The Amarillo VA Health Care System (AVAHCS), on behalf of the South Texas VA Health Care System (STVAHCS) located in San Antonio, Texas is seeking Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB), and other small business sources capable of meeting the requirement listed below. The acquisition will be accomplished using commercial item procedures in accordance with FAR Part 12. NOTE: TO QUALIFY SDVOSB AND VOSB VENDORS MUST BE CERTIFIED IN THE VA VENDOR INFORMATION PAGES (VIP) DATABASE. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is 325413. Any SDVOSB, VOSB, or small business firms who wish to identify their interests and capability to provide this product must provide product specifications, performance and delivery information by notifying the Contract Specialist no later than NOON PM Central Time, July 13, 2018. Notification shall be e-mailed to Robyn Nussbaum, at
contact@example.gov. Any vendor who responds to this Notice must provide credentials to provide Ventana Reagents as outlined in the below scope. DISCLAIMER This Sources Sought Notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. All information received in response to this Notice that is marked as proprietary will be handled accordingly. In accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Notice. Scope: Contractor will provide Immunohistochemistry reagents/supplies for the Ventana Benchmark instrumentation housed in the Molecular Laboratory of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Service at Audie L. Murphy VA Hospital. Due to the proprietary nature of the reagents, supplies and instrumentation, it is essential that only Roche (Ventana) reagents and supplies be used on the Roche (Ventana) Benchmark instrumentation. These reagents and supplies are the only authorized reagents and supplies to be used on the Roche (Ventana) Benchmark instrumentation. The proposed contractor, Roche (Ventana Industries, Inc.) is the sole manufacturer, vendor, and service provider for the Ventana Benchmark Ultras. Roche does not give authorization for any third-party resellers. Roche Manufactures the only system of this type that has the capability to perform all these testing to fit our patient population and protocols. Since, Roche is the only supplier they are the only contractors with the ability to fit the instrumentation validations and requirements. Any other supply or service would disrupt patient care and void any available warranties on the instrumentation. The Contractor is required to provide a continuously stocked inventory of Immunohistochemistry reagents and supplies and any other materials required to properly perform IHC testing such that Molecular Laboratory operations are not interrupted. These items shall be of the highest quality, to assure precision and accuracy. Expiration date must be clearly marked all supplies. Alert/Notification of any delays in shipment as well as any or all technical advisory/recalls/alerts, prior to or simultaneously with field alerts should be forwarded to the designated individuals determined at contract award. Special handling for emergency orders of supplies: If the supplies are found to be defective and unsuitable for use with the Roche/Ventana equipment, or the Contractor has failed to comply with the requirements for routine supply delivery, the Contractor is required to deliver the supplies within 24 hours of receipt of a verbal order for emergency delivery. If either circumstance has occurred, the Contractor shall deliver to the Government site in the most expeditious manner possible without additional cost to the Government, the necessary consumables in sufficient quantity as required to allow operation of the Contractor s Core Laboratory equipment for one week (under normal Government test load volume). If additional requests for emergency supply delivery are required by the Government, they shall be honored by the Contractor until the arrival at the laboratory of the monthly standing order/routine supplies delivery. Location These reagents and supplies will be used on the Roche/Ventana Benchmark Ultra instrumentation in the Molecular laboratory located in the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service s San Antonio Laboratories of the STVHCS. Deliverables/Supplies Reagents and Supplies for Immunohistochemistry testing on the Roche/Ventana Benchmark Ultra instrumentation. Government Inherent Functions: Contractor shall not perform inherently governmental functions. This includes, but is not limited to, determination of agency policy, determination of Federal program priorities for budget requests, direction and control of government employees, selection or non-selection of individuals for Federal Government employment including the interviewing of individuals for employment, approval of position descriptions and performance standards for Federal employees, approving any contractual documents, approval of Federal licensing actions and inspections, and/or determination of budget policy, guidance, and strategy. General Duties, Requirements, and Expectations: Be professionally competent to handle required duties. Work with staff to ensure safety measures are in place and documented. Services provided under the terms of this contract are required to be in compliance with the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) and College of American Pathologists (CAP). Information Systems Officer, Information Protection: - The contractor will not have access to VA Desktop computers nor will they have access to online resources belonging to the government while conducting services. If removal of equipment from the VA is required, any memory storage devices, such as hard drives, solid state drives and non-volatile memory units will remain in VA control and will not be removed from VA custody. Privacy Officer: The contractor will not have access to Patient Health Information (PHI) nor will they have the capability of accessing patient information during the services provided to the VA. Records Manager: There will be no federal records created, maintained, used or dispositioned with this contract; regardless of format [paper, electronic, etc.] or mode of transmission [e-mail, fax, etc.].
