Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Clinical Laboratory Reagent Water Testing Sources Sought

Request for Information (RFI) Sources Sought-Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Clinical Laboratory Reagent Water Testing

General Information:

This is an RFI as defined in FAR 15.201(e) to ascertain whether a commercial item exists that provides the capabilities described herein.   

This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation.  All information received in response to this RFI will be treated as business confidential information.  Nonetheless, submitters should properly mark their responses if the information is confidential.  Response to the RFI will not be returned.  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 expense associated with responding to this RFI.

RFI Response and due date:  26 May 2022 by 10:00 AM ET.

Instructions to Responders:

Responses from all capable and qualified sources are encouraged to respond to this request.  

White papers should adhere to the following formatting and outline instructions:

1.   All submissions shall be made electronically and be in one of the following formats: Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF.

2. Cover Page (1page)
•    Title 
•    Organization
•    Responders technical and administrative points of contact (names, addresses, phone, fax number and email addresses)
•    Topic area(s) addressed

3.   Completed Attachment 1, and Attachment 2.  Please note that the response shall provide sufficient technical data to determine how you fully meet the requirements as specified in Attachment 2.  

Please note that responses are due no later than 26 May 2022, 10:00 AM ET.  The preferred method of submission is via email. The point of contact for this action is James Cheng, Contract Specialist, Email: james.cheng1.civ@mail.mil. Only electronic responses are requested.  No evaluation letters and/or results will be issued to the respondents.  At this time no solicitation exists; therefore, please do not request a copy of the solicitation. It is the responsibility of any potential offeror to monitor this site for the release of any solicitation or synopsis.

Background/Overview: 

In 2012, when the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES) moved to occupy their new laboratory spaces at 115 Purple Heart Drive, Dover AFB, DE 19902; a new clinical laboratory water testing contract needed to be established to perform mandatory surveillance testing on the reverse osmosis water purification (ROI) system and its distribution points. The ROI system is a single enclosed distribution system that flows from the ROI purification system to all laboratories with in the AFMES divisions of DoD DNA Operations (DNAOps) and Forensic Toxicology (ForTox). AFMES-DNAOps is a forensic DNA testing laboratory that is accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) to the ISO-17025 and FBI-QAS standards for DNA Forensic Laboratories and the ForTox is a forensic toxicology testing laboratory that is accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) to the ISO-17025 and the American Board of Forensic Toxicology (ABFT). According to accreditation standards, the ROI system is defined as a critical system since it is providing ultrapure lab grade water for use in DNA and toxicology testing, making ultrapure reagents, and for use in analytical instruments.

As a critical system, the laboratories must define and perform sufficient testing to show that the system is providing ultrapure water. AFMES-DNAOps is the only DoD human remains DNA testing laboratory, which under title 10 USC, chapter 75, 1471 and 10 USC, Chapter 76, 1501-1513; NDAA 2010, Section 541 (d)(2) and DODI 5154.30 is charged with providing human remains DNA testing in support of current day operations, past accounting operations (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency; DPAA), other DoD Agencies missions, and other Bureaus of the Federal Government, and civilian medical institutions. Additionally, AFMES-ForTox is the DoD’s only postmortem forensic toxicology laboratory, which under title 10 USC, chapter 75, 1471 helps the AFMES medical examiners with determining cause and manner of death. The AFMES-ForTox division is also responsible for essential functions of the DoD Drug Detection and Reduction Program (DDRP) to include confirmation tests of all drug positives and making blind study samples. Due to the nature of the missions described above, the AFMES defined the water testing requirement to occur weekly with a rotating number of distribution points split across the whole system. This was done to make sure that the system was contamination free within the specification of the CLSI standards and that there were no localized areas of contamination that could affect the ROI system.