S222--Biohazardous Waste Removal | Cincinnati VA Medical Center and Supported CBOCs

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Contract Opportunity

The purpose of this solicitation amendment is to answer questions asked by industry and to provide a new date for Q/A deadline and a new solicitation response deadline.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

Would it be possible to get a quick 30-40 minute site visit to check out the main location, the outpatient sites are pretty standard, the main facility is what I am more interested in looking at?Â
Monday 3/25/24 from 2:30 3:30 PM EST Please come to main entrance (Rotating Door) and ask Information to page Tyler Mott. All vendors wishing to participate in this site visit must register with Police prior to participating. All vendors must sign in with Tyler.

2. If the syringes were disposable?
a. There is no SHARPS associated with this contract. All syringes should be in the SHARPS containers and facilitated by a different vendor.

3. Was there a reason for a few of the item numbers being blank?
a. The item numbers that have (0) quantity are place holders (CLINS) used to identify similar requirements. For instance, X0002 (X is used for identifying the period of performance, 0 for base, 1 for option 1 etc.) is for Bio-Hazardous Waste Removal for CBOCS. Any subsequent Number below starting with X002 (AA, AB, AC etc.) will be under the heading from X0002.

4. The type of waste being generated, and how much of each?
a. Please see question #6 below.

To be clear, bulk chemo or other hazardous waste is not part of this contract, correct only medical wastes, RMW, path, trace chemo?
Correct just Biohazardous Waste and trac chemo which consists of Chemotherapy waste less than 3% of the original source.
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What was the volume of regulated medical waste in 2023?
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The biohazard/SHARPS waste has previously never been separated when it came to processing. Currently, the facility does not have a GEMS coordinator who is in charge of collecting data and reporting for the individual waste streams.

The chart below is currently what the VAMC has disposed of for CY 2023.
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Pathological:
We have never broken out the BIO waste streams in the past. Moving forward we would like to in order to plan more efficiently. The winning vendor will be asked to break down the different waste streams in the monthly reporting provided to the site POC.

Trace chemo:
We have never broken out the BIO waste streams in the past. Moving forward we would like to in order to plan more efficiently. The winning vendor will be asked to break down the different waste streams in the monthly reporting provided to the site POC.

We need to know this in the event we need to take the joints and other items that may come in the path waste to another disposal option:
We have never broken out the BIO waste streams in the past. Moving forward we would like to in order to plan more efficiently. The winning vendor will be asked to break down the different waste streams in the monthly reporting provided to the site POC.

Typically waste is broken out in bids by waste stream as they can be treated differently and have different costs associated with that:
We have never broken out the BIO waste streams in the past. Moving forward we would like to in order to plan more efficiently. The winning vendor will be asked to break down the different waste streams in the monthly reporting provided to the site POC.

If waste is not treated in Ohio would this requirement still apply?
5. Contractor shall disinfect and destroy all regulated medical waste in one of two methods: a. Incinerate all regulated medical waste in an incinerator that is EPA approved for infectious waste. Contractor must possess a permit to operate incinerator from the proper authority in the areas of jurisdiction where the incinerator is located. b. Autoclave and shred all regulated medical waste. The autoclave process must be proven sufficient to make all waste safe to dispose in a licensed landfill. The shredding process must be sufficient to destroy any potential identifiable information in order to ensure adequate security of patient information in accordance with industry standards.
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The VA is required to comply with all regulations at the point of origin. Regulations vary from state to state. All federal, state, and local regulations are to be followed regarding transportation and destroying the waste based upon where it is being sent to and where it is destroyed.

What size containers are presently being used at the CBOCs?
Current bins used at the CBOCs are below (18 x18 x22 ), cardboard boxes can be used per the PWS, Solicitation pages 31 and 32. Some CBOC s are space limited so sizes can vary. The associated PAR Levels are discussed on Page 21

QUESTION AND ANSWER DEADLINE:

All questions SHALL be submitted no later than 3/27/2024 by 13:30 (1:30 PM EST) via email. Phone queries will not be entertained. Any questions received after this deadline may not be answered.

SOLICITATION RESPONSE DEADLINE:

The solicitation response deadline is hereby changed to 4/3/2024 No later than 1:30 PM EST.
Submission of your response shall be received not later than 1:30 PM EST on 4/3/2024 at Joshua.kovar@VA.gov.

Only emailed quotes shall be accepted. Quoter shall ensure that the quote is received to the designated contracting person prior to the closing date and time. All quotes, in order to be considered on time, shall be received by the closing date and time of the solicitation. It is the responsibility of the quoter to ensure it was delivered to the Contracting point of contact prior to the closing date and time of the solicitation. For Example: Quoter hits send at 1:59pm and Contracting s emailed time stamp of received is 2:01pm when the closing time states 2:00pm, will be considered late.

*VA has a maximum allowable incoming email size limitation including attachments of thirty (30) megabytes. Offerors submitting responses via email which exceed thirty megabytes shall split their response into multiple email messages so as to not exceed the maximum allowable email size limitation.

*The VA is not responsible for late responses due to undelivered e-mails that exceed thirty megabytes, or responses that are delayed due to scanning attachments for threats.
Failure to submit the necessary information may render the Quote unacceptable, in which case it will not be considered for award.

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