Solicitation
657-26-602 Create Observation Unit JC
Department of Veterans Affairs · Sol. 36C25526R0162
Due in 15 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 service-disabled veteran-owned small business to build a 3-bed observation unit inside the existing Emergency Department at the John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis. Seven nearby rooms (triage rooms and a reception desk) are also renovated, in phases, while the department keeps running. The work period is 550 calendar days after notice to proceed, plus a one-year guarantee period. Offers are due October 26, 2026 at 2:00 PM Central, and the award goes to the lowest-priced technically acceptable offer.
Watch out for
- Evaluation factors and proposal instructions unclear. The RFI answers refer to six evaluation factors, a three-page limit and a Factor 4 about an electronic key manufacturer subcontractor that does not apply to this project; the Government had not answered, so you may have to ask the Contracting Officer how to build your proposal.
CONTRACTING OFFICER WILL PROVIDE A REPLY. REACH OUT TO THE CONTRACTING OFFICER IF NO RESPONSE IS SUBMITTED.
- Leftover or conflicting wording in the documents. The solicitation's CLIN 0002 is a guarantee period service tied to elevators and electronic keying (spec section 28 05 00, which is not in the spec list), while the revised specification calls CLIN 0002 a deduct alternate with a 500-day period, so pricing and scope could be read two ways.
Deduct Alternate 1: CLIN 0002 - all except the following
- Hazardous material risk with no survey provided. A drawing note puts any additional hazardous material found during construction on the contractor at no added cost, and the Government answered that no hazmat report is needed without reconciling this with the differing site conditions clause.
NO REPORT IS NEEDED. SEE REVISED 01-HA-111.
- Work in a live Emergency Department with strict shutdown windows. The hospital runs 24/7, so phasing, infection-control barriers, after-hours utility and medical gas shutdowns, and schedule changes the VA can force at no extra time or cost will drive your labor cost and schedule risk.
The Medical Center must maintain its operation 24 hours a
- Incomplete design info: sprinklers and HVAC details missing. Sprinkler work is design-build with no head layout, and the VAV box schedule is not available, so you must price some systems with limited information.
CLARIFICATION HAS BEEN ISSUED ON SHEET 01-PE-111. THIS IS A DESIGN BUILD SCOPE.
- Bonds required. A bid bond, then performance and payment bonds at 100% of the contract price, tie up bonding capacity that a small business may not have.
ORIGINAL BID BONDS MUST BE RECEIVED AT THE CONTRACTING OFFICE PRIOR TO THE SOLICITATION CLOSING AT:
- Must be fluent in VA technical standards. The Government expects offerors to already know the VA TIL (technical information library) requirements, which many drawing notes rely on in place of detailed specifications.
IT IS EXPECTED ALL CONTRACTORS PREPARING OFFERS TO THE GOVERNMENT ARE COMPLETELY VERSED IN VA TIL
- Medical gas shutdowns only at night and weekends. Medical gas shutdowns are limited to off hours, which raises labor cost and means careful zone-valve planning.
DOWNS ARE ONLY ALLOWED OUTSIDE REGULAR BUSINESS HOURS
- Sales and use taxes included in your price. You must include state and local sales and use taxes on materials in your price, and a later price change request for taxes will be refused.
A price change request upon award relating to the inclusion of state and local sales or use taxes
- Set-aside label differs between SAM.gov and the solicitation. The SAM.gov listing says SDVOSB sole source, but the solicitation text says a competitive SDVOSB set-aside with RFIs and LPTA evaluation.
Read from the notice and 11 attachments. 1 not read in full.
- S02 SOLICITATION 36C25526R0162_1.pdf
- AMENDMENT 36C25526R0162 0005.pdf
- AMENDMENT 36C25526R0162 0004.pdf
- 36C25526R0162 AMENDMENT 0003.pdf
- 36C25526R0162 AMENDMENT 0002.pdf
- 36C25526R0162 AMENDMENT 0001.pdf
- REVISION 1 SPECIFICATIONS 657-26-602.pdf
- GOVERMENT RESPONSE TO RFIS 657-26-602JC.pdf
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION TO GOVERMENT 657-26-602 REVISED.pdf
- 100 BID DOCUMENTS-FULL SET DRAWINGS 657-26-602.pdf
- S02 ATTACHMENT COMBINED SPECS AND DRAWINGS 657-26-602.pdf
- SITE VISIT SIGN-IN SHEET 657-26-602JC.pdf: scanned PDF: no text to read
Full brief
What they want
- Convert three rooms in the Emergency Department into a 3-bed observation unit
- Renovate seven other rooms, including relocated triage rooms and a new reception desk
- General construction: demolition, walls, finishes, ceilings, doors and casework
- Mechanical (HVAC), plumbing, medical gas outlets, electrical, and tie-ins to the existing nurse call and fire alarm systems
- Sprinkler work, which the Government says is a design-build scope
- Phase the work so the Emergency Department stays open, using infection-control (ICRA) barriers and after-hours utility shutdowns
- One year of guarantee period services after completion (CLIN 0002 in the solicitation)
- Contract type
- Construction contract (SF 1442), single award on CLIN 0001 plus guarantee period services; the pricing type is not stated in the text provided
- Period of performance
- 550 calendar days after notice to proceed, then a 1-year guarantee period after acceptance
- Place of performance
- VA St. Louis Health Care System, John Cochran Division, 915 North Grand Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63106 (Building 1, Floor 01, Emergency Department)
- Estimated value
- Estimated construction magnitude of $500,000 to $1,000,000
- How they'll choose
- Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) under FAR 15.101-2. The six evaluation factors are mentioned in the RFI answers but are not listed in the text provided.
- Offers due
- October 26, 2026 at 2:00 PM Central (Amendment 0005; SAM.gov lists 14:00 -05:00)
- How to submit
- Digital submission only; physical copies are not accepted. The exact email or portal is in the Proposal Submittal Instructions, which were not in the text provided. Original bid bonds must be received at the Leavenworth, KS contracting office before closing.
- Page limits
- An RFI answer mentions a three-page limit, but what counts toward it is unresolved (the Contracting Officer was to reply). Not confirmed in the text provided.
What to include when you submit
- Price every CLIN (CLIN 0001 construction, CLIN 0002 guarantee period services with a monthly and 12-month total)
- Return the signed VAAR 852.219-75 limitations on subcontracting certificate
- Enter your Unique Entity Identifier on the SF 1442
- Acknowledge all five amendments (0001 to 0005)
- Complete the Appendix 1 price breakdown showing self-performed versus subcontracted work
- Provide the documents listed in the Proposal Instructions to Offeror; offers missing them are deemed non-responsive
- Send questions to the Contracting Officer; the question deadline of 8/12/2026 has passed and a second Q&A round was promised
You must have
- Set aside for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB)
This project is being solicited as a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) set-aside.
- Be registered in SAM and VetBiz by the proposal due date (joint ventures too)
and joint ventures must be registered in SAM and VetBiz by the proposal due date in order to be eligible for award.
- Performance and payment bonds are required, and an original bid bond must reach the contracting office before the deadline
Payment and Performance bonds are required.
- Comply with the limitations on subcontracting for construction and sign the certificate (VAAR 852.219-75)
NOTE: Return signed copy of clause 852-219-75
- Medical gas work needs official certifications and licenses, with ASSE certifier requirements and NFPA 99 followed
- Workers need VA badges and background paperwork (VA Form 0711), plus documentation of a flu shot and COVID-19 vaccination attestation
of flu shot and attestation of COVID-19 vaccination.
Not in the notice text
- The full list of evaluation factors and the proposal submittal instructions (these sections were cut from the text provided)
- The exact email address or portal for submitting offers
- Page limits and what counts toward them
- The bid bond amount
- Whether the contract is firm-fixed-price (the type of contract clause was not shown)
- Whether the guarantee period services in CLIN 0002 apply to this project, and how Factor 4 will be revised
- Contents of the scanned site visit sign-in sheet (not readable) and most of the specification sections and drawing sheets (cut off)
- Whether the revised hazardous material sheet 01-HA-111 changes the contractor's risk for hidden hazmat
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Key facts
- Response due
- Oct 26, 2026, 7:00 PM UTC
- Posted
- Oct 8, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Solicitation
- 36C25526R0162
- 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
- 236220
- Product/service code
- Z2DA
- Business type
- Construction & renovation
- Place of performance
- Saint Louis, MO, 63125
- Contracting contact
- Gislaine DorvilGislaine.Dorvil@va.gov9139461139
- Versions
- 9 (amended since first posted)
What similar contracts paid
284 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 95% of the dollars in this market over the last 3 fiscal years.
Typical contract$444KMiddle half: $212K to $1.5M
Typical per year$533KValue divided by years of performance
Possible incumbent's contract endsNov 2026A similar contract in this state, ending near when this one starts
Before you respond
Full notice text from SAM.gov
Amendment 0005 is issued. Please see amendment 0004 in attachment section and associated documents. The proposal due date remains 10-26-2026. Government posted 100 % Bid Documents Full Set Drawings in attachment section of his proposal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Amendment 0004 is issued. Please see amendment 0004 in attachment section and associated documents. The proposal due date has changed to 10-26-2026. Government response to RFIs are posted & the project specification is revised. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Amendment 0003 is issued. Please see amendment 0003 in attachment section and associated documents. The proposal due date has changed to 10-14-2026. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Amendment 0002 is issued. Please see amendment 0002 in attachment section and associated documents. The proposal due date has changed to 9-23-2026. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Amendment 0001 is issued. Please see amendment 0001 in attachment section and associated documents. The proposal due date has changed to 9-1-2026. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8/4/2026:THE SITE VISIT LOCATION HAS BEEN UPDATED TO RERFLECT: SITE VISIT: A site visit will be conducted on 08-5-2026 at 10:00 AM CST. Location: Saint Louis VAMC Building #16, Room #B201 on the 2nd Floor at 10:00AM CST. The building is located directly across from the Emergency Room. POC: WALTER STAAS PHONE:314-652-4100 JCx58723 _______________________________________________________________________________________ PLEASE RESPOND BY THE SPECIFIED DATE AND TIME TO BE CONSIDERED FOR CONTRACT AWARD.
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