BL011-23 ADD1

January 17, 2022

ADDENDUM #1

BL011-23, Purchase and Implementation of Mass Spectrometry Instrumentation for Water Analysis for The Water Tower Institute.

This Addendum is being issued to provide the following revisions and/or clarifications to the bid documents and answers to the questions received.

I. Questions and Responses:

Q1: The bid does not ask for supporting documentation regarding the proofs of use of the instrumentation for the specified EPA methods. It only asked for a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Will the application documents and proofs be needed? If yes, can the PDF application proofs to have on record with this BID be emailed to Purchasing or should these documents be printed and supplied with the submitted bid?

A1. Supporting documentation does not have to be submitted with bid submittals. However, documentation shall be provided upon request. Performance requirements for the EPA Methods must be demonstrated on the instrumentation installed in the laboratory.

Q2. Does a hard copy of the bid have to be submitted?

A2. Yes, Bids should be typed or submitted in ink and returned in a sealed container marked on the outside with the BL# and Company Name. Bids will be received until 2:50 P.M. local time on January 20, 2023, at the Gwinnett County Financial Services - Purchasing Division – 2nd Floor, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30046. Any bid received after this date and time will not be accepted.

Q3. Is this BID for NEW systems only or New and/or Refurb/Used systems as well?

A3. Gwinnett County is requesting bids for NEW systems only.

Q4. Can a vendor submit a bid for one line item and still be considered?

A4. It is the County's intent to award all line items to the overall low responsive and responsible bidder.

However, the County reserves the right to award by line item. Interested vendors do not have to bid all line items to be considered, should the County choose to award by line item.

Q5. On Page 2, Section A, Line Item 7, Requirements as outlined in EPA Methods 524.4, 8260C, 8270D. It lists EPA method 8270 which is a semi-volatile organic compounds method while 524.4, 8260C and 624 are all volatile organic compound methods and trying to run both methods on the same GCMS could be challenging because the extraction solvent used for semi-volatiles, Dichloromethane is also an analyte for volatile compounds and contamination will be a problem. Also, the column phases are incompatible in temperature range. Did Gwinnett County mean to include USEPA method 8270 as it’s only mentioned once in the specifications and is not mentioned on line A10? Does Gwinnett County intend to run Taste and Odor, Volatiles and Semi-volatiles on one GCMS system or multiple GCMS systems?

A5. Volatiles and taste/odor compounds are the higher priority. Gwinnett County recognizes the challenges with resetting the instrument for semi-volatiles and this would be done if there was a dire need. Gwinnett County intends to run one GC/MS system for the higher priority contaminant groups.

BL002-23 PAGE 2

Addendum 1

Q6. On Page 2, Section A, Line Item 9, Purge and trap capabilities, Does Gwinnett County require a purge and trap autosampler to be included with the “Purge and Trap capabilities”? If so, Does Gwinnett County require the water recirculating bath to be included with the “Purge and Trap capabilities”?

A6. Yes, and any other peripherals for running purge and trap.

Q7. On Page 3, Section C, Line Item 1, Sample tubes/vials (compatible with autosampler), How many vials for VOC and how many vials for 6040 does Gwinnett County require?

A7. Gwinnett County estimates running approximately 100 samples per month for each which includes standards, blanks, QA/QC checks, spikes, and replicates.

Q8. One-year consumable kit, how many samples per each analysis, VOC, Semi-Volatiles and Taste and Odor does Gwinnett County anticipate running each year so that enough consumables can be provided to last approximately a year?

A8. Please see answer for Question 7 above.

Q9. USEPA method 8260 can be used for both water and soils (solid) samples. Does Gwinnett County want a Purge and Trap autosampler capable of soil/solid extraction or just for water samples?

A9. Gwinnett County is requesting a Purge and Trap autosampler for water samples only.

All bidders shall acknowledge receipt of this addendum by inserting its number and date in the Bid Form.

Failure to do so may subject bidder to disqualification. This addendum forms a part of the Contract Documents.