J042--Fire Alarm System Inspection, Testing, Maintenance, and Certification Services at the Bedford VA Medical Center

Amendment No.: 0004
Solicitation No.: 36C24126Q0613
Date: July 29, 2026

Purpose of Amendment

The purpose of this amendment is to provide responses to questions submitted regarding the solicitation. As a result of these questions and responses, the response due date remains unchanged.

1. Question: For locations that are leased, when do the leases expire? Would it occur during this contract?

Answer: Not part of this contract, 20yr lease

2. Question: On page 4 of the RFP, annual inspections must be completed prior to the 15th of the month. Is there any leniency for quarterly/semi-annual inspections?

Answer: There is leniency on the dates as long as it is prearranged.

3. Question: The fire alarm systems at this facility are proprietary, however in the RFP you specified programming and maintenance of systems is included. Would you please explain in further detail?

Answer: Edwards equipment is proprietary as in it is not “off the shelf” and all Fire Alarm Equipment under the contract is Edwards equipment and tied into the Edwards FireWorks graphical command-and-control software and incident management platform. The contractor must have a certified Edwards FireWorks Programmer for programming, maintenance, and staff training. The company must also have Edwards certified technicians to work on the fire alarm system when required. This is also a measured Performance Standard under the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP).

4. Question: Can backflow preventers be performed during regular business hours?

Answer: Yes

5. Question: Are there any restrictions to what services can be performed during regular business hours?

Answer: No, there are no restrictions on what regularly scheduled services are performed during specific times. As long as it is scheduled ahead of time. Emergency services which are included in this contract are not restrained to regular business hours though and their specifics are stated in the SOW.

6. Question: Are there any services that are required to be performed during after-hours?

Answer: Yes, emergency services for unforeseen issues that arise. The specific requirements are stated in the SOW, and response times are a measured Performance Standard under the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). There are no regularly scheduled maintenance services that need to be performed after-hours though.

7. Question: Can you provide previous sprinkler test reports?

Answer: No, but I can provide the last one for one of the buildings as an example and that most of the gauges are due for replacement. However, they would be due for replacement over the life of the fully executed contract anyways (5 yrs). The inspection provided is for the building 78, one of the largest buildings under the contract. Also, the inventory for the equipment was provided as Attachment A.

8. Question: Can you provide previous annual fire alarm test reports?

Answer: No but I can provide the last one for one of the buildings. The one provided was for building 78, one of the largest buildings under the contract. Also, the inventory for the equipment was provided as an Attachment.

9. Question: Should Annual State Elevator Testing be included?

Answer: No, that is covered by the Engineering Service.

10. Question: Are there any confined or hazardous spaces worth noting?

Answer: No, all of the spaces to service the Fire Alarm System are regular access or Maintenance Access Areas.

11. Question: Is Annual Emergency Lights and Exit Signs testing included? If so, how many are in each facility?

Answer: No, that is covered by the Engineering Service.

12. Question: Are monitoring services included in this proposal?

Answer: Monitoring services referring to someone for the Fire Alarm Panel to notify when a fire alarm goes off to call the fire department. Then no, we have a separate contractor that monitors the alarms for the system and notifies the fire department.

We do require emergency services as needed and that information is included in the SOW and response times are a measured Performance Standard under the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP).

13. Question: Can we assume that because the base award is for 1 year, that only 20% of consumables (batteries) will be replaced each year?

Answer: Yes, that is correct for batteries and fire extinguishers. Although, some of them might need to be replaced at the beginning of the first year.

14. Question: Is modification of the system programming or Fire Works panel required?

Answer: Yes, at different times the programming will need updates by a tech that is factory certified.

15. Question: Are repairs billable or to be included in the contract?

Answer: Some but most should be included in the contract. It depends on the type, this is detailed in the SOW.

16. Question: Should we include any repairs in the fire alarm maintenance and testing line-item price?

Answer: Yes, repairs identified during testing usually. This is detailed in the SOW.

17. Question: Is Edwards factory training certification required?

Answer: Yes, for programming and any panel work respectively, Edwards factory training certification is required.

18. Question: Will the contract be awarded for 1 year with the option for 4 additional, or a total of 5 years?

Answer: Base year, plus 4 additional option years (Refer to Solicitation).

19. Question: Can you provide a record of previous 3-year and 5-year inspections?

Answer: No, the inventory list was provided as Attachment A and this year’s annual inspections for sprinkler and fire for one building is also being provided.

20. Question: Is it adequate to test duct smoke detectors via remote test stations?

Answer: Yes, we have remote key activators already for many of the duct smokes.

21. Question: Should we use the counts for fire extinguishers according to the RFP or the counts provided?

Answer: The fire extinguisher count provided in the equipment inventory is a 1 for 1 count. That number can go up or down by a few if we renovate space or remove a vehicle from our inventory and no longer need one/two or require another one/two for it as an example. The original purchase would not be required under the contract, but the subsequent inspections and future replacement testing would be required under the contract.