EvoQua Water filtration system (Notice of Intent to sole source)

Acquisition Description:

This is a Notice of Intent, not a request for proposal.  The National Institute of Health, Clinical Center (NIH-CC) intends to negotiate on an other than full and open competition basis with Evoqua Water Technologies LLC.

Water filtration, maintenance and testing of water and steam used for sterile processing is necessary for sterilizer equipment and washers located in the NIH’s Central Hospital Supply (CHS), rooms B1C267, B1N287 and B1C279 (full details on supported equipment in Attachment A). Local water supply contains an abundance of mineral deposits and sediment such as Calcium, Magnesium, and Sodium, which if left unfiltered can leave trace amounts on instruments being washed. Service deionization has proven to be an excellent filtration system in order to eliminate mineral deposits as well as chlorine, chloramines and dissolved organic contaminants.

The NIH has been using water filtration equipment from Evoqua Water Technologies LLC for several years. Previous water filtration contract from Evoqua Water Technologies LLC includes: PO # 75N90023P00081.

Justification:

Evoqua Water Technologies has provided RODI water for the purposes of Sterile Processing to the Sterile Processing Service for several years. Sterile processing service is a critical part of medical care and any service disruption, as would be necessary if another vendor were to provide these services, would be detrimental to continuing to provide patient care. That is not to mention the additional expense that would be needed to continue to provide services during any transition.

Due to the nature of the equipment that is supported with RODI water from Evoqua Water Technologies, any level of delay to providing this service would be catastrophic to hospital operations. A change in the vendor to provide the same or similar services would take an unacceptable amount of time to complete as all new infrastructure, plumbing lines and support equipment would need to be installed to set up service. During this transition period, the government would incur additional debt to support operations, since losing this service for any amount of time would result in numerous medical procedures needing to be cancelled. The unique nature of the clinical center cannot be replicated at other medical centers

Place of Performance or Delivery:

The contract period of performance is:

Base: 09/19/2025 to 09/18/2026

Option Year 1: 09/19/2026 – 09/18/2027

Option Year 2: 09/19/2027 – 09/18/2028

Option Year 3: 09/19/2028 – 09/18/2029

Option Year 4: 09/19/2029 – 09/18/2030

Place of Performance: NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD

The statutory authority for this sole source requirement is 41 U.S.C. 1901 (a) (1) as implemented by FAR 13.106-1 only one responsible source and no other supply of service will satisfy agency requirements. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL.  All responsible sources that could provide the required may submit a capability statement that will be considered by email (subject line to reference NOI-CC-25-006804) by 4:00 pm eastern standard time on 09/15/2025 to: lu-chang.lu@nih.gov

All responses received by the closing date of this synopsis will be considered by the Government.  A determination not to compete this requirement, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government.