Solicitation
NX EQ SURGICAL TISSUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Department of Veterans Affairs · Sol. 36C10X26R0027
Due in 9 days
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 Department of Veterans Affairs (Enterprise Procurement Office, Frederick MD) wants one nationwide requirements contract for Olympus ESG-410 surgical energy systems (a brand name or equal buy) plus about 138 accessories, electrodes and consumables, with installation, training and warranty. Orders come from VA medical centers across the U.S. and overseas over a 12-month base period plus four 12-month options. It is full and open competition with no set-aside, and award is by best value with a veterans preference factor.
Watch out for
- Missing items cause automatic rejection. Leaving out the salient characteristics chart, Attachment J, the dated OEM letter, or any required volume can remove the proposal without further review.
Offers which do not include this complete chart will not be considered for award.
- Favors the manufacturer and its authorized resellers. The buy is built around Olympus part numbers and requires an OEM authorization letter, so a small business that is not an authorized reseller or manufacturer of an equal system is likely ineligible.
- Large nationwide catalog with no guaranteed volume. You must price about 138 line items (plus option-year lines) and honor orders anywhere in the world, but the government promises no purchases.
The Government does not guarantee any volume of purchases through a contract.
- 3% VA fee and sales reporting. You must build a 3% fee into every price, then file sales reports and pay the fee each quarter, which eats margin and adds admin work.
The current SLA which applies to this contract action is 3.0%.
- Strict file and format rules. The government treats proposal formatting as a material requirement and will ignore anything outside the designated volume file.
The Government considers the proper formatting and content of proposals a material requirement.
- Most-favored-customer pricing request and volume discounts. VA asks for prices and terms at least as good as your best customers and expects volume discounts, which is hard for a small reseller to meet.
The Government requests the Vendor provide prices, warranties, conditions, benefits, and terms that are at least equal to
- Liquidated damages for late delivery. Late deliveries cost $37.50 per calendar day, and the after-receipt-of-order delivery time is left blank in the text so you must propose your own.
pay to the Government liquidated damages of $37.50 per calendar day of delay.
- Order size limits. You do not have to honor single-item orders over 100 each or combined orders over $750,000, but unfilled larger orders must be rejected in writing within 10 working days.
Any order for a single item in excess of 100 each;
- Already extended once; short remaining time. The due date moved from Oct 9 to Oct 19, 2026 and the question period closed Sept 18, so there is little time to prepare literature, OEM letter and past performance.
The purpose of this amendment is to extend the date responses are due from October 9, 2026, to October 19, 2026
Read from the notice and 5 attachments. 3 not read in full.
- 36C10X26R0027 0002_1.docx
- S02 36C10X26R0027 SURGICAL TISSUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL.docx
- ATTACHMENT J_CERTIFICATION OF RECALL OR SAFETY ISSUES.docx
- ATTACHMENT F - PAST PERFORMANCE REFERENCE NX EQ SURGICAL TISSUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.docx
- 36C10X26R0027 Amendment Questions and Answers.docx
- ATTACHMENT H - RFQ QUESTIONS - NX EQ SURGICAL TISSUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.xlsx: spreadsheet: not read yet
- ATTACHMENT A_PRICE COST SCHEDULE NX EQ SURGICAL.TISSUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.xlsx: spreadsheet: not read yet
- ATTACHMENT E - REPORTING TOOL - NX EQ SURGICAL TISSUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.xlsx: spreadsheet: not read yet
Full brief
What they want
- Supply Olympus ESG-410 Surgical Energy Platform or an equal system that meets 9 required features (FDA cleared, multi-energy, touchscreen, neutral electrode contact monitoring, wired and wireless footswitches, and more)
- Provide the long list of related accessories and consumables (footswitches, cables, carts, PlasmaLoop, PlasmaNeedle and similar electrodes, SonicBeat and PowerSeal instruments, smoke evacuator, insufflator) as separate priced line items
- Offer installation, setup, software updates, training for clinical staff and biomedical engineers, and at least a one-year warranty at no extra cost
- Deliver to VA locations named in each order (FOB destination) and confirm each order within 4 working days
- Embed a 3% VA service fee in every price, and send monthly and quarterly sales reports and the fee payment
- List discontinued items at the end of the price schedule and flag any missing items needed for a full system
- Contract type
- Single nationwide requirements contract with firm-fixed-price delivery orders; brand name or equal
- Period of performance
- 12-month base period plus four 12-month option periods (60 months of ordering, 5 years maximum)
- Place of performance
- VA medical centers and facilities nationwide, CONUS and OCONUS; orders name the delivery site (FOB destination). Contracting office is in Frederick, MD
- How they'll choose
- Best value tradeoff. Offers must first meet every required feature and submit required forms. Non-price factors combined are significantly more important than price.
- Offers due
- 10-19-2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern (extended by amendment from Oct 9). Questions were due Sept 18, 2026.
- How to submit
- Email to the Contract Specialist (Lisa.thompson10@va.gov) and Contracting Officer (Jessica.smith32@va.gov). Late responses are not reviewed.
What they'll judge offers on
- Technical (significantly more important than Past Performance; must be rated at least Acceptable; sub-factors Design, Performance, Safety, Quality/Service/Training)
- Past Performance (slightly more important than Veterans Preference)
- Veterans Preference
- Price (not scored; reviewed for reasonableness)
What to include when you submit
- Five separate files: Technical (Company Name - Tech.pdf), Past Performance (PastPerformance.pdf), Veterans Preference (Vets.pdf), Price (Price.xls), and Offer/Reps and Certs (OfrRep.pdf)
- Do not zip files; split into several emails if needed but keep each volume in one email
- Technical volume: descriptive literature, completed salient characteristics chart, signed Attachment J, no pricing
- Price volume: complete Attachment A with prices to two decimal places and the 3% fee included
- Past performance: Attachment F with three references from the last three years for nationwide delivery of surgical tissue management systems
- Offer volume: signed offer sheet, UEI/CAGE/TIN, acknowledgement of amendments, FAR 52.225-6 certificate, representations and certifications if not in SAM, OEM authorized distributor letter, and a current PDF copy of the SAM registration
- Hold prices firm for 90 calendar days
- Identify any subcontracting opportunities in the proposal
You must have
- Every required feature (salient characteristic) must be met, including FDA clearance, and the compliance chart must be filled in and returned
All the minimum SCs listed in the solicitation must be met to be considered eligible for award.
- Resellers must be authorized by the manufacturer, with a signed OEM letter dated within 30 days of submission and valid for the life of the contract
Distributors must be authorized as distributors/resellers as certified by the OEM
- Signed certification that no proposed item has outstanding recalls or known safety issues (Attachment J)
Offerors failing to complete and return Attachment J will be eliminated from consideration for award and receive no further evaluation.
- Only new, manufacturer-original or equal products; no refurbished, used or gray market items, and everything must carry the manufacturer warranty (at least one year)
Only Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) or equal parts are acceptable.
- Active SAM registration; a current PDF copy of the registration must be submitted
- Veteran-owned status is not required, but SDVOSB and VOSB firms (SBA-certified) get credit, and other firms get some credit for subcontracting 7% or more to an SDVOSB or 10% or more to a VOSB
Not in the notice text
- Estimated quantities, prices and option-year line numbers, which are in the Attachment A price spreadsheet (not read)
- Attachment E reporting tool and Attachment H question sheet (not read)
- Attachment G past performance questionnaire is referenced but not included in the files provided
- A section of the Instructions to Offerors (about 7,700 characters) was cut from the text, so some submission details may be missing
- Whether the 'after receipt of order' delivery days are set by the government or proposed by the vendor
- Current Olympus supplier or incumbent, if any
- Government estimate of total contract value
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Key facts
- Response due
- Oct 20, 2026, 3:59 AM UTC
- Posted
- Oct 8, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Solicitation
- 36C10X26R0027
- Agency
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Office
- Sac Frederick (36C10X)
- NAICS
- 339112
- Product/service code
- 6515
- Business type
- Medical & healthcare
- Place of performance
- Frederick, MD, 21703
- Contracting contact
- Lisa Thompsonlisa.thompson10@va.gov3037125773
- Versions
- 3 (amended since first posted)
What similar contracts paid
285 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 38% of the dollars in this market over the last 3 fiscal years.
Typical contract$113KMiddle half: $43.2K to $297K
Typical per year$124KValue divided by years of performance
Possible incumbent's contract endsSep 2026A similar contract in this state, ending near when this one starts
Before you respond
Full notice text from SAM.gov
NX EQ SURGICAL TISSUE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
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