36C25526Q0341_1 Sources Sought.pdf

Sources Sought Notice

*= Required Field Sources Sought Notice

SUBJECT* Water Purification Systems STL VAMC Jefferson Barracks

GENERAL INFORMATION

CONTRACTING OFFICE’S ZIP CODE* 66048

SOLICITATION NUMBER* 36C25526Q0341

RESPONSE DATE/TIME/ZONE 04-23-2026 1100 CENTRAL TIME, CHICAGO,

USA

ARCHIVE 30 DAYS AFTER THE RESPONSE DATE

RECOVERY ACT FUNDS N

SET-ASIDE

PRODUCT SERVICE CODE* 4620

NAICS CODE* 333310

CONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESS Department of Veterans Affairs

Network Contracting Office (NCO) 15

3450 S 4th Street Trafficway

Leavenworth KS 66048

POINT OF CONTACT*

Contract Specialist

Ron Castle ronald.castle@va.gov

(913) 946-1107

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

ADDRESS Department of Veterans Affairs

VA STL Healthcare Systems

Jefferson Barracks

1 Jefferson Barracks Dr.

St. Louis MO

POSTAL CODE 63125

COUNTRY USA

DESCRIPTION

Water Purification System

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) / SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. This is not a solicitation for bids, proposals, proposals abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this RFI/Sources Sought Notice is for market research purposes only, to obtain information in regards availability of specified products, services, or a combination of both products and services, and to identify potential sources capable of providing products or performing services in accordance with the requirements below. Responses to this notice will be used by the Government to make appropriate acquisition decisions.

DISCLAIMER: This RFI/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 RFI/Sources Sought Notice that is marked as proprietary will be handled accordingly. 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 RFI.

If a solicitation is issued it shall be announced at a later date and all interested parties must respond to that solicitation announcement separately from the response to this RFI/Sources sought notice. Responses to this sources sought notice are not a request to be added to a prospective bidders list or to receive a copy of the solicitation.

Submission of price, delivery, other market information, or capabilities for planning purposes are authorized. However, responses to these notices are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract IAW FAR 15.201(e).

RESPONSES TO THIS NOTICE:

Responses to this notice must be submitted to Ronald Castle via email at ronald.castle@va.gov.

Telephone responses shall not be accepted.

Responses must be received no later than April 23, 2026, at 11:00 CST.

BASED ON THE BELOW REQUIREMENT PLEASE PROVIDE RESPONSES TO THE

FOLLOWING:

A. RESPONSES FOR ALL REQUIREMENT TYPES:

1. Company Name:

2. Company Address:

3. SAMS UEI:

4. Company POC:

5. Phone Number:

mailto:ronald.castle@va.gov

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)/SOURCES SOUGHT

6. EMAIL:

7. Is your company considered a small business IAW the NAICS identified in this RFI/Sources Sought Notice? If so, please indicate the size status and representations of your business, such as but not limited to: Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB), Hubzone, Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB), Large Business, etc.)?

NAICS: 333310 NAICS SIZE STANDARD: 1000 Employees

8. If your company is considered a large business, does your company have any authorized small business distributors/suppliers, service providers, and/or does your company sub-contract to small business concerns?

a. If so, please provide the company name, company POC, and small business status (if available):

9. Does your company have the required staffing, equipment, licenses, certification, and/or authorization letters to provide the products and/or services for this sources sought?

10. Is your company an authorized distributor/supplier and/or service provider (or equivalent) of the products and/or services identified in this sources sought? NOTE: Please provide authorization letters and/or agreements from manufacturer.

11. Does your company currently hold a Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract with GSA, the VA National Acquisition Center (NAC), or NASA SEWP; or does your company hold a contract with the VA Strategic Acquisition Center (SAC); or have any other federal contract that can be utilized to procure the products and/or services identified in this sources sought?

a. If so, please provide the name of the agency, contract number, contract start date, and contract end date.

b. Are the products and/or services identified in this sources sought available on the contract/agreement schedule? Please explain if all or part of the deliverables of this sources sought are available by the contract/agreement schedule.

12. Please submit a capabilities statement that provides clear, compelling, and convincing evidence that your company can meet the requirements outlined in this sources sought.

13. COMMENTS: Please provide recommendations that may be pertinent to the improvement of the Statement of Requirements and potential solicitation.

B. RESPONSES FOR PRODUCTS (I.E. SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT)

1. Is your company the manufacturer of the product(s) identified in this sources sought?

IF NOT:

a. Is the manufacturer of the products identified in this sources sought considered to be a small business concern IAW the NAICS Size standard for this sources sought.

b. Is your company primarily engaged in retail or wholesale trade for the products identified in this sources sought?

c. Is your company an authorized distributor/supplier (or equivalent) of the products identified in this sources sought? NOTE: Please provide authorization letters and/or agreements from manufacturer.

d. Non-Manufacturer rule compliance: If Applicable, please confirm that your company complies with the Non-Manufacturer rule in that:

1. The products your company provides are manufactured by a small business.

2. The total number of employees at your company does not exceed 500.

3. Your company is primarily engaged in the retail or wholesale of the products identified in this sources sought.

4. Your company takes ownership/possession of the products in a manner consistent with industry standards.

2. Does your company offer comparable products other than the brand identified in this sources sought?

IF SO:

a. Do the products your company provide meet or exceed the salient characteristics of the brand identified in this sources sought in terms of functions to be performed;

performance requirements; and/or essential physical characteristics?

b. Please provide a factual comparison of your company’s alternate products and explain how those products can provide equal or better value to the Government when compared to the brand identified in this sources sought.

3. Are the products your company provides in response to this sources sought considered Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) items IAW FAR 2.101 “Commercial Items”?

4. What is the delivery/lead time of the products your company provides?

5. Are there scaled delivery/lead times with greater quantities? Please elaborate.

6. What is the current life cycle of the products your company provides?

7. Are there any maintenance requirements/recommendations associated with the products your company provides in response to the sources sought? If so, please provide the recommended/required maintenance frequencies/schedule and estimated cost annual cost.

8. Does your company alter, modify, or change the products identified in this sources sought? If so, please identify how the products are altered, modified, or changed.

9. Are the products your company provides in response to this sources sought manufactured in the United States of America (USA) IAW FAR Part 25, FAR Clause 52.225.1, and FAR Provision 52.225-2?

If Not:

a. Please provide the name of the country where the products are manufactured.

b. Is the country where the product(s) are manufactured subject to any trade agreements with the United States of America IAW FAR Part 25?

SOURCES SOUGHT DISCRIPTION:

The Department of Veteran Affairs, Network Contracting Office 15 (NCO 15) is seeking sources that can provide dental furniture in accordance with (IAW) the below requirement and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 333310 with a size standard of 1000 employees.

REQUIREMENT:

Statement of Work

Project Title: Equipment for new Jefferson Barracks Laboratories

1. Equipment:

We are requesting to purchase two (2) Sartorius Arium Comfort II Wall Mounted Type I & Type II water purification systems and associated accessories. To remove microorganisms, particulates, organics, ions, and potential dissolved gases, an array of technologies exist which include membrane filtration and packed bed separation (or call it whatever you will; packed-bed adsorption/absorption, column separation, etc.). These include activated carbon, ion exchange resins, physical filtration, and irradiation to destroy microorganisms (e.g., UV light). Systems that manufacture Type I / Type II water purification systems (call this "grade I" and "grade II" if you will to compare to the previous paragraph), where the lower the Roman numeral, the higher the purity, include part or all of the technologies just mentioned. Type II water is satisfactorily used in things like media preparation, general lab practices (including cleaning glassware), electrochemistry, and most assays. When it comes to advanced analytical equipment such as chromatography or mass spectrometry, which is highly sensitive to the analytes, no result is trustworthy that has anything, but Type I water used. Ideally, Type I would also be used for tissue culturing and media preparation, as well as advanced or highly sensitive assays, including assays that quantify nucleic acids (DNA/RNA). Type I systems can include technology that removes large proteins (such as enzymes) and DNA/RNA so that water can be safely and reliably used for protein quantification or DNA/RNA quantification experiments.

2. Technical Specifications:

Smart Station Wall-Mounted

Dimensions:

Control box (w × d × h) 172 × 157 × 343 mm (6.8 × 6.2 × 13.5”) Operating range dispense arm (d × w × h) 242 × 90 × 300 mm (9.5 × 3.5× 11.8”) Tubing Length:

Distance to water system/bagtank 2 Meter Operating range flexible handheld 0.7 Meter Weight Approx. 2.4 kg (5.3 lbs) General Specifications Volume-controlled dispensing 50 mL – 50 Liter Volume accuracy ± 5 % between Power supply 100 – 240 VAC; 50 and 60 Hz, 2.5 A (max.) 2°C – 40°C

• Materials

• Membrane Asymmetrical polyethersulfone

• Filling bell assembly Polycarbonate

• Other plastics Polypropylene

• Typical Specifications for Purified Water

• Flow rate

• (depends on the inlet pressure and the type of system)

• Up to 2.0 L/min.

• Bacteria < 0.001 CFU/mL

• Particle content No particles > 0.22 µm

• General Specifications

• Pore sizes 0.45 µm + 0.2 µm

• Filtration area 0.015 m²

• Inlet and outlet ¼” plug-in connector

• Sterilization

• (3 cycles max.)

• Autoclavable at 134°C,

• 1 bar (14.5 psi), 30 min.

• Max. diffusion 1 mL/min. at 2.5 bar (36 psi)

• Min. bubble point 3.2 bar (46.4 psi)

3. Delivery:

VA Research & Development JB Labs, 1 Jefferson Barracks Drive Building 1, Rooms 2C19 & 3C17 St. Louis, MO 63125

4. Installation:

Installation and demonstration are required, and is included in the quote, for this equipment.

5. Information Technology:

No additional IT support requirements are needed for this equipment