Bloodstream infection diagnosis system

This is a Sources Sought (SS) Notice only; it is not a Solicitation (i.e. Request for Proposal, Request for Quotation, or Invitation for Bids.) announcement and should not be considered as such. This SS is part of a Government market research effort to determine the scope of industry capabilities and interest and will be treated as information only. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responses to this SS are strictly voluntary and the Government will not pay respondents for information provided in response to this SS. Responses to this SS will not be returned and respondents will not be notified of the result of the review. Although responses to the questions posed by the Government would be most beneficial to this market research effort.
The purpose of this SS is to conduct Market Research to determine an acquisition strategy for the establishment of a Bloodstream Infection Diagnosis System in the Laboratory Service at the Cleveland Louis Stokes Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (CLE VAMC).
The Bloodstream Infection Diagnosis System tests positive blood culture bottle samples to provide rapid species identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing results for the most common bacteria that cause bloodstream infections. The system uses automated fluorescence in situ hybridization technology with morphokinetic cellular analysis to achieve this.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, Network Contracting Office (NCO) 10, is conducting market research to determine if there are a sufficient number of Small Businesses capable of performing the requirements to warrant a set-aside. The proposed solicitation is to furnish all materials, labor, equipment and transportation required to provide equipment to the CLE VAMC. Contractor shall also comply with any other federal, state, and local laws applicable to the industry.
Potential sources must demonstrate experience and knowledge of required services and capability to provide such services. Potential sources should submit:
Point of Contact with email address and phone number;
Business name and address;
Business size pursuant to NAICS code 334516 - Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing
(size standard 1,000 employees);
business size;
Applicable business socio-economic category;
GSA, NAC, TAC, or SAC contract number if applicable;
Capability statement;
Recent and relevant projects similar in nature;
DUNS number; and
brochure of commodity requested.
Proprietary/Competition Sensitive information (appropriately marked) will be protected from disclosure to the greatest extent practical, however it is preferred that respondents do not provide proprietary or otherwise restricted responses unless they are indicating proprietary technical characteristics.
Contractors are hereby notified that if a competitive solicitation is issued on the Federal Business Opportunities website http://www.fbo.gov at a later date, all interested parties must respond to that Solicitation announcement separately from any response to this SS announcement. This SS does not restrict the Government's acquisition approach on a future Solicitation.
No faxes, courier delivered, or telephone inquiries/submissions will be accepted. Responses should be submitted to Rachelle J. Hamer, Contracting officer at rachelle.hamer@va.gov 5:00 p.m., Friday, March 8, 2019. Enter RFQ 36C25019Q0451 | Bloodstream Infection Diagnosis System in the email subject line..