Solicitation
657A5-26-111, Triennial Electrical Testing
Department of Veterans Affairs · Sol. 36C25526R0186
Due in 30 daysSDVOSB sole source
Track this notice by email. We'll email you if it's amended or awarded, and a week and two days before responses are due.
AI summary Beta
Some details weren't available to this summary, so it may miss requirements. Check the attachments on SAM.gov.
The VA's Network Contracting Office 15 wants a contractor to do three-yearly electrical testing, inspection and maintenance of the power distribution system at the Marion VA Medical Center in Marion, Illinois. It is a construction-type solicitation set aside for certified service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, with a government estimate of $500,000 to $1,000,000. The award goes to the lowest price among offers that pass the technical review.
Watch out for
- Bid bond required. You must email a bid bond with the offer and also mail a hard copy by the due date; many small firms need a surety lined up in advance.
Bid Bond shall be included in emailed proposal and hard copy mailed to address in block 8 by proposal closing date.
- Strict SDVOSB-only plus subcontracting limits. Only VetCert-certified SDVOSBs (or SDVOSB joint ventures) qualify, and you must keep at least 15% of the on-site labor in-house, which limits how much you can hand to a specialty testing firm.
SDVOSB prime contractor will not pay more than 85% of the amount paid
- Heavy experience screen for the prime and the electrical sub. You need two to three completed contracts of $500,000 or more in similar hospital-type electrical testing, and the proposal is rejected if it falls short of any pass/fail factor.
Work of a dollar magnitude equal to, or greater than $500.000.00.
- Certified testing staff required. Supervisors and technicians must hold NETA or NICET (or equivalent) certifications and licensed electrician status, and certificates go in the proposal.
On site field work shall be supervised directly by a Supervising Field Service
- Conflicting performance period. The cover page and SOW section 2 say 90 calendar days, but the scheduling section says the work will take 150 calendar days, so the real schedule is unclear.
distribution system and will require 150 calendars days for completion.
- Outage and hospital work constraints. Work happens off-hours around a live hospital, with outages limited to 4 hours at a time, 14 days' scheduling lead time and infection-control rules, which raises labor cost.
Outages shall be completed during other than normal working hours
- 4-hour facility power outage test with utility costs. You must join the hospital-wide 4-hour test and price the local utility company's services for it into your bid, a cost that is hard to estimate.
services of the local utility company for the duration of the test.
- Equipment counts are only estimates. You must verify quantities yourself, and missing the site visit means no price increase for unforeseen conditions.
Contractors not conducting a site visit to validate and verify the level of work
- Wage rules unclear. The package includes a Davis-Bacon wage determination, but the SOW also cites the Service Contract Act, so check which wage rules apply before pricing.
Service Contract Act of 1965: All service employees who will be
- Set-aside label differs from the solicitation. The SAM.gov listing calls this an SDVOSB sole source, but the solicitation describes a competitive LPTA set-aside, so confirm with the contracting officer.
Full brief
What they want
- Test, inspect and maintain the hospital's electrical power distribution system to NETA MTS-2019 standards (about 350 panels/switchgear, 290 breakers over 200 amps, 6 generators, 25 automatic transfer switches, 100 transformers, 200 fused switches, 13 medium-voltage units, 6 UPS units)
- Take part in the 4-hour Essential Electrical System power outage test, including paying the local utility's costs for the test
- Run an infrared (thermographic) survey of energized equipment and fix or tighten problem connections
- Test medium-voltage cable without hi-pot (for example VLF tan delta) and sample and test oil in VA-owned liquid-filled transformers and oil switches
- Photograph each component before and after work, and do random quality-control re-checks (5% phasing, 10% reconnection)
- Inventory the electrical system in an Excel-type table, mark up one-line drawings in red, and give a budgetary replacement assessment for inefficient low-voltage transformers
- Deliver digital test reports within 7 days and infrared reports within 14 days, plus four hard copies after acceptance and daily raw data sheets
- Do outages after normal hours (nights and weekends) with the VA operating the switches while the contractor handles PPE, access and testing
- Contract type
- Construction contract with one lump-sum line item (quantity 1 job); the pricing type clause (52.216-1) is listed but its text was not in the part of the solicitation provided
- Period of performance
- 90 calendar days from Notice to Proceed per the cover page and the SOW period-of-performance paragraph; another SOW section says 150 calendar days (conflict)
- Place of performance
- Marion VA Medical Center, 2401 W. Main St., Marion, Illinois
- Estimated value
- Between $500,000 and $1,000,000 (construction magnitude estimate)
- How they'll choose
- Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA): lowest evaluated price among proposals that meet the acceptability standards on the non-price factors; award intended without discussions
- Offers due
- November 9, 2026, 3:00 PM Central (15:00 CST); questions are due by 3:00 PM CDT, October 23, 2026
- How to submit
- Email to maria.hoover@va.gov and kevin.mahoney3@va.gov, then confirm with the contracting officer that the email arrived; bid bond must also be mailed in hard copy to VA NCO 15, 3450 S 4th Street Trafficway, Leavenworth KS 66048
What they'll judge offers on
- Relevant Past Performance of Prime Contractor (2 to 3 completed contracts, each $500,000 or more, hospital or medical facility, within 5 years, satisfactory or better)
- Technical Construction and Electrical Testing Experience of Prime Contractor (2 to 3 projects under NAICS 238210, $500,000 or more, similar electrical testing work)
- Technical Construction Experience of the Electrical Subcontractor
- Technical Qualifications of Proposed Staffing / Key Personnel
- Prime Contractor Safety Plan
What to include when you submit
- Email three files marked ORIGINAL - RESPONSE TO RFP - 36C25526R0186
- Volume 1: Technical Proposal plus VAAR 852.219-75 Notice of Limitations on Subcontracting
- Volume 2: Price Proposal with the signed SF 1442 (blocks 10 and 14 through 20 filled in), acknowledgment of all amendments, and Appendix 1
- Volume 3: Bid Bond (offer guarantee); a missing or improper bond is cause for rejection
- Past performance and experience write-ups need contract name and number, agency, award and completion dates and dollar amounts, scope, self-performed labor percentage, and a point of contact
- Include names, certifications and qualifications of the supervising field engineer, technicians, and the site safety and health officer/competent person, plus sample test sheets, a proposed schedule and a quality control plan with safety procedures
- Joint ventures must submit a copy of the JV agreement with the proposal
- Site visit is October 20, 2026 at 10:45 AM CT in Bldg. 15 at the Marion VA Medical Center
You must have
- Service-disabled veteran-owned small business, certified in SBA's VetCert and registered in SAM.gov from the proposal due date through award; joint ventures must be certified too
All contractors and Joint Ventures must be certified in SBAVetCert, and registered in SAM.gov at the time of proposal
- Set aside for SDVOSBs
This project is being solicited as a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) set aside.
- Only SDVOSB joint ventures are accepted as teaming arrangements
Note: Proposals submitted by teaming arrangements other than VA SDVOSB Joint Ventures will
- Limits on subcontracting: prime must perform at least 15% of the project labor on site with its own or other eligible SDVOSB employees
SDVOSB prime contractor will not pay more than 85% of the amount paid
- Bid guarantee (bid bond) submitted with the offer
Bid Bond shall be included in emailed proposal and hard copy mailed to address in block 8 by proposal closing date.
- Technicians certified by NETA, NICET or an equivalent, with OSHA 10-hour construction safety training; supervising field engineer certified by NICET or NETA (or an electrical engineering degree) with 5 years of similar testing experience
Contractors shall be certified by the International Electrical Testing
- Qualified workers are licensed journeyman or master electricians; electrical safety training (NFPA 70E, OSHA 1910 Subpart S) certificates for each technician before award
- At least five continuous years of experience testing electrical distribution systems in healthcare, industrial, educational and commercial facilities
- Employees must pass an FBI fingerprint check for a VA security badge, and show negative tuberculosis screening within 90 days before assignment
Tuberculosis Screening. Contractor shall provide written certification that all
- Current calibration of all test instruments and PPE documented before work starts; VETS-4212 report filed for the preceding fiscal year
Not in the notice text
- Bid bond amount and other details of the missing middle of the solicitation (the text of Factors 2 to 5 instructions, basis for award, price proposal format and Appendix 1 were left out of what was provided)
- Which period of performance is correct: 90 or 150 calendar days
- Whether the Davis-Bacon wage determination or Service Contract Act rates apply
- Pricing type (the contract type clause text was not provided) and how monthly progress payments will work
- Incumbent or who did the prior triennial electrical survey (not named)
- Full inventory and one-line drawings, which the VA says it will furnish
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Key facts
- Response due
- Nov 9, 2026, 9:00 PM UTC
- Posted
- Oct 9, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Solicitation
- 36C25526R0186
- Agency
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Office
- 255-Network Contract Office 15 (36C255)
- Set-aside
- Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Sole Source (FAR 19.14)
- NAICS
- 238210
- Product/service code
- Z1NZ
- Business type
- Construction & renovation
- Place of performance
- Marion, IL, 62959
- Contracting contact
- Kevin A MahoneyKevin.Mahoney3@va.gov9136840141
What similar contracts paid
53 contracts at this agency under the same NAICS code, in the same state, had activity in the last 5 years, according to USAspending.gov. Small businesses won 91% of the dollars in this market over the last 3 fiscal years.
Typical contract$57.6KMiddle half: $24.2K to $241K
Typical per year$155KValue divided by years of performance
Before you respond
Full notice text from SAM.gov
657A5-26-111, Triennial Electrical Testing
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