S202--Sources Sought Notice Fire Suppression & Emergency Response Services Department of Veterans Affairs Minneapolis Medical Center

The Minneapolis VA Medical Center requires Fire Suppression & Emergency Response Services in accordance with the draft Statement of Work (SOW) below. This is a sources sought/proof of capability solicitation looking for vendors to perform the services per the SOW for market research purposes. No award of a contract will be made from this announcement. If you are a vendor that can complete the work described in the SOW with competitive pricing, please send your contact and organization information with a descriptive proof of capability to: Contracting Offier, Joey Bloomer, joseph.bloomer@va.gov on or before May 15th, 2026. Only emailed responses will be considered. Additionally, please provide answers as appropriate to the following questions in the table below with your response to this sources sought. Failure to respond to the following questions may affect the acquisition strategy. 1. Identify your organization's socio-economic category. 2. State whether any of the requested services may be ordered against a government contract awarded to your organization (e.g Federal Supply Schedule (FSS), General Services Administration (GSA), etc.). 3. State if subcontracting is contemplated for this requirement and what percentage of the work will be subcontracted and for what tasks.   *If applicable, VAAR 852.219-75 VA Notice of Limitations on Subcontracting Certificate of Compliance for Services and Construction, will apply to the potential solicitation if set-aside for Veteran Owned Small-Businesses or Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small-Businesses.* *If applicable, FAR 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting, will apply to the potential solicitation if set-aside for Small-Businesses.* STATEMENT OF WORK FIRE SUPPRESSION AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE The Contractor shall provide all management, supervision, labor, materials, supplies, repair parts, tools and equipment and shall plan, schedule, coordinate and assure effective performance of all services described herein.  The Contractor shall provide fire suppression and emergency services in accordance with the requirements of this solicitation at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Campus, (VAMC) Minneapolis, Minnesota and Buildings assigned to VAMC located at Fort Snelling (FS),. Throughout the rest of the document VAMC and FSNC will be referred to as VAMC . The Contractor shall provide and maintain Contractor Owned/Contractor Operated (COCO) fire suppression and emergency medical services for the entire Veterans Affairs Medical Center in accordance with the following specifications.  No facilities or equipment, except a fire alarm system central monitoring station with printer, will be provided for the use of the Contractor by the Government.  Capability or performance Work shall include all labor, supervision, apparatus, materials, equipment and supplies necessary or incidental to respond to all fire alarms, Hazardous Material Responses/Spills, confined space rescue, elevator entrapments, and fire/emergency calls initiated from the facility. All services shall be performed, as needed, (24) twenty-four hours a day, (7) seven days a week (24/7).  Annual inspections of all buildings identified in the solicitation shall be performed by the contractor.  Applicable Conditions  The VAMC is a campus Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC), One Veterans Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55417 is a 133.75 acre facility located on a federal campus with 50 buildings.  All patient care buildings are fully sprinklered and staff quarters have been equipped with smoke detectors.  Hazardous materials in limited quantities are used and stored at multiple locations throughout the facility. A station plot plan showing the location, type and quantity of hazardous materials, as well as the occupancy of each building, will be provided to the successful offeror at the time of contract award.  The plot plan will be available for review by the offerors upon request to the Contracting Officer (CO) or Contracting Officer s Representative (COR). This paragraph applies to all sections of the specifications.  Delivery or performance period requirements The Contractor must provide a minimum of four (4) trained, paid and certified professional firefighters.( NFPA 1001Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications, NFPA 1002 Fire Apparatus Driver/Operator Professional, NFPA 1021 Fire Officer Professional Qualifications, available to respond to fire alarms/fire emergency calls at the VAMC, twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week regardless of ambulance calls, hazardous materials responses, illness, vacations or any other reason. In the event of concurrent or multiple alarm fires within the Contractor's jurisdiction, such coverage may be provided under a mutual aid agreement as specified under the heading Mutual Aid below (it is understood that the intent of Mutual Aid is not to supplement the contractor s workforce, nor it is a satisfactory solution to meet the minimum staffing requirements of the resulting contract).  If the minimum staffing level will always be exceeded, the offeror must state the staffing level that will be provided. The Contractor must maintain appropriate documentation, e.g. logs, duty rosters, sign in sheets, to demonstrate that the minimum staffing requirement is being met and must make that documentation available for review upon request by the CO or COTR. Engineers (Driver/Operators) shall be licensed to drive motorized firefighting equipment and operate specialized firefighting pumping equipment and mounted pressurized systems and dispensing devices.  Notwithstanding, it shall be the responsibility of the Contractor to ensure that the minimum requirements of all applicable standards are met. Contractors (e.g. Fire Department) need to be escorted by VA Personnel with appropriate level of clearance (e.g. VA Police, IRM) when they are required to enter, perform routine maintenance or search in sensitive areas that include but are not limited to IT closets, IRM computer room, and areas containing radioactive materials. The Contractor must have a minimum of two (2) fire pumper apparatus each with a minimum pumping capacity of 1200 gallons per minute and both meeting the requirements of NFPA 1901, Standard for Fire Pumper Apparatus.  At least one such fire pumper apparatus must be available to respond to fire alarms/fire emergency calls at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week.  The Contractor must maintain documentation to demonstrate required availability of apparatus and make that documentation available for review upon request by the CO or COTR. If the minimum apparatus availability requirement will always be exceeded, the offeror must state the level of apparatus availability that will be provided. In the case of concurrent or extra alarm fires within the Contractor's jurisdiction, the apparatus availability requirement can be met by responses from other stations the contractor may operate or through mutual aid support from other municipal fire departments as specified below. The Contractor must have the physical capability to respond with the minimum specified number of firefighting personnel and type of apparatus to a fire alarm and/or fire emergency call at any location on the grounds of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center within a maximum of eight (8) minutes or in accordance with NFPA 1710.  The response time will be calculated as being from the moment of receipt of the alarm and/or emergency call until the first responding engine company arrives and comes to a full stop at the site of the fire suppression If a shorter response time than eight (8) minutes can always be assured, the offeror must state the response time that will be provided. Mutual Aid The Contractor must be a full participant in an established mutual aid agreement with at least two (2) other municipal fire departments.  That agreement must specifically provide for mutual aid responses to fire emergencies immediately upon request by the Contractor's Officer-In-Charge.    A copy of the pertinent mutual aid agreement including all of its provisions and requirements shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer with the signed agreement. Notwithstanding, under no circumstances shall there be less than four (4) qualified professional fire fighters responding to any service under this agreement.  In the event of multiple alarm fires, beyond the initial response, to include catastrophic events, the contractor will proceed in accordance with applicable industry standards for response to the type of emergency, coordinating the effort with the COTR if possible.  Immediately upon receipt of notice of award, the Contractor shall conduct an initial inspection of the complete VMAC Campus, prepare a detailed pre-fire plan for the facility in accordance with accepted national standards and subsequently update the plan as necessary.  Cost for the above is included in the contract price. Date for inspection shall be mutually agreed upon between the Contractor and the COTR.  The Pre-Fire Plan shall be located on the responding apparatus for quick reference during emergency calls initiated from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center . A copy of the initial pre-fire plan developed by the Contractor shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer within seven (7) calendar days of the date of inspection.  Updates shall be provided to the government annually and made available for review upon request by the CO or COTR.  The Government will provide a central monitoring station contract for all the fire alarm systems at the VAMC. This work shall be accomplished within 14 days of notice to proceed and shall be coordinated between the Contractor and the COTR to ensure proper operation.  a.     The Contractor shall commit and use all available resources necessary to suppress all fires at the VAMC as quickly as possible.  b.     Fire suppression operations shall be conducted by the Contractor in accordance with all pertinent standards and codes, particularly including all applicable NFPA, IFC, OSHA and State of Minnesota standards, and in a manner, which safeguards life and property.  c.      The Contractor shall maintain a fire watch at all fire sites after extinguishment until there is no possibility that a rekindle will occur.   d.     The Contractor shall perform salvage and overhaul operations during and after fires in accordance with the conformance standards as defined (conformity with some esthetic standard of correctness or propriety).  e.     Until arrival of Federal Protection Service (FPS) at the scene, the Contractor shall implement measures to deny entry of unauthorized personnel into fire-damaged buildings. f.       The Contractor shall be responsible for responding to all alarms within the time frames specified.  Offerors must state their most recent Insurance Services Organization rating and the date that rating was received. A minimum rating of 3 issued by ISO is required. The contractor shall demonstrate the implementation of a comprehensive on-going training program for all Fire Department personnel, ensure all staff meet applicable NFPA training requirements and shall ensure that all personnel meet Minnesota state requirements in addition to NFPA 1001, 1002, 1021, for the positions they hold. Hazardous Material Spill The Contractor shall provide apparatus and properly trained and equipped personnel as necessary to respond on a twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week emergency basis to all releases of hazardous substances occurring at any location on the grounds of the VAMC.  All elements of each response must be conducted in accordance with the requirements of 29 CFR 1910.120, Occupational Safety and Health Standards, Hazardous Materials, Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response and NFPA 472. Recommended Practice for Responding to Hazardous Materials Incidents. The Contractor will bring each response to the full conclusion of the incident mitigation stage described in Chapter 6 of the referenced NFPA Standard.  The Contractor will also perform all required decontamination of personnel and their own equipment as required..  Decontamination of Government property including installed equipment, recovery and treatment of released hazardous materials required beyond the incident mitigation stage and the disposal of recovered hazardous materials will be accomplished by the Government The Contractor must develop and implement an emergency response plan meeting the requirements of subsection q (2) of the referenced OSHA Standard to handle anticipated emergencies at the VAMC prior to the commencement of emergency response operations. The plan shall be in writing and shall be available for review by interested parties upon request. The Government will provide the Contractor with the identity, quantity and location by building and room number of and the Material Safety Data Sheets for all hazardous substances listed in the station's existing hazardous materials inventory.  The Government will also provide knowledgeable personnel to serve as members of the specific incident response planning team established by the Contractor. If the 911 emergency system is not activated and notification is made through a federal facility, or agency the Government will notify the VAMC, whom in turn will notify the appropriate emergency responses by telephone that a hazardous substance release has occurred and will provide the exact location of that release.  The Contractor's hazardous materials response team must arrive at the incident site within eight (8) minutes of receipt of notification of the release. Appropriate personal protection equipment (PPE) shall be provided by the Contractor and used as required by OSHA regulations.  All members of the Contractor's hazardous materials response team must have personal protective equipment that complies with NFPA 1991, if the contractor is responding to incidents regarding biological or terrorism incidents, responders personal protective equipment shall meet the requirements of NFPA 1994. All responders shall be trained in the use of PPE and qualified to use all personal protective equipment for responding to hazards of the types found at the VAMC. The members of the Contractor's hazardous materials response team must be trained as specified below.  The Contractor must maintain records to document successful completion of all required training and must make records available for review upon request by the CO or COTR during the contract period.  Contractor will provide copies of the training certificates for levels and/or proof that the personnel have met all applicable OSHA Standards at the request of the CO or COTR. a.      All members of the response team must be trained to at least the hazardous materials technician level as described at subsection q (6)(F)(iii) of the OSHA Standard. b.      A minimum of one member of the responding team must be trained at the hazardous materials specialist level as described at subsection q (6)(F)(iv) of the OSHA Standard. c.       One member of the responding team must be trained to the on scene incident commander level as described at subsection q (6)(F)(v) of the OSHA Standard. The Contractor shall provide Confined Space rescue services if required.  The Contractor shall comply with all OSHA confined space entry requirements. The successful Contractor shall provide a copy of their existing plan used to conduct Confined Space Rescues, within fourteen (14) calendar days of receipt of the Notice of Award.  A copy of pertinent Mutual Aid agreement relating to this Section of the specifications will be made available at the request of the CO or COR. In addition to the above services the Contractor will provide annual confined space training as required by OSHA regulations. OSHA requires facilities to practice their rescue procedures with the response agencies/contractors on an annual basis. This training will be conducted with several maintenance shops on multiple days to ensure all shop personnel receive the required confined space rescue training. Contractors shall forward a written report to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Safety Manager, and or the Designated Emergency Response Coordinator, and COTR after each incident for which the Contractor has responded to under this agreement. Report shall be submitted no later than ten (10) days after the report of incident.  The cost of the preparation of this report, any copies required including photos, fax copies, scan copies, shall be included as a part of this contract.  The following shall be included as a minimum requirement of the incident report. NAME OF CONTRACTOR AND CONTRACT NUMBER. CONTRACTOR SERVICE CALL NUMBER or alarm number. DATE AND TIME CALL WAS RECEIVED. TIME ARRIVED ON SITE AND TIME LEFT. A DETAILED FACT SHEET REGARDING THE INCIDENT SIGNATURES:                                            Employee responsible submitting report. VA Employee who witnessed service described. FOOTNOTE:  THE CONTRACTOR MAY DESIGN/DEVELOP ITS OWN REPORT FORM THAT INCORPORATES THE ABOVE MINIMUM CRITERIA.  THE FORM SHOULD BE ON STANDARD 8 1/2 X 11 PAPER AND MUST BE APPROVED BY THE CO OR COTR PRIOR TO USE AND IMPLEMENTATION.                 a).     The Contractor shall provide competent supervision at all times.  The Contractor shall designate as indicated below a Contract Manager (Fire Chief or designee) who shall be responsible for the overall management and coordination of the Contractor s work force and shall act as the central point of contact with the Government.  Contractor s Central Point of Contact: (Provide main telephone number(s) and contact person.) ____________________________________________________________________ c).    The Fire Chief (Contract Manager) or alternate shall have full authority to act for the Contractor on all contractual matters relating to daily operations of this contract. d).    The Contractor shall become acquainted with and obey all Government regulations as posted and as requested by the CO/COTR when on the VAMC Minneapolis, Minnesota. e)      The Contractor shall use all available resources to safeguard human life and property, control and suppress all fires at the VAMC. Services shall be performed in accordance with all city, state, local, federal, municipal codes, OSHA regulations and GSA Standards.  The NFPA/ IFC Standards noted in the specifications are incorporated by reference only and are supplemental to this specification.  It shall be the responsibility of the Contractor to adhere to all applicable NFPA /IFC Standards throughout the duration of the contract.   Any drawings or blueprints furnished are the property of the United States of America. These documents shall be reviewed by the Contracting Officer and the Veterans Affairs ISO release and shall be used only for informational purposes.  Such references do not necessarily indicate that these locations or function designations will remain stable; they may be changed by the Veterans Affairs.  Changes will be coordinated with the Contractor by the COTR prior to the initiation of such changes in order to assure adequate contractual coverage. The Contractor shall certify in writing to the Contracting Officer that all employees meet the mandatory minimum requirements as noted herein and as required by the State of Minnesota. In addition, the Contractor shall ensure that proper staffing levels are maintained at all times as stated in Section 1 and Section 2 of the specifications. a.    The Government reserves the following rights: To hold the Contractor liable for property losses sustained by the Government as the direct consequence of a failure to furnish the required level of fire protection. b.    The parties to this contract hereto agree that the Contractor, as a result of his contractual obligation to supervise the personnel furnished and oversee the quality of their performance, is responsible for all performance or lack of performance of work required by this contract. c.     All Contractor employees shall be identified by a distinctive nameplate, emblem, or patch attached in a prominent place to an outer garment. d.    The Contractor shall develop a phase-in plan, which will cover the period of time between contract award and contract start date.  (1) Training and orientation of contract employee s to the various aspects of providing fire protection service specific to VAMC (2) Development of the pre-fire plan.  This phase-in plan is due within ten (10) calendar days of award. e.  The Contractor shall provide a cascade phone list of points of contact for emergencies. The Contractor shall establish a complete quality control program to ensure that all requirements are provided for, as specified in all sections of this contract.  The Contractor s Basic Quality Control Program shall reference NFPA and shall be provided to the Contracting Officer upon request.    The Contractor s Basic Quality Control Program shall include the following: A statement describing how the Contractor will meet the basic requirements of this contract (i.e. staffing levels, time to respond to an incident, equipment requirements). A method for identifying deficiencies in the quality of services performed before the performance becomes unacceptable. A method of recording or logging the daily activities of the Contractor, which would demonstrate the Contractor's ability to maintain the minimum requirements of this contract. The Government will monitor the Contractor's performance under this contract using the quality assurance procedures.  A record of all QA inspections conducted by the Government will be provided to the Contractor during the term of this contract. All tasks accomplished by Contractor personnel will be performed to minimize damage or disfigurement of Government-owned furnishings, fixtures, equipment, and architectural or building structures.  The Contractor shall be responsible for all damages to real and/or personal property or injuries to persons that occur as a result of his/her negligence. When the Contractor has caused damage or loss of Government equipment and/or when performance is determined unsatisfactory, the COTR will prepare and issue a Contract Discrepancy Report (CDR) through the CO.  The Government retains all rights under this contract. The following apply, as specified, to the requirements of the contract: a.   Federal Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA), 29 CFR 1910 b.   National Fire Codes (NFPA) NFPA 472 NFPA 1001 NFPA 1002 NFPA 1021 NFPA 1500 NFPA 1710 NFPA 1991 NFPA 1994  c.     International Fire Code The Contractor accepts responsibility for the facility in "as is" condition.  Failure to inspect the facilities prior to contract award will not relieve the Contractor from performance of the requirements of this contract. Contractor will attend a pre-work orientation meeting prior to the commencement of work on site.  The VAMC will schedule this meeting and it will include discussion of the following topics: (VAMC will provide information to the Contractor regarding these topics and will document the meeting) Fire and Safety Hazardous Materials Confined Space Biological, Chemical and Terrorism Emergencies The Contractor will be responsible to ensure that Contractor employees coming to the work site will receive the information required above. The Contractor will be responsible to ensure Contractor employees providing work on this contract are fully trained and completely competent to perform the required work.