6830--Research Gas

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY.

This is not a solicitation for bids, proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential requirement. The responses received from interested contractors will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method.

The intended contract is a firm-fixed price.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Network Contracting Office (NCO) 20, is conducting market research to identify potential sources which can provide a shielded x-ray cabinet as outlined below in support of the Veterans Health Administration, VA Portland Health Care System, 3710 SW U.S. Veterans Hospital Road, Portland, OR 97239-2964.

Potential candidates having the capabilities necessary to provide for this requirement at a fair and reasonable price are invited to respond to this Sources Sought Notice via e-mail to Nazanin Kreiner at Nazanin.kreiner@va.gov no later than June 26, 2026, 1PM, Mountain Time. No telephone inquiries will be accepted.

RESPONSES SHOULD INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION: Company name, address, SAM UEI, and business size; point of contact name, phone number, and e-mail address; whether services are presently offered on a current GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract, NASA SEWP, or any other Federal contract. Please also state whether the product is Made in America. NAICS Code 325120 with size standard of 1,200 employees, is applicable to determine business size standard. Please indicate whether proposed system is manufactured in the United States. Any questions or concerns may also be directed via email to Nazanin Kreiner at Nazanin.kreiner@va.gov. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted.

STATEMENT OF WORK

1. Contract Title: Research & Development Gas Delivery and Storage

2. Background

The Portland VA Health Care System Research Service requires medical grade specialty gasses to conduct a wide array of scientific experiments. The Research Service constantly has over 200 VA funded research grants which encompasses over 490 active protocols for the various research studies. When a VA grant is awarded, it names a Principal Investigator (PI) that is responsible to complete the AIM and Scope of the project. Each Study is unique, and, in most cases, the PI has completed previous studies and/or has more than one active study.

A hallmark of scientific discovery is consistency of reagents and supplies over many years so this itself does not become a variable. Consistent reagents, such as specialty gases mixed gases provided during each experiment or something of that nature allows for data integrity with results shared with other investigators and VA approved repositories. It is imperative that future experiments keep the same scientific continuity as previous experiments with 10-30 years of medical scientific value.

The Research laboratories are located within the Portland VA campus in buildings 100,101,103,104 and 6. These specialty gasses which are case/study dependent are required at all these locations.

Collection of scientific data is a continuum and future experiments are based upon previous results. In virtually all labs, the specialty gas comes in direct contact with living cells from many distinct tissue sources and maintaining viability of the cells is critically important. The baseline scientific data mentioned above was derived from many years and hundreds of research studies that included the use of gasses provided via contract.

Due to the specific need to maintain this scientific continuity, the determined delivery schedule is exclusive to the Portland VA Research Service.

3. Scope

The vendor must perform 100% of the contract. Any deviation from performance, the contractor is required to contact the research administration office immediately to ensure zero disruption of research efforts and plan a contingency in place with assigned COR. In the event of any emergencies, the contractor must deliver within 24 hours of initial report and plan future deliveries in the event of potential delays.

The types of gasses needed are listed in Table 1 below along with the inventoried list at the bottom of the SOW. The number and type of cylinders that the Contractor will be providing, and maintaining, varies based on need and projects funded (see Table 1 for the list of requirements).

Flexibility is required on the part of the Contractor to be able to handle specialty orders (custom gas mixes and sizes) as well as emergency orders (delivery within