Solicitation
Brooklyn Upgrade Life Safety/Critical Branch Electrical Distribution Construction
Department of Veterans Affairs
AI summaryThe Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) wants a small business to do electrical construction at the Brooklyn VA Medical Center, 800 Poly Place, Brooklyn, New York: a dedicated life safety electrical branch in Building 1, plus equipment upgrades and code fixes. It is a sealed-bid invitation for bids (IFB), so the lowest-priced responsible bidder wins, and bids go in by email with a bid guarantee (a bid bond on Standard Form 24, the form that backs your bid). The work must be finished within 540 calendar days after the notice to proceed (the VA's order to start), and the VA puts the project's size at $10,000,000 to $20,000,000. More in the summary
A newer version of this notice was posted Oct 27, 2026. It moves the due date from Nov 6, 2026 to Nov 24, 2026, which is the date shown on this page. See the latest version.
AI summary Beta
Summary of the version posted Oct 14, 2026. The notice was amended Oct 27, 2026. The due date moved from Nov 6, 2026 to Nov 24, 2026. Check what else changed on SAM.gov. This summary may miss requirements: 3 of 11 attachments weren't read (Brooklyn VAMC Map.pdf, Attachment G - RFI TRACKING SHEET.xlsx and 1 more). Check the attachments on SAM.gov.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) wants a small business to do electrical construction at the Brooklyn VA Medical Center, 800 Poly Place, Brooklyn, New York: a dedicated life safety electrical branch in Building 1, plus equipment upgrades and code fixes. It is a sealed-bid invitation for bids (IFB), so the lowest-priced responsible bidder wins, and bids go in by email with a bid guarantee (a bid bond on Standard Form 24, the form that backs your bid). The work must be finished within 540 calendar days after the notice to proceed (the VA's order to start), and the VA puts the project's size at $10,000,000 to $20,000,000.
Who can bid (4)
- Small business: this is a 100 percent small business set-aside, and bidders must be certified as a small business by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and listed in the SBA certification database when they bid and at award
- Active SAM.gov registration when the bid is submitted and at award
- Bid guarantee (SF 24) of at least 20 percent of the bid price, up to $3,000,000, with the bid
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- VETS-4212 report (the annual federal contractor report on veterans in the workforce) filed before award
How to submit: Email only, to sierra.tate@va.gov and bridget.may@va.gov; bids sent any other way are non-responsive, due November 6, 2026, 2:00 PM Eastern (SAM.gov); Amendment 0001 says 3:00 PM EST on the same day. What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch (10)
- Serious: Small business set-aside, SBA certification required. Only firms certified as small businesses by the SBA and listed in the SBA database at bid time and at award can win; larger firms and uncertified firms are out.
- Serious: Offer due time differs: 2:00 PM on SAM.gov, 3:00 PM in Amendment 0001. SAM.gov shows November 6, 2026 at 2:00 PM Eastern, while Amendment 0001 confirms the same day at 3:00 PM EST; bids arriving after the cut-off are non-responsive, so ask the contracting officer which time governs. The SF 1442 on the solicitation itself shows October 30, 2026 at 3:00 PM EDT, which Amendment 0001 replaced with November 6.
- Serious: Bid guarantee due with the bid. A bid bond of at least 20 percent of your price (capped at $3,000,000) must come with the electronic bid; a missing or wrong-sized guarantee gets the bid rejected, so line up a surety early.
Show all 10Show fewer
- Serious: Payment and performance bonds required at award. On a $10,000,000 to $20,000,000 project, the winner must furnish two bonds, so your surety must be able to cover the full contract size.
- Worth checking: Large project for a small business. The VA sizes the job at $10,000,000 to $20,000,000 with 540 days of work in an operating hospital, so capacity, bonding and electrical experience matter.
- Worth checking: Email-only bids. Bids sent any way other than email are non-responsive, and the bid and the electronic bid bond must both be there at the set time.
- Worth checking: The site visit was Oct 20, 2026. Check the notice and its amendments for whether attendance was required, and whether another visit is offered.
- Minor: Wage rates attachment titled "King County". The wage rates attachment is titled King County (Brooklyn is in Kings County, so this is likely a typo) and is scanned, so it could not be read; confirm with the contracting officer which wage rates apply before pricing labor.
- Minor: Alternates in the specs no longer apply. The specifications and drawings still mention Alternate No. 1 and Alternate No. 2 and four task categories; the solicitation says to ignore the alternates and price only Base Item 0001.
- Minor: Limits on subcontracting apply. A limitations on subcontracting clause is included, which caps how much of the work you can pass to other firms; read its percentage before planning subcontractors.
Read from the notice and 8 attachments. 3 of 11 not read. Show which files.
- 36C77626B0020 0002.pdf (read)
- 36C77626B0020 0001.pdf (read)
- 36C77626B0020 Brooklyn VAMC Construction.pdf (read)
- Attachment A - Specifications - 3-11-26.pdf (read)
- Attachment F - Site Visit Instructions.pdf (read)
- Attachment D - Drawings.pdf (read)
- Attachment C - Drawings.pdf (read)
- Attachment B - Drawings.pdf (read)
- Brooklyn VAMC Map.pdf: not summarized: open it on SAM.gov
- Attachment G - RFI TRACKING SHEET.xlsx: not read (the AI doesn't read this file type yet): open it on SAM.gov
- Attachment E - Wages Rates - King County 5-26-26.pdf: not summarized: open it on SAM.gov
Full summary
What they want
- Install a dedicated life safety electrical branch in Building 1 of the Brooklyn campus (Tasks 1, 2 and 3), including automatic transfer switches (gear that switches a building onto backup power) and electrical distribution equipment on each floor
- Upgrade or replace electrical distribution equipment that cannot handle the expected short-circuit current found by an earlier Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) electrical study (Task 5)
- Fix equipment code violations found in that same study (Tasks 6 through 26)
- Meet National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards 70, 99 and 110 and VA electrical design rules for a hospital's essential electrical system
- Supply all tools, equipment, materials, labor and supervision for one lump-sum Base Item 0001; Task 4 was removed, the critical and equipment branches are not part of this project, and every mention of Alternate No. 1 and Alternate No. 2 is to be disregarded
- Before starting work, give the Contracting Officer one week's notice for security escorts and send an electronic security memorandum; all workers need a VA badge
- Attend any post-award conference the VA calls
- Contract type
- Firm-fixed-price (one set price, whatever the work ends up costing) construction contract, sealed bid (invitation for bids); one lump-sum price for Line Item 0001
- Period of performance
- 540 calendar days after the contractor receives the notice to proceed; SF 1442 also shows work starting within 10 calendar days
- Place of performance
- Brooklyn VA Medical Center, 800 Poly Place, Brooklyn, New York 11209 (Building 1 for Tasks 1 to 3)
- Estimated value
- The VA says the magnitude of construction (its size range for this project) is between $10,000,000 and $20,000,000
- How they'll choose
- Sealed bid: award goes to the responsible bidder with the lowest price whose bid conforms to the solicitation; price is the only factor
- Offers due
- November 6, 2026, 2:00 PM Eastern (SAM.gov); Amendment 0001 says 3:00 PM EST on the same day (from the version posted Oct 14, 2026; amended since)
- How to submit
- Email only, to sierra.tate@va.gov and bridget.may@va.gov; bids sent any other way are non-responsive
What they'll judge offers on
- Price: one lump-sum total for Line Item 0001, in whole dollars
- Responsiveness: the bid must include the required forms, bid guarantee and acknowledgments of all amendments
- Responsibility check of the apparent winner (experience, organization, technical qualifications, financial resources)
What to include when you submit
- Complete and sign the Offer section of Standard Form 1442 (SF 1442, the construction solicitation and offer form) and put your Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) from SAM.gov in Block 14
- Acknowledge every amendment, either in Block 19 of the SF 1442 or by returning each signed amendment form; failing to do so may make the bid nonresponsive
- Complete the price schedule: a firm-fixed lump-sum price for Line Item 0001 in whole dollars, with no cents, and account for the taxes clause FAR 52.229-3 and its Special Note
- Include a bid guarantee on Standard Form 24 (SF 24), with the electronic copy of the bid bond sent with the bid
- Provide your answers to FAR 52.203-2 (independent price determination, if it applies), 52.209-7(b) (responsibility matters), 52.209-12(b) (tax matters), 52.209-13(b) (arms control treaties) and 52.229-11(d) (tax on foreign procurements)
- Keep your SAM.gov representations and certifications current; submitting a bid confirms they are accurate
- Send technical questions by email to both addresses above, on Attachment G (the RFI tracking sheet), with the subject line the solicitation gives; answers are posted by amendment
After award, you must have
- Payment bond (SF 25A) and performance bond (SF 25) from the winning bidder From 36C77626B0020 Brooklyn VAMC Construction.pdf:
The offeror to whom award is made will be required to furnish two bonds.
- Contractor and subcontractor staff must pass a background investigation matching their risk level; the general construction contractor is listed as Tier 1 (low risk) From 36C77626B0020 Brooklyn VAMC Construction.pdf:
Contractor personnel assigned to work for or on behalf of VA must undergo a background investigation commensurate with the risk and sensitivity level designation…
Current contractor
No incumbent is named. The notice says it is related to Sources Sought notice 36C77626Q0137, which serves as the presolicitation; no response counts or capable-firm numbers are given.
Not in the notice text
- Parts of the solicitation were left out or unreadable: the middle of the main solicitation (including the full clause text), most of the specifications and drawings (Attachments A to D), the scanned wage rates (Attachment E), the question tracking sheet (Attachment G) and the map
- Which wage rates apply: Attachment E is titled King County (likely Kings County) and is scanned, so it was not read
- How much of the work must be done by your own firm under the limitations on subcontracting clause
- The Microsoft Teams link and call-in number for the public bid opening are to be announced by amendment about seven calendar days before the bid due date
- Answers to bidders' technical questions will be posted by amendment
- Work hours, utility shutdown rules and infection control requirements are in the specifications and were not read
- The Buy American rules for construction materials are in the clauses and were not read in full
Eligibility and how to respond
- Set aside for small businesses: only a business that counts as small under this notice's NAICS code can bid as the prime contractor. More open small business set-asides under NAICS 238210
- How to submit, from the AI summary: Email only, to sierra.tate@va.gov and bridget.may@va.gov; bids sent any other way are non-responsive. Check it in the notice before you send anything.
- Construction contracts over $2,000 pay at least the local Davis-Bacon wage rates, from the wage determination in the solicitation. Price your labor from it: How to price a government contract, and how Davis-Bacon differs from the Service Contract Act.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 14, 2026
- Notice type
- Solicitation
- Office
- Pcac (36C776), Independence, OH
- Product/service code
- Y1DZ · Construction of Other Hospital Buildings
- Business type
- Construction & renovation (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 238210)
- Versions
5 versions have been posted, newest first.
- Oct 27, 2026 · AmendmentDue Nov 24, 2026 (changed)
- Oct 22, 2026 · AmendmentDue Nov 6, 2026
- Oct 14, 2026 · Amendment 0004 (this version)Due Nov 6, 2026
- Oct 13, 2026 · AmendmentDue Nov 6, 2026
- Oct 6, 2026 · SolicitationDue Nov 6, 2026
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
- How to respond to a solicitation (8 steps)
- How to read a government solicitation
- How to price a government contract
- Set-aside contracts explained
Terms on this notice: Solicitation, Set-aside
Latest amendment note (Amendment 4) from SAM.gov
Amendment 0004 - Bid Opening Due Date Change Please note that solicitation #36C77626B0020 is related to the Sources Sought notice # 36C77626Q0137 which serves as the presolicitation. In accordance with 15 USC 644, this project is a competitive small business set aside. This project is located at: Brooklyn VA Medical Center 800 Poly Place Brooklyn, NY 11209 Please see attachements for additional details on this procurement.
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