R499--Notice of Intent to Sole Source

The Department of Veterans Affairs, Network Contracting Office 21, intends to award a sole-source, firm-fixed-price contract to Westat, Inc. under FAR 6.102-1, citing that Westat is the only responsible source capable of performing the follow-up Health ViEWS study due to its exclusive authorization by the VA Central Institutional Review Board to contact study participants. This intent to sole source is not a solicitation for quotes but serves as the sole notice for potential offerors to demonstrate capability by submitting a capability statement to Timothy.Smith9de3@va.gov no later than 10:00 AM PDT on June 30, 2026, with the solicitation number 36C26126Q0872 clearly stated in the subject line. Only registered entities in SAM.gov are eligible for award, and no verbal, faxed, or telephone responses will be accepted. If no viable alternatives are received by the deadline, the contract will proceed exclusively with Westat, Inc. The performance period is set for 12 months, from September 1, 2026, to August 31, 2027, with all work to be conducted remotely from the vendor’s facilities without on-site interaction with participants. Required deliverables include a cleaned Stata dataset, comprehensive codebook, survey methods report, case-level disposition file, linkage file, data destruction certification, and biweekly response-rate updates, all transmitted via secure SFTP using FIPS 140-2 and NIST SP 800-52 compliant encryption. The contractor must adhere to VA Handbook 6500, FISMA, and VA privacy directives, ensuring secure handling of PII/PHI, complete data isolation, and prompt destruction of data upon completion. Personnel must complete VA Privacy and Information Security Awareness training, sign the Rules of Behavior, and maintain an internal Institutional Review Board; they must also operate a secure CATI platform and implement crisis protocols for immediate warm handoff to the Veterans Crisis Line. The contract requires compliance with all future federal and VA security regulations via modification and mandates verification of security clearances, Authority to Operate, and privileged access controls through VA’s Special Security Officer. No pricing details are provided as this is a pre-solicitation notice, and the government retains sole discretion to determine whether to compete the requirement based on responses received.