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THIS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) IS ISSUED SOLELY FOR INFORMATION AND PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION.
THE SUBMISSION OF PRICING, CAPABILITIES FOR PLANNING PURPOSES, AND OTHER MARKET INFORMATION IS HIGHLY ENCOURAGED AND ALLOWED UNDER THIS RFI IN ACCORDANCE WITH (IAW) FAR 15.201(e).

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. IAW 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.
SOURCES SOUGHT DESCRIPTION
This is NOT a solicitation announcement. This is a sources sought/RFI only. The purpose of this sources sought/RFI is to gain knowledge of potential qualified sources and their size classification relative to NAICS 621511 (size standard of $41.5 Million). Responses to this sources sought will be used by the Government to make appropriate acquisition decisions. After review of the responses to this sources sought, a solicitation announcement may be published. Responses to this sources sought synopsis are not considered adequate responses for a solicitation announcement.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), VISN 22 Network Contracting Office, is seeking sources that can provide a Anatomic Pathology Testing and Consultation that at a minimum meets the following Statement of Work for the Southern Arizona VA Healthcare System (SAVAHCS):

Estimated Period of performance: 9/1/2023 8/31/2024

STATEMENT OF WORK
SCOPE
SAVHCS P&LMS requires urgent Anatomic Pathology Lab Services including consultation on prepared pathology slides of Histology and Cytology specimens, and various types of staining and testing of patient tissue submitted on glass slides. All these patient specimens require special handling and diagnosis by specializing pathologists.
Consultation of prepared pathology slides is required on patient cases when the specimen is processed at SAVAHCS and the diagnosing pathologists determine that the pathology slides require review by an outside pathologist who specializes in the particular tissue type to confirm diagnosis. Consultations may also require additional staining and highly specialized studies to be performed by the consulting laboratory to reach an accurate diagnosis for the patient to receive the most beneficial treatment.
SAVAHCS Histology does perform larger volume immunohistochemical (IHC) staining in-house. Occasionally the pathologist will require some lesser used, more specialized stains to provide an accurate diagnosis and the stain is not performed in-house because it is more economical to have the stain performed at the reference lab than to maintain the seldom used reagents. We send unstained slides to the reference lab for staining and the reference lab will return the stained slides for our pathologist s review. It is vital that the slides be stained and returned in a timely manner for the pathologist to render the correct diagnosis so that any treatment needed can begin.
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
Local laboratories performing these services must provide daily courier pickup of specimens.
Laboratories which are not local must provide courier pickup of specimens or appropriate kits with shipping supplies and prepaid shipping labels for submitting specimens.
Laboratories must be able to provide 48-to-72-hour turnaround time from specimen arrival to reporting time for routine consultation cases.
Laboratories must be able to provide 48-to-72-hour turnaround time from receipt of unstained slides sent for IHC staining to shipment back to SAVAHCS.
Additional materials required to complete consultations will be requested from the SAVAHCS Pathology Lab by fax or telephone.
Pathology results will be provided electronically or by fax to the SAVAHCS Pathology Laboratory.
Pathology materials submitted for consultation will be routinely returned to SAVAHCS Pathology in a timely fashion by the lab performing the consultation.

Laboratories must be able to provide the following services:
CPT CODE
SERVICE
PATHOLOGY CONSULTATIONS
IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STAINING (TECH ONLY)
QTY
88312
Stains, Special stain w/Intrerp & Report (Grp I)
ü

5
88313
Stains, Special, Histochem (Group II)
ü

5
88365
Stains, ISH
ü
ü
5
88321
Consult, Basic
ü
Â
150
88325
Consult, Comprehensive
ü
Â
1
88381
Microdissection for Nucleic Acid
ü
Â
1
81287
MGMT Promoter Methylation
ü

1
81445
Solid Tumor NGS Panel
ü

1
81345
TERT Promoter Mutation
ü

1
88342
Stains, IHC (Group IV)
ü
ü
10
88341
Stains, IHC (Group IV >2
ü
ü
10
81277
Cytogenetics Microarray FFPE Tumor
ü

1

The information identified above is intended to be descriptive, not restrictive and to indicate the quality of the supplies/services that will be satisfactory. It is the responsibility of the interested source to demonstrate to the government that the interested parties can provide the supplies/services that fulfill the required specifications.
If you are interested, and are capable of providing the sought out services, please provide the requested information as well as the information indicated below. Response to this notice should include company name, address, point of contact, size of business pursuant to the following questions:
(1) Please indicate the size status and representations of your business, such as but not limited to: Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB), HUBZone, Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB), Large Business, etc.)
(2) Is your company considered small under the NAICS code identified under this RFI?
(3) Are you the manufacturer or distributor of the items being referenced above (or equivalent product/solution)? What is the manufacturing country of origin of these items?
(4) If you re a small business and you are an authorized distributor/reseller for the items identified above (or equivalent product/solution), do you alter; assemble; modify; the items requested in any way? If you do, state how and what is altered; assembled; modified?
(5) Does your company have an FSS contract with GSA or the NAC or are you a contract holder with NASA SEWP or any other federal contract? If so, please provide the contract type and number.
(6) If you are an FSS GSA/NAC or NASA SEWP contract holder or other federal contract holder, are the referenced items/solutions available on your schedule/contract?
(7) Please provide general pricing for your products/solutions for market research purposes.
(8) Please state your company s UEI number.
(9) Please submit your capabilities in regard to the salient characteristics being provided and any information pertaining to equal to items to establish capabilities for planning purposes?
*** Submissions addressing Section (9) should show clear, compelling and convincing*** evidence that all equal to items" meet all required salient characteristics.
Responses to this notice shall be submitted via email to Clift.Domen@va.gov. Telephone responses shall not be accepted. Responses must be received no later than Monday, July 24th, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. PDT. If a solicitation is issued it shall be announced at a later date, and all interested parties must respond to that solicitation announcement separately from the responses to this request for information. Responses to this notice are not a request to be added to a prospective bidders list or to receive a copy of the solicitation.

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