This Sources Sought/Market Survey Notice is being conducted by LTC Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center, 2215 Fuller Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48105 to identify all sources that are capable of providing X-Ray wearable, cleaning & testing Services for the period of September 12, 2025 September 11, 2026, at the discretion of the Government in strict accordance with all schedules, specifications, terms, conditions and provisions of any resulting contract. I. SCOPE OF WORK: Background: The VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System (VAAAHS) is a tertiary care medical center that uses fluoroscopes and other X-ray producing machines to care for our nation s veterans. Employees working with or around these machines are to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) that will protect them from harmful ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation is known to have detrimental health effects and is therefore a physical occupational hazard from which we need to protect our employees. Lead-lined apparel, or its equivalent (this type of PPE, referred to as lightweight lead uses an alloy that s lighter by weight, but provides the same protective qualities lead), is used as personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect workers from ionizing radiation. Like other forms of PPE, lead PPE is purchased by the services that use them, but it s the employer s responsibility to ensure they are inspected, tested, cleaned, and remain effective at providing the protection they re meant to provide. Lead PPE is used in operating rooms, procedures rooms, radiology, and cardiac catheterization ( cath ) labs, among other locations where X-rays are produced. Many articles (garments) are assigned to staff, especially when those individuals are wearing them often, but there are times when lead PPE is shared between individuals. Usually, lead PPE garments aren t cleaned between uses because clinical staff don t have the time before or after procedures to clean the lead they wore or will be wearing. Clinical areas typically must designate time for staff to clean lead X-ray PPE, meaning they are carving time out of clinical duties and treating patients, to clean these garments, if at all. This also applies for inspection and testing for cracks, holes, or other defects in the attenuation layer that could allow for radiation to leak through to the worker. Historically, testing all the lead X-ray garments in the facility would take multiple employees several weeks to accomplish this task because it requires time away from patient care and access to an X-ray producing machine that isn t being used for clinical purposes. To add to these hurdles, whether lead X-ray garments are assigned to an individual or not, some PPE cannot be found when the time comes to inspect and test for cracks, holes, or other leaks. Lead X-ray PPE must be inventoried, cleaned, inspected, and tested annually per TJC standards. In recent years, cleaning of these garments has come to be a focus of The Joint Commission (TJC) surveys as well. However, free, or low-cost, inventory software programs that were used in the past have proven to be ill-effective and are not consistently used across the services that use lead-lined PPE. This service contract must ensure that the VAAAHS has all pieces of lead PPE accounted for, thoroughly cleaned and sanitized, inventoried and documented, fluoroscopically tested and visually inspected for defects that can be repaired if reasonably (economically) feasible, labeled with a unique identifier, and attach a visual cue to the garments that let staff know the garment they are about to wear has been tested and cleaned. The visual indicator must be placed onto the garment in such a way that it will not deteriorate the attenuation layer over time, thereby compromising the integrity of the garment PPE and must also change colors from year to year to indicate the year service took place. This must take place while staff are continuing to work, so as not to interrupt patient care, and therefore loaner X-ray garments/lead PPE must be provided so no garments are missed, and staff are still protected. II. CONFORMANCE STANDARDS: At the commencement of the contract, the VAAAHS will submit to the contractor the most recent and complete inventory of lead PPE apparel that we have on-hand. The contractor must then verify the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System s inventory, making corrections when necessary. The inventory of lead PPE at the VAAAHS is currently at 1,154 total garments, comprised of aprons, skirts, vests, thyroid shields, gonad shields, hats, shoulder protectors, and gloves. The locations to be serviced include Radiology (General Radiology, CT, Interventional Radiology, Pain Room, and GI Room), Surgery (Urology, Vascular, Ortho, Neuro/Special), Cardiology (Cath labs and TAVR), Endoscopy (which includes Pulmonary Medicine), Anesthesiology, Urology Clinic, and the Dental Service. The exact number of lead X-ray garments changes frequently, due to new orders being received and old lead being turned in for disposal. For this reason, Contractor shall verify inventory of lead PPE for each department within the facility. The contractor must be able to track individual pieces with a computer software program designed for maintaining accurate inventory of lead PPE pieces and provide reports of the inventory for audit/survey needs. The inventory shall be updated by the contractor to denote the date each piece was cleaned, disinfected, sanitized, inspected, and approved for continued wear and protection of staff. Each department within VAAAHS that uses lead PPE to protect their staff shall have annual service to include inventory, tagging, visual inspection, testing, cleaning, sanitizing, and application of visual cue for wearers. Lead PPE garments that are visibly soiled or contaminated with blood, bodily fluids, or other biological or organic material shall be ATP tested prior to cleaning to show the level of gross decontamination at baseline and then after cleaning to ensure that all bioburden was removed from the garment. Extremely contaminated garments have been known to require two cleanings; this shall be performed at no extra cost, showing ATP data after each cleaning. In addition to visual inspections to be performed by the contractor at each service round, each lead PPE article shall be X-ray scanned once per year to determine whether there are cracks or holes in the protective inner layer that would render the PPE ineffective. Contractor shall ensure that each lead PPE article is X-ray scanned so that images of scanned garments can be reviewed by the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System s Radiation Safety Office for comparison to the facility s criteria for approval to use. Garments found to be defective by the contractor shall be flagged for VAAAHS Radiation Safety personnel to prioritize reviewing those images and prevent them from being returned to the service they originated from with the remainder of garments found to have no deficiencies or defects. Loaner lead PPE pieces and wearables shall be made available for VAAAHS staff to use while government owned lead PPE articles are being serviced. Contractor shall confirm with the Contracting Officer Representative (COR) for the contract how many and what types of lead PPE loaners will be needed while the government owned PPE is being serviced. Loaner X-ray garments shall be received by the VAAAHS in clean, sanitized and inspected condition to ensure garments are safe for staff wear while performing procedures and must present no risk to staff or patients. Loaner Pieces will be returned to the contractor when the government owned lead PPE articles are received and put back into use by staff at the VAAAHS; loaner pieces are not to be worn outside of the department in which they are intended to be worn and must not leave the VAAAHS premises as they are not government property. Contractor shall notify the COR of any repairs that could not be completed during the servicing of VAAAHS lead X-ray garments, even if the attenuation layer providing protection from ionizing radiation is still intact and sufficiently protective still. This could include rips in outer or inner lining, but not the attenuation layer sandwiched between them, Velcro straps that do not adhere to themselves any longer, or any other repair. Some repairs to garments warrant removal from service even if the attenuation layer is still intact. If the contractor visually examines garments and notes needed repair work, contractor shall make the repair or otherwise notify VAAAHS of the repair needed that could not be corrected during servicing. VAAAHS will then consider whether the repair is necessary, economically feasible or whether the lead PPE wearable is beyond economical repair. Contractor shall accommodate a majority of repair needs, for example, Velcro repairs to wearables. Vendor must provide technicians to be scheduled to exchange loaner garments for VAAAHS-owned garments, on a day and at which time clinical care will not be impacted and all garments will be available for exchange. Technicians will be responsible for providing transportation means, including carts and whatever material handling equipment is needed, for taking loaners to each service/department, removing VAAAHS garments from racks and hangers, and replacing them with loaner garments. Technicians shall transport all garments to be serviced, and the contractor will arrange for exchanging VAAAHS-owned garments for the loaners as soon as service is completed. Any VAAAHS-owned garments left behind for further repair, cleaning, or testing, shall be returned to the VAAAHS at no additional cost to the VAAAHS. Service: Lead PPE is required to be inventoried, cleaned, inspected, and tested at least annually by The Joint Commission (TJC) standards to which we are evaluated during every survey period, triennially. This (TJC) requirement has recently been known to put an emphasis on the inventory and cleaning of the PPE as well as integrity testing. This service contract will ensure that the VAAAHS has all pieces of lead PPE accounted for, thoroughly cleaned and sanitized, inventoried and documented, X-ray tested and visually inspected for defects, and repaired if reasonably (economically) feasible, all while staff are continuing to work with loaner x-ray garments/lead PPE so that no garments are missed, and staff are still protected. If this is a service your business can provide, respond to this Sources Sought by Monday, July 14, 2025; 3:00 P.M. Eastern time. Responses should include: (1) Business Name and Address (2) Point of Contact Name, Phone Number, and E-mail Address (3) SAM UEI and NAICS code (4) Business Size SMALL or LARGE (5) Type of Business SERVICE DISABLED VETERAN OWNED, VETERAN OWNED, 8A, HUBZone, WOMEN-OWNED etc. (6) Applicable GSA/FSS Contract Number (if applies). All businesses eligible to provide this service are encouraged to reply as this information may be used to determine potential set-asides for the above noted service. E-mail responses to: Alexis Alexander, at Alexis.Alexander1@va.gov. (Note: This is NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTE or an announcement of a solicitation.)
