VA NWIHCS Pathology Service

THIS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) – SOURCES SOUGHT IS ISSUED SOLELY FOR MARKET RESEARCH AND PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION

The Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System (NWIHCS) intends to procure Medical Laboratory and Pathology Services, inclusive of autopsy services. The Contractor shall be responsible for performing pre-analytic processing as defined in its laboratory manual, analysis, and reporting of analytical results and interpretation for clinical and anatomical pathology specimens as requested by participating facilities (listed below) during the contract period. The contractor shall provide Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Services, on a scheduled basis, in accordance with the specifications, terms and conditions herein.  VA will be responsible for specimen collection, preparation, grossing (with the exception of cytology specimens), VistA accessioning, preservation and storage of final slides and blocks. All slides and blocks must be returned to the VA for permanent storage. 

Services shall be furnished to three (3) participating sites:

Omaha VA Medical Center – Main Laboratory

(4101 Woolworth Avenue Omaha, Ne 68105)

Lincoln Community Based Outreach Clinic (CBOC) – Main Laboratory

(420 Victory Park Drive Lincoln, Ne 68510)

Grand Island Community Based Outreach Clinic (CBOC) – Main Laboratory

(2201 North Broadwell Avenue Grand Island, Ne 68803)

The resulting contract shall be a single-award, Five-Year, Fixed-Price, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Contract.  The anticipated  Ordering Period shall be from:

Year 1 of Ordering Period:  4/1/2027 – 3/30/2028

Year 2 of Ordering Period:  4/1/2028 – 3/30/2029

Year 3 of Ordering Period:  4/1/2029 – 3/30/2030

Year 4 of Ordering Period:  4/1/2030 – 3/30/2031

Year 5 of Ordering Period::  4/1/2031 – 3/30/2032

1.  Responses to this Sources Sought Announcement must be in writing.  The purpose of this Sources Sought Announcement is for market research only to make appropriate acquisition decisions and to gain knowledge of Small Businesses, including Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses and Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB/VOSB), who are interested in submitting proposals for this procurement and who are capable of performing the work required for this procurement. 

2.  The NAICS for this requirement is 621511 – Medical Laboratories, the PSC is Q515, for Medical Pathology

3.  The Contractor shall provide all reference lab testing services for the test menu listed in Attachment B for the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System. The required reference lab testing services (including supplies and packaging, testing, transportation, reports)  include all of the test menu requirements identified in the Schedule of Services Test Spreadsheet (Attachment B) and all of the associated services identified in the DRAFT Performance Work Statement (Attachment A) attached to this Sources Sought Announcement.

4. Interested and capable Contractors are encouraged to respond to this notice not later than Monday, August 3rd, 2026, at 10:00 AM CDT, by providing all the following information via email only to Shanna.Comparato@va.gov:

1. Company name
2. Address
3. Point of contact
4. Phone, fax, and email of primary point of contact
5. Contractor’s Unique Entity ID (SAM) number
6. Contractor’s small business type,  if applicable, (e.g. Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB), 8(a), HUB-Zone, Woman Owned Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, or Small Business).
7. Statement indicating whether  the Contractor is considered to be “small” under the size standard for the NAICS code identified under this RFI.
8. Completed Attachment B provide the information requested in the spreadsheet for each laboratory and test listed in Attachment B, inclusive of a copy of active CLIA Certifications for each lab listed. 
9. Completed Attachment C – RFI VANWIHCS Pathology

NOTE:  The information requested above is required for the Government to evaluate whether there are sufficient small business concerns of a particular type who are capable of performing the work required by this procurement to determine if this procurement should be set aside for a given type of small business concern. 

FAILURE TO SUBMIT THE CONTRACTOR’S CLIA CERTIFICATE OF ACCREDITATION THAT IDENTIFIES THE SPECIALTIES/SUBSPECIALTIES OF THE LABORATORY TESTS THAT THE CONTRACTOR IS CERTIFIED TO PERFORM FOR EACH CONTRACTOR LABORATORY LOCATION AT WHICH THE CONTRACTOR WILL PERFORM TESTING, OR FAILURE TO SUBMIT SUBCONTRACTOR LETTERS OF COMMITMENT THAT INCLUDE ALL OF THE INFORMATION REQUESTED ABOVE, MAY BE VIEWED BY THE GOVERNMENT AS EVIDENCE THAT THE CONTRACTOR LACKS THE ABILITY TO PROVIDE THE REFERENCE LAB TESTING SERVICES REQUIRED BY THIS PROCUREMENT.  THIS, IN TURN, MAY AFFECT THE GOVERNMENT’S DETERMINATION ABOUT WHETHER THE REQUIREMENTS FOR A SET-ASIDE PROCUREMENT HAVE BEEN MET.

ALL of the following Testing Laboratory Information:

1. 1. Copy of the Contractor’s CLIA Certificate of Accreditation that identifies the laboratory specialties/subspecialties that the Contractor is certified to perform and their effective date for each Contractor laboratory location at which the Contractor will perform the laboratory testing described in Attachment B.  .
   2. For each subcontractor laboratory that the Contractor identifies to perform a test identified in Attachment B, provide a letter of commitment signed by the subcontractor, on the subcontractor’s letterhead that:
      1. identifies each test that the subcontractor will perform for the Contractor;
      2. states that the subcontractor will perform the identified test(s) if the Contractor is awarded a contract for this test; and
      3. states that the subcontractor holds a CLIA Certificate of Accreditation in the laboratory specialties/subspecialties required to perform each test for each laboratory location where the subcontractor will perform the test; and provide a copy of the current CLIA Certificates of Accreditation

NOTE:  The information requested above is required for the Government to evaluate whether there are sufficient small business concerns of a particular type who are capable of performing the work required by this procurement to determine if this procurement should be set aside for a given type of small business concern. 

FAILURE TO SUBMIT THE CONTRACTOR’S CLIA CERTIFICATE OF ACCREDITATION THAT IDENTIFIES the specialties/subspecialties of the laboratory TESTs that the Contractor is certified to perform For eACH contractor LABORATORY LOCATION at which the Contractor will perform testing, or fAILURE TO SUBMIT SUBCONTRACTOR LETTERS OF COMMITMENT THAT INCLUDE ALL OF THE INFORMATION REQUESTED ABOVE, MAY BE VIEWED BY THE GOVERNMENT AS EVIDENCE THAT THE CONTRACTOR LACKS THE ABILITY TO PROVIDE THE REFERENCE LAB TESTING SERVICES REQUIRED BY THIS PROCUREMENT.  THIS, IN TURN, MAY AFFECT THE GOVERNMENT’S DETERMINATION ABOUT WHETHER THE REQUIREMENTS FOR A SET-ASIDE PROCUREMENT HAVE BEEN MET.

1. A capability statement that provides detailed information for one or more reference contracts that demonstrates the Contractor’s experience providing reference lab testing services where the Contractor collects testing specimens from a healthcare facility, transports the specimens to a remote laboratory location, performs testing on the specimens, and returns test results to the healthcare facility.  GENERAL STATEMENTS OF CAPABILITY ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE.  The Contractor must provide the following information for each reference contract that the Contractor identifies as evidence of the Contractor’s capability to perform the work required by this procurement: 
   1. the legal name of entity with whom the Contractor held the contract;
   2. the contract number;
   3. a description providing details of the specific tasks the Contractor performed under that contract;
   4. the dates during which the Contractor performed the contract;
   5. the name, phone number, and email address of a person at the entity with whom the Contractor held the contract who can verify the information the Contractor provides regarding this reference contract.

If a Contractor offers to demonstrate experience performing reference lab testing services through the proposed use of subcontractors, the Contractor must identify the legal name of each subcontractor that the Contractor proposes to use and provide all of the information required above for one or more reference contracts performed by each subcontractor that the Contractor intends to use.

NOTE:  The information requested above is required for the Government to evaluate whether there are sufficient small business concerns of a particular type who are capable of performing the work required by this procurement to determine if this procurement should be set aside for a given type of small business concern. 

FAILURE TO SUBMIT ALL OF THE INFORMATION REQUESTED ABOVE TO SUPPORT A CONTRACTOR’S CLAIMED EXPERIENCE MAY BE VIEWED BY THE GOVERNMENT AS EVIDENCE THAT THE CONTRACTOR LACKS THE ABILITY TO PROVIDE THE REFERENCE LAB TESTING SERVICES REQUIRED BY THIS PROCUREMENT.  THIS, IN TURN, MAY AFFECT THE GOVERNMENT’S DETERMINATION ABOUT WHETHER THE REQUIREMENTS FOR A SET-ASIDE PROCUREMENT HAVE BEEN MET.

5. All Contractors who provide goods or services to the United States Government must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database found at https://www.sam.gov.   Registration must include Representations and Certifications. 

--End of Sources Sought Announcement--

DISCLAIMER

This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation.  All information received in response to this RFI that is marked as proprietary will be handled accordingly.  In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), 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 expenses associated with responding to this RFI.