J--Edstrom Industries, Inc., Upgrade to Watchdog System (VA-17-127945)

The Veterans Administration Iowa Atlanta Medical Center Research and Development Group intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Edstrom to provide an upgrade to the Edstrom Watchdog equipment system, which was installed at the Atlanta VA as part of original construction in the animal facility in 1993. This system provides automatic watering, security for perimeter and animal room doors, control of the lighting cycle in the animal rooms, and monitoring for the airflow in the hallways and animal rooms. This equipment contains a number of sensors that must be regularly calibrated, and there are numerous electronic parts that require regular maintenance, repair, or replacement. This is a unique, proprietary piece of equipment, driven by copyrighted software on a computer system. It is critical to the security of the facility, the health of the animals, and to the success of animal studies approved by the Atlanta VAMC IACUC. The Watchdog computer software is now obsolete, and replacement parts are difficult to obtain from the vendor. The VA intends to upgrade to a more modern version of the system (a new Pulse system), utilizing many of the components installed for the Edstrom Watchdog system (a significant cost savings). These Edstrom parts, which the VA already possesses, are not compatible with other vendors components. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals; however, any responsible source who believes it is capable of meeting the requirement may submit a capability statement to the contracting office no later than Wednesday, March 29, 2017, 11:00, EST. Interest/capability statements may be sent to Elaine DiBucci at [email protected]. No telephone responses will be accepted. A determination not to compete the proposed requirement based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.