Water Testing of Dental Facilities The purpose of this notice will determine appropriate Set-Aside.

The purpose of this Sources Sought notices is to identify if there are Two (2) or more Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) or Two (2) or more Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) who are capable of performing the totality of this requirement in accordance with the EPA, ADA, and CDC recommendations stated below, and FAR 52.219-27(d)(1) Services. FAR 52.219-27(d)(1) states, at least 50 percent of the cost of personnel for contract performance will be spent for employees of the concern or employees of other veteran-owned small business concerns . Since the testing portion of this requirement is considered to be more than 50% of the total contract performance, this portion of the requirement must be actually performed by the SDVOSB or VOSB in order for that business concern s SDVOSB or VOSB status to be considered in setting aside this requirement as 100% SDVOSB or 100% VOSB.



All SDVOSB and VOSB business concerns are encouraged to respond to this sources sought notice only if they can meet all the requirements including FAR 52.219-27 by submitting their testing lab certification showing they can comply with the certification requirements in the Statement of Work.



Description of Requirement:



Phoenix VA Health Care System (PVAHCS) Dental Unit Water Line Heterotrophic Plate Count (HPC) Testing



Contents:

I. Background

II. Scope/ Statement of Work

III. Technical Requirements

IV. Government Point of Contact



NOTE: Security accreditation package is not required and Contractor will not have access to any VA sensitive information. This project does not require acquisition of a service that involves storage, transmitting, or exchanging VA sensitive information.



Background:



a. Waterlines: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), American Public Health Association, and the American Water Works Association have defined the standard for US potable water not to exceed 500 colony forming units (CFU) per milliliter of water. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Dental Association (ADA) have recommended dental unit water line (DUWL) delivered water should meet the U.S. potable water standard not to exceed 500 CFU/mL of water. Dental Services should routinely test water coming out of the DUWL to meet this standard, have an action plan to meet this standard, and to address a DUWL that exceeds this standard. Waterline testing shall be accomplished by an EPA or state certified laboratory to perform environmental testing. VA Microbiology Laboratories perform clinical tests, and have not been approved for environmental testing.



Scope of Work / Technical Requirements:



Assess dental unit water lines for contamination for the Veteran Affairs Dental clinics located in Phoenix, Gilbert, and Surprise AZ. The vendor must be certified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certified.



Materials will be provided to the following locations quarterly:

110 waterlines at the Phoenix facility, 650 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix 85012

60 waterlines at the Gilbert satellite clinic, 3285 S. Val Vista Drive, Gilbert 85295

30 waterlines at the Surprise satellite clinic, Surprise 13985 W. Grand Avenue, #101, Surprise 85374



Contamination should not exceed 500 colony forming units per milliliter of water. The vendor is to provide a total of 200 sterile containers/bottles, boxes/coolers, ice packs, shipping labels.



Vendor is to provide CFU/mL status report on all systems being tested within 3 business days.



All shipping cost for quarterly testing is at the cost of the vendor. Vendor will ship sample collection materials to the VA Phoenix sites using ground shipping services. The materials will include the vials/bottles, collection instructions, ice/freezer packs and the return insulated shipping box. After the samples are taken, the VA will ship the samples to the testing site using a Priority Overnight shipping service provided by the vendor.



All shipping cost for quarterly re-testing is at the cost of the vendor. The vendor will ship retest materials to the sites using Priority Overnight shipping services. The materials will include the vials/bottles, collection instructions, ice/freezer packs and the return insulated shipping box. After retests have been taken, the VA must ship the samples to the testing site using a Priority Overnight shipping service provided by the vendor.

3.0 Special and Technical Requirements:

The collection of samples will be the responsibility of the Veteran Affairs Dental clinics located in Phoenix, Gilbert, and Surprise AZ. The contracted Laboratory will provide quarterly testing and re-testing collection instructions, materials which include the vials/bottles, ice/freezer packs insulated shipping box and shipping labels. Ground and Priority shipping is at the cost of the vendor.