destroy information received from VA, or gathered/created by the contractor in the course of performing this contract without prior written approval by the VA. Any data destruction done on behalf of VA by a contractor/subcontractor must be done in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requirements as outlined in VA Directive 6300, Records and Information Management and its Handbook 6300.1 Records Management Procedures, applicable VA Records Control Schedules, and VA Handbook 6500.1, Electronic Media Sanitization. Self-certification by the contractor that the data destruction requirements above have been met must be sent to the VA Contracting Officer within 30 days of termination of the contract. d. The contractor/subcontractor must receive, gather, store, back up, maintain, use, disclose and dispose of VA information only in compliance with the terms of the contract and applicable Federal and VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies. If Federal or VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies become applicable to the VA information or information systems after execution of the contract, or if NIST issues or updates applicable FIPS or Special Publications (SP) after execution of this contract, the parties agree to negotiate in good faith to implement the information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies in this contract. e. The contractor/subcontractor shall not make copies of VA information except as authorized and necessary to perform the terms of the agreement or to preserve electronic information stored on contractor/subcontractor electronic storage media for restoration in case any electronic equipment or data used by the contractor/subcontractor needs to be restored to an operating state. If copies are made for restoration purposes, after the restoration is complete, the copies must be appropriately destroyed. f. If VA determines that the contractor has violated any of the information confidentiality, privacy, and security provisions of the contract, it shall be sufficient grounds for VA to withhold payment to the contractor or third party or terminate the contract for default or terminate for cause under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12. g. If a VHA contract is terminated for cause, the associated BAA must also be terminated and appropriate actions taken in accordance with VHA Handbook 1600.01, Business Associate Agreements. Absent an agreement to use or disclose protected health information, there is no business associate relationship. h. The contractor/subcontractor must store, transport, or transmit VA sensitive information in an encrypted form, using VA-approved encryption tools that are, at a minimum, FIPS 140-2 validated. i. The contractor/subcontractor s firewall and Web services security controls, if applicable, shall meet or exceed VA s minimum requirements. VA Configuration Guidelines are available upon request. j. Except for uses and disclosures of VA information authorized by this contract for performance of the contract, the contractor/subcontractor may use and disclose VA information only in two other situations: (i) in response to a qualifying order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or (ii) with VA s prior written approval. The contractor/subcontractor must refer all requests for, demands for production of, or inquiries about, VA information and information systems to the VA contracting officer for response. k. Notwithstanding the provision above, the contractor/subcontractor shall not release VA records protected by Title 38 U.S.C. 5705, confidentiality of medical quality assurance records and/or Title 38 U.S.C. 7332, confidentiality of certain health records pertaining to drug addiction, sickle cell anemia, alcoholism or alcohol abuse, or infection with human immunodeficiency virus. If the contractor/subcontractor is in receipt of a court order or other requests for the above-mentioned information, that contractor/subcontractor shall immediately refer such court orders or other requests to the VA contracting officer for response. l. For service that involves the storage, generating, transmitting, or exchanging of VA sensitive information but does not require C&A or an MOU-ISA for system interconnection, the contractor/subcontractor must complete a Contractor Security Control Assessment (CSCA) on a yearly basis and provide it to the COTR. GENERAL RULES OF BEHAVIOR a. Rules of Behavior are part of a comprehensive program to provide complete information security. These rules establish standards of behavior in recognition of the fact that knowledgeable users are the foundation of a successful security program. Users must understand that taking personal responsibility for the security of their computer and the information it contains is an essential part of their job. b. The following rules apply to all VA contractors. I agree to: (1) Follow established procedures for requesting, accessing, and closing user accounts and access. I will not request or obtain access beyond what is normally granted to users or by what is outlined in the contract. (2) Use only systems, software, databases, and data which I am authorized to use, including any copyright restrictions. (3) I will not use other equipment (OE) (non-contractor owned) for the storage, transfer, or processing of VA sensitive information without a VA CIO approved waiver, unless it has been reviewed and approved by local management and is included in the language of the contract. If authorized to use OE IT equipment, I must ensure that the system meets all applicable 6500 Handbook requirements for OE. (4) Not use my position of trust and access rights to exploit system controls or access information for any reason other than in the performance of the contract. (5) Not attempt to override or disable security, technical, or management controls unless expressly permitted to do so as an explicit requirement under the contract or at the direction of the COTR or ISO. If I am allowed or required to have a local administrator account on a government-owned computer, that local administrative account does not confer me unrestricted access or use, nor the authority to bypass security or other controls except as expressly permitted by the VA CIO or CIO's designee. (6) Contractors use of systems, information, or sites is strictly limited to fulfill the terms of the contract. I understand no personal use is authorized. I will only use other Federal government information systems as expressly authorized by the terms of those systems. I accept that the restriction...