Notice of Sources Sought
The purpose of this Sources Sought Announcement is for market research to make appropriate acquisition decisions and to gain knowledge of potential qualified Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB), Veteran Owned Small Businesses (VOSB), and Small Businesses interested and capable of providing the services requested, as well as any large businesses. The results from this source sought notice will be used to determine the appropriate set-aside.
The intended contract is a firm-fixed price service contract.
The SBA Non-Manufacturer Rule is not applicable as the intended contract is for services.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, NCO20 is looking for authorized service providers of Visiopharm (OEM) the following requirement:
Visiopharm Software Maintenance for existing software in accordance with the Statement of Work.
Statement of Work:
1. Contract Title. VISIOPHARM Software Maintenance Contract
2. Background. The Northwest MIRECC is Congressionally-mandated to investigate the hidden wounds of war posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. The sensitive analysis software used by the MIRECC requires continued access to software portal, maintenance of software updates, and technical support to sustain operations related to tissue and cell imaging analysis. This software is delicate and complex and therefore must be maintained and updated by the original manufacturer, Visiopharm. This critical software, already installed on one computer, supports important on-going scientific research at VA Puget Sound that benefits Veterans.
3. Scope.
The maintenance plan must ensure that a Visiopharm technician will remotely update and troubleshoot the software, as well as provide unlimited remote technical support between 9am and 5pm, Monday through Friday. The general scale of work is limited to software license updates, remote troubleshooting and technical support, and access to the customer portal for Visiopharm Academic software license, as well as pre-booked training sessions with an application specialist. The contract is limited to software installed on a computer that is currently located on the 3rd floor of building 101, VA Puget Sound. Coverage is for the Visiopharm academic license. There are no other tasks required within the facility except the above-mentioned tasks related to this software installed on a computer, located in room 3W50 of building 101. This new Base + 4 Option Years (B + 4OY) contract will be a continuation of the existing contract C03 36C26023P0730 which ends July 24, 2026.
4. Specific Tasks.
Task 1. Contract will include these Visiopharm software maintenance service for a base plus four option years (B + 4OY) years including:
Perpetual SLP1 Visiopharm single account for up to 3 named users
All VisioPharm software updates
Unlimited remote technical support
Access for to Customer Center and E-Learning portal for up to 3 registered users.
Eight pre-booked training sessions per year with an application specialist.
The 3 registered users can change from year to year (for instance when a lab member leaves and new lab member joins)
Task 2. Contract will include Customer Center and E-learning training portal. The Customer Center is an online resource provided by Visiopharm which contains over 130 applications for clinical and research use, designed to solve a specific problem using the imaging software. The E-learning portal provides access to online courses with personalized, hands-on training to help improve image analysis skills for users.
The maintenance contract will cover the Visiopharm Academic Software, already installed on a computer in room 3W50 of building 101.
5. Performance Monitoring
All monitoring of this contract will be done by the MIRECC laboratory managers and scientists (POCs) assigned to manage the shared equipment of the MIRECC on the 3rd floor of building 101, VA Puget Sound. Any failure of the company to comply with any part of this contract will be immediately reported by the POCs to Dr. Jeffrey Iliff and the assigned contracting officer.
6. Security Requirements.
The performance of all the contractor s duties will be conducted remotely, no work will be performed on-site. This software is for tissue image analysis, therefore no VA sensitive data or patient information is involved. The computer containing the listed software does not connect to the VA LAN.
Each service appointment will be scheduled in advance by one of the registered users.
Regarding Information security; the C&A requirements do not apply, a Security Accreditation Package is not required.
7. Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE)/Government-Furnished Information (GFI).
None
8. Other Pertinent Information or Special Considerations.
There is no government furnished equipment or government furnished information.
a. Identification of Possible Follow-on Work.
N/A
b. Identification of Potential Conflicts of Interest (COI).
None
c. Identification of Non-Disclosure Requirements.
None
d. Packaging, Packing and Shipping Instructions.
N/A
e. Inspection and Acceptance Criteria.
See 6 above.
9. Risk Control
This is a low risk contract.
10. Place of Performance.
Work will be performed through telephone and email conversations or remote inspections through the customer portal to update the software. Remote technical assistance will be available Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm.
MIRECC Research Areas
Bldg. 101, Room 3W50
1660 S. Columbian Way
Seattle, WA 98108
Point of contacts:
TBD
11. Period of Performance.
The start date will begin 7/24/2026 when the contract is awarded and will end 50 months from the start date on 7/23/2031.
12. National Holidays.
Work shall not be performed on the following legal government holidays:
New Year s Day Jan 1st
Martin Luther King Day 3rd Monday in January
President s Day 3rd Monday in February
Memorial Day Last Monday in May
Independence Day July 4th
Labor Day 1st Monday in September
Columbus Day 2nd Monday in October
Veteran Day November 11th
Thanksgiving 4th Thursday in November
Christmas December 25th
If a holiday falls on Sunday, the following Monday will be observed as the national Holiday. When a holiday falls on a Saturday, the proceeding Friday is observed as the national Holiday. Also included would be any day specifically declared by the President of the United States as a National Holiday.
12. Delivery Schedule.
No deliverables.
14. VA Point of Contact.
The VA point of contact for this requirement is:
TBD
Privacy Officer Language for Statement of Work (SOW)
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 in order 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 are in compliance with 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.
Records Management Language for Contracts Required
The following standard items relate to records generated in executing the contract and should be included in a typical Electronic Information Systems (EIS) procurement contract:
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 shall 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 shall 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 and proprietary information.
Required Information in Your Response to Sources Sought:
In order to be considered a valid source that can impact the set-aside determination of a possible future solicitation, potential contractors shall provide, at a minimum, the following information to [email protected] by below response deadline:
1) Company name, address, and point of contact, phone number, e-mail address, and UEI.
2) Please identify your company s size in comparison to the anticipated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541519 Other Computer Related Services. To be considered a small business your company must have less than 34 million dollars in average annual receipts. This notice is to determine the marketplace for this specific requirement. Please check one of the following:
[ ] yes [ ] no Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)
[ ] yes [ ] no Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB)
[ ] yes [ ] no Women Owned Small Business (WOSB)
[ ] yes [ ] no HUBZone
[ ] yes [ ] no Small Business Manufacturers
[ ] yes [ ] no All other Small Business (SB)
[ ] yes [ ] no Other than Small Business
3) Any socioeconomic business must have a SBA certification at https://search.certifications.sba.gov/.
4) Only authorized service representatives/providers of the OEM (Visiofarm Corporation) will be considered.
5) Please provide a courtesy quote in response to this request to evaluate price reasonableness for any set-aside determination. (Base + 4 Option Years)
6) Capabilities Statement addressing the requirements in the Statement of Work to include:
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).
Service Address:
Puget Sound VA Health Care System
1660 S Columbian Way
Seattle, WA 98669
Point of Contact:
Peter Park
Contracting Officer
[email protected]
Response Deadline:
04/29/2026 by 3:00pm Pacific Time