Sources Sought Notice
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Sources Sought Notice
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THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of all qualified sources to perform a potential requirement, and to gain knowledge of potential qualified Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB), Small Business Manufacturers, and other Small Businesses, interested and capable of providing items requested, as well as any large business interested and capable. This REQUEST FOR INFORMATION/SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE, in support of the Portland VA Medical Center, is for market research purposes and planning purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. The Government will not pay for information solicited. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation. Results will be used to determine set-aside.
The intended contract is a firm-fixed price purchase.
Potential contractors shall provide, at a minimum, the following information:
1) Company name, address, and point of contact, phone number, e-mail address, and SAM.gov UEI number/code.
2) Anticipated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 811210. Please indicate whether you are a Small Business, SDVOSB, VOSB, WOSB, Hub-zone, Small Business Manufacturer, Other Small Business, or Large Business, and whether you are the manufacturer of the items listed below.
3) The Government is not obligated to, nor will it pay for or reimburse, any costs associated with responding to this sources sought notice. This notice shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract, nor does it restrict the Government to a particular acquisition approach. The Government will in no way be bound to this information if any solicitation is issued. Notice to Potential Offerors: All Offerors who provide goods or services to the United States Federal Government must be registered in the System Award Management (SAM located on the web at www.sam.gov). It is desirable that any Offeror to have completed their business Online Representations and Certifications Application in the System for Award Management (SAM).
4) Any Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses or Veteran Owned Businesses who respond to a solicitation on this project must be registered with the Small Business Administration VetCert Registry located at https://veterans.certify.sba.gov.
5) If not a manufacturer, only authorized representatives/providers/distributors of the manufacturer will be considered. Equipment must be new, no used or refurbished equipment accepted. Please provide proof of authorized service provider letter from manufacturer.
6) If you are the manufacturer, do you have any designated or authorized distributors? If so, please provide their name, telephone, point of contact and size status (if available).
7) The salient characteristics must reflect the physical, functional, or performance characteristics equal to those provided below and products must meet to satisfy the Government s needs. To be considered for any potential solicitation, offers must:
It is the intent of the VA to use the information gathered for market research purposes only. If a formal solicitation is released, it will be posted via the Contracting Opportunities website located at sam.gov., NASA SEWP, or GSA eBuy.
DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUIREMENT:
The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking to obtain information on vendors who can provide the products as outlined in the Statement of Work below. This is an Unrestricted Request for Information/Sources Sought Notice.
DRAFT STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)
Contract Title. Automation Onsite Administrator (Resident Omnicell Expert)
Background.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System (PSHCS) Seattle Division is transitioning its medication distribution from a paradigm whereby daily medications are sent from the central pharmacy to wards and clinics to a paradigm that has medications securely stored in patient care areas, making them immediately available for patients. This will improve care by reducing delays, eliminating medication losses/damage in the pneumatic tube system, increasing accountability, and improving safety by limiting access to only medications that are on each patient s profile. Success of this model of medication distribution is entirely dependent on daily adjustments to cabinet drawer configurations and inventory to assure that needed medications are stocked and nurses can provide seamless care. To assure uninterrupted operation of the equipment (Omnicell brand) and make real time configuration changes, PSHCS requires an automated onsite administrator (AOA) with expert training from the Omnicell Training Academy. The contract is essential to ensure that the new pharmacy automation and inventory management systems are programmed and stocked in alignment with VHA Directive 1195 High Alert Medications, VHA SOP 1108.21 Pharmacy Clinical Informatics, and VHA Directive 1108.07 General Pharmacy Service Requirements.
Scope
The scope of responsibilities for the AOA will include all tasks listed in paragraph 4 for all Omnicell products (hardware, operating systems, and software applications) in use at PSHCS, including both main campuses and all CBOC s. Services shall be performed at VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA 98108. The contractor shall perform work between the hours of 08:00AM 05:00PM Monday Friday excluding Federal Holidays except by special arrangements with the facility s pharmacy manager. The contract shall be for (1) Base year plus 4 option years.
Specific Tasks: Contractor Responsibilities.
The contractor shall provide at a minimum one full time (40 hour week) AOA for VA Puget Sound to support optimization efforts, issues management, initial troubleshooting & break-fix, training, and user/system management. Will use commercially reasonable efforts to provide the following services in a professional manner in accordance with industry standards:
Supports Performance Center/Omnicell One engagement through collaboration with contractor-assigned field strategist and assist by implementing accepted optimization opportunities for all products.
On an ongoing basis, prioritizes system configuration activities appropriately and in a timely manner to ensure Omnicell equipment settings remain standardized to the needs of the government and aligned with the highest degree of patient safety over time.
Regularly assists in the use of Omnicell tools and processes, building reports to show Omnicell performance levels and objectives to help stay on target and meet contractual standards.
Works with Omnicell resources to identify and help government implement efficiency opportunities including but not limited to inventory management, diversion risks, outdate avoidance, hardware changes, and operational usage improvements.
Monitors and presents to primary site contact optimization metrics and adjusts cabinet and carousel inventory on hand based on metrics at least quarterly.
Maintains subject matter expertise of Omnicell automation solutions.
Suggests, arranges, and performs Omnicell training on all Omnicell products including training staff on new upgrade features.
Establishes new user access to Omnicell systems.
Troubleshoots and completes minor break/fix issues like removing jams, swapping drawers, installing/deinstalling flex locks, upgrading and activating stored cabinets when needed etc. at all VA Puget Sound campuses including Community Based Outpatient Clinics.
Coordinates all Omnicell service resources while on duty, including ticketing system C4C.
Assists in the development of internal dashboards for optimizing use of all Omnicell products, to help identify and implement opportunities for improved inventory management, to help identify potential diversion risks which would be handed off to government s diversion team for researching, and assisting with educational material development by providing Omnicell best practice recommendations which primary site contact could then use for education at its own discretion.
Operates all Omnicell equipment including assigning, unassigning, restocking, destocking, picking, cycle counting, expiring, cleaning, packaging, delivering etc. whenever called upon to support the pharmacy operation.
Assists with implementation of new Omnicell equipment and services and upgrading of all existing Omnicell equipment.
Government Responsibilities.
Government shall appoint a COR responsible for certifying that the work done under the contract is performed to time and standard.
Government retains sole responsibility for controlled substances (Schedule II V) handling, stocking, chain-of-custody, and accountability in accordance with agency policy and applicable law. Contractor will not handle controlled substances.
Government is responsible for performing activities that must be performed by a licensed pharmacist under law or per VHA regulations.
Government is responsible for providing the operational inputs, materials, and clinical oversight required to support delivered pharmacy support activities.
6. Performance Monitoring.
COR will conduct routine inspections to measure accuracy and performance to ensure pharmacy automation is deployed properly.
A daily performance report by contract personnel at close of business will be provided by and used to monitor performance.
7. Security Requirements.
All Contractor employees are subject to the same level of investigation as VA employees who have access to VA sensitive information or access to VA facilities.
The background investigation includes the following requirements: 1) Completed documentation 2) Fingerprints 3) Completion of OPM s e-QIP Questionnaire.
The Contractor is required to fulfill all of the security requirements.
The Contractor, upon completion of fingerprinting, and an initial suitability determination, may be authorized tentative access to start the performance period of the contract, but only on condition of completion of all security requirements.
This requirement is applicable to all subcontractor personnel requiring the same access.
The Contractor shall bear the expense of obtaining background investigations.
If the investigation is conducted by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) through the VA, the Contractor shall reimburse the VA within 30 days.
8. Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE)/Government-Furnished Information (GFI). n/a
9. Other Pertinent Information or Special Considerations.
a. Identification of Possible Follow-on Work. n/a
b. Identification of Potential Conflicts of Interest (COI). n/a
c. Inspection and Acceptance Criteria. The COR is responsible for certifying that the work done under the contract is performed to time and standard. They are also responsible for assuring the inspection and acceptance of products provided incidental to services.
10. Risk Control.
No identified patient or infection control issues.
10. Safety and Fire Prevention.
The Contractor shall provide all safety equipment for their employees in the performance of this contract while on Government property and shall abide by safe working standards.
During the performance of this contract, the Contractor shall take such safety precautions as necessary to protect the lives and health of occupants of the buildings.
The Contractor shall immediately correct any fire and safety deficiencies caused by his/her employee. If the Contractor fails or refuses to correct deficiencies promptly, the contracting officer may issue an order stopping all or any part of the work and hold the Contractor in default of the contract.
The Contractor shall comply with applicable Federal, State, and Local safety and fire regulations and codes, which are in effect at the beginning of the contract period. The Contractor shall keep abreast of and comply with changes in these regulations and codes applicable to the contract.
The Contractor is to retain copies of all MSDS forms for all chemical products used, and EPA must approve all chemicals used.
All Contractors, its supervisors and employees performing services Government installation shall comply with the Hospital and Safety regulations, Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
11. Privacy.
Information made available to the Contractor or subcontractor by VA for the performance or administration of this contract or information developed by the Contractor/subcontractor in performance or administration of the contract shall be used only for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without the prior written agreement of the VA. This clause expressly limits the Contractor/subcontractor s rights to use data as described in Rights in Data- General, FAR 52.227-14(d) (1).
VA information should not be co-mingled, if possible, with any other data on the Contractors/subcontractor s information systems or media storage systems to ensure VA
requirements related to data protection and media sanitization can be met. If co-mingling must be allowed to meet the requirements of the business need, the Contractor must ensure that VA s information is returned to the VA or destroyed in accordance with VA s sanitization requirements. VA reserves the right to conduct on-site inspections of Contractor and subcontractor IT resources to ensure data security controls, separation of data and job duties, and destruction/media sanitization procedures follow VA directive requirements.
Prior to termination or completion of this contract, Contractor/subcontractor must not destroy information received from VA, or gathered/created by the Contractor in the course of performing this contract without prior written approval by the VA. Any data destruction done on behalf of VA by a Contractor/subcontractor must be done in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requirements as outlined in VA Directive 6300, Records and Information Management and its Handbook 6300.1 Records Management Procedures, applicable VA Records Control Schedules, and VA
Handbook 6500.1, Electronic Media Sanitization. Self-certification by the Contractor that the data destruction requirements above have been met must be sent to the VA Contracting Officer within 30 days of termination of the contract.
The Contractor/subcontractor must receive, gather, store, back up, maintain, use, disclose and dispose of VA information only in compliance with the terms of the contract and applicable Federal and VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies. If Federal or VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies become applicable to the VA information or information systems after execution of the contract, or if NIST issues or updates applicable FIPS or Special Publications (SP) after execution of this contract, the parties agree to negotiate in good faith to implement the information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies in this contract.
The Contractor/subcontractor shall not make copies of VA information except as authorized and necessary to perform the terms of the agreement or to preserve electronic information stored on Contractor/subcontractor electronic storage media for restoration in case any electronic equipment or data used by the Contractor/subcontractor needs to be restored to an operating state. If copies are made for restoration purposes, after the restoration is complete, the copies must be appropriately destroyed.
12. Records Management
Citations to pertinent laws, codes and regulations such as 44 U.S.C chapters 21, 29, 31 and 33; Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552); Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a); 36 CFR Part 1222 and Part 1228.
Contractor shall treat all deliverables under the contract as the property of the U.S. Government for which the Government Agency shall have unlimited rights to use, dispose of, or disclose such data contained therein as it determines to be in the public interest.
Contractor should not create or maintain any records that are not specifically tied to or authorized by the contract using Government IT equipment and/or Government records.
Contractor shall not retain, use, sell, or disseminate copies of any deliverable that contains information covered by the Privacy Act of 1974 or that which is generally protected by the Freedom of Information Act.
Contractor should not create or maintain any records containing any Government Agency records that are not specifically tied to or authorized by the contract.
The Government Agency owns the rights to all data/records produced as part of this contract.
The Government Agency owns the rights to all electronic information (electronic data, electronic information systems, electronic databases, etc.) and all supporting documentation created as part of this contract. Contractor must deliver sufficient technical documentation with all data deliverables to permit the agency to use the data.
Contractor agrees to comply with Federal and Agency records management policies, including those policies associated with the safeguarding of records covered by the Privacy Act of 1974. These policies include the preservation of all records created or received regardless of format [paper, electronic, etc.] or mode of transmission [e-mail, fax, etc.] or state of completion [draft, final, etc.].
No disposition of documents will be allowed without the prior written consent of the Contracting Officer. The Agency and its Contractors are responsible for preventing the alienation or unauthorized destruction of records, including all forms of mutilation. Willful and unlawful destruction, damage or alienation of Federal records is subject to the fines and penalties imposed by 18 U.S.C. 2701. Records may not be removed from the legal custody of the Agency or destroyed without regard to the provisions of the agency records schedules.
Contractor is required to obtain the Contracting Officer's approval prior to engaging in any contractual relationship (sub-Contractor) in support of this contract requiring the disclosure of information, documentary material and/or records generated under, or relating to, this contract. The Contractor (and any sub-Contractor) is required to abide by Government and Agency guidance for protecting sensitive information.
13. Place of Performance.
All work will be performed at VA Puget Sound Seattle 1660 S Columbian Way Seattle, WA 98108.
14. Period of Performance.
Base + 4-year period for continued support.
15. Delivery Schedule. n/a
16. PERSONNEL QUALIFICATIONS: The contractor shall ensure all personnel performing services under this contract are qualified. Qualified for the purpose of this contract means each technician is trained. Contractor-hired personnel performing services under this contract shall be governed by an agreement between the contractor and the hired service personnel. All supervision and performance monitoring of hired personnel shall be the responsibility of the contractor.
AOA Specific Training
Omnicell will be responsible for appropriate training on system administration of Omnicell solutions for pharmacy staff. Government site contacts will be responsible for training on any additional applicable hospital systems, hospital and department policies and procedures. It is expected that AOA will need at least 1 week per year for continued training.
Ominicell Training (prior to starting onsite)
Color touch
Performance Center / OC1
Items
Users
Inventory Optimization Techniques and Best Practices
Reports Inventory and Diversion Focus
Interface Basics
Classroom Training (to attend next available session)
Automation Onsite Administrator Certification
AWS Certification (if applicable)
If your business is interested and capable, please send the capability statement in accordance with the above requirements, to Maureen.Sundstrom@va.gov by 10:00 AM PST on May 28, 2026. NO PHONE CALLS, PLEASE.
Again, this is not a request for quote, and no solicitation is available at this time.