6550--Notice of Intent to Sole Source BINAX NOW COVID-19 Testing Kits

The COVID-19 BinaxNOW is currently in use at the Lebanon VAMC by point of care (POC) personnel to test symptomatic and asymptomatic patients, as well as unvaccinated employees. The test s functionality, workflow flexibility, portability and ease-of-use make it an ideal solution for settings without laboratory personnel. The processing of the BinaxNow COVID-19 test kits does not require specialized equipment such as hoods and biological safety cabinets. VISN 4 clinicians and laboratory personnel have stressed that the selection of a different test kit would require a month of validation and staff training. Delays in COVID-19 testing would result in delays, broadly, to healthcare services at the Lebanon VAMC. Abbott has no authorized resellers and the BinaxNOW test is proprietary to Abbott. As the tests required are peculiar to Abbott, NCO 4 intends to sole source this requirement via delivery order from VA NAC contract 36F79721D0073. NCO 4 intends to compete a future, longer-term requirement for COVID-19 test kits.