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THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR PROPOSALS AND NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED FROM THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. The purpose of this notice is to conduct ma... THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR PROPOSALS AND NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED FROM THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. The purpose of this notice is to conduct market research and obtain information from qualified Contractors who are able to meet the requirements identified in the accompanying Statement of Work. This is not a solicitation. A solicitation will be issued at a later date. This notice does not restrict the Government to a particular acquisition approach. All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary. The Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any Contractor for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the Government. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Network Contracting Office 2, and the VA Medical Centers located in Albany, Syracuse and Buffalo New York will issue a contract for the delivery of Electrophoresis testing to these VA Medical Center laboratories. See the Statement of Work for the list of requirements and Schedule of Supplies. The NAICS Code is 334516 Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing Interested Contractors are reminded that in accordance with FAR 4.12, prospective Contractors shall complete electronic annual representations and certifications in conjunction with FAR 4.11 required registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) database prior to award of a contract. Your response needs to address how you will meet the Government's requirements. All Contractors that are interested, regardless of their business type, and qualified to meet these requirements are asked to submit the following information: 1) Company Name: 2) Company Address: 3) DUNS Number: 4) Company POC Name: 5) Company POC Phone Number: 6) Company POC Email Address: 7) Company Website: 8) Business type: (Large, Small, Woman-Owned, VOSB/SDVOSB, etc.): Please identify your company's small business size standard and applicable NAICS code. For more information refer to http://www.sba.gov/content/table-small-business-size-standards. Note: If claiming SDVOSB or VOSB, the firm must be registered, and CVE verified in VetBiz Registry http://www.vetbiz.gov/; also include VetBiz certification. Please email statements of capabilities to Sam DeMuzio no later than September 2, 2024 at 4:00PM Eastern time to sam.demuzio@va.gov. This notice is to assist the VA in determining sources only. A solicitation is not currently available. If a solicitation is issued it will be announced later, and all interested parties must respond to that solicitation announcement separately from the responses to this announcement. Responses to this sources sought announcement are not considered adequate responses to any future solicitation announcements. STATEMENT OF WORK 1. Indefinite Delivery Contract Language 1.1. INTENT: It is the intent of the Department of Veterans Affairs, specifically the following Upstate New York Medical Center Laboratories: Albany, Buffalo, and Syracuse to establish an Indefinite Delivery contract for Electrophoresis testing to perform a cost per test. This requirement is for Electrophoresis testing of Serum Protein Electrophoresis (SPEP), Urine Protein Electrophoresis (UPEP), Immuno-Fixation Electrophoresis (IFE) by Gel Electrophoresis, and Cerebal Spinal Fluid (CSF)/ Oligoclonal Bands. This testing is used for diagnsosis and treatment of Multiple Myeloma, Nephrotic Syndrom, Multiple Sclerosis, and Liver Cirrhosis. The Government shall award an Indefinite Delivery contract to a single Contractor for cost per test Electrophoresis testing and subcontracting is not authorized. Additional tests, reagents, and instrumentation may be added to the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract as new technology becomes available on the market. 1.2. ORDERS: All products ordered under the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract are subject to the terms and conditions of the Contract. The awarded Indefinite Delivery contract does not obligate any funds. The Government will obligated only to the extent of authorized orders actually issued under the Delivery Order by authorized individuals of the Laboratory Medical Centers. 1.3. PRICES AND TERMS: The three Upstate New York VA Medical Centers Laboratories will provide an estimated monthly testing volume for each of the four required tests. The following are the estimated monthly testing volumes for each Laboratory. Albany: SPEP 53 tests a month, UPEP 28 tests a month, IFE 6 tests a month, Buffalo: SPEP 50 tests a month, UPEP 40 tests a month, and IFE 50 tests a month. Syracuse: SPEP 125 tests a month, UPEP 30 tests a month, IFE 20 tests a month, and CSF/Oligoclonal 1 test a month. Pricing is based on cartridge price plus add on. Add on is figured by equipment at the facility divided by the average monthly test volume, and includes service. This also includes calibrators and controls (where applicable) to be included in the cost per test pricing. Each of the three Laboratories will be responsible for submitting their test counts each month to the awarded Contractor. The Government estimates the volumes as listed above, but does not guarantee volumes as listed. These monthly testing numbers are best estimates only derived from past patient care. 1.4. TERM OF AGREEMENT: This will be a single award, firm-fixed price Indefinite Delivery contract for five years. If the Contractor fails to perform in a manner satisfactory to the Contracting Officer, the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract may be canceled with thirty days written notice to the Contractor by the Contracting Officer. The awarded Indefinite Delivery contract shall be reviewed annually. The three Upstate New York VA Medical Centers Laboratories shall establish the first year of the agreement for the period from October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025. 1.5. IDENTIFICATION: Delivery Orders issued shall be identified by their applicable Indefinite Delivery contract number. 1.6. ORDERING METHOD: The three Laboratories may order products via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), telephone, facsimile or other written communication, identifying the products by number, quantity, purchase price, address for delivery, and any special instructions. 2. DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS 2.1. SCOPE OF PROCUREMENT: 2.1.1. The desired instrumentation shall have the capability of performing and reporting the clinical parameters as defined in this statement of work. The instrument shall be able to perform the complete profile as described below and meet the performance characteristics for accuracy and precision as defined by the 1988 Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA) and the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). 2.1.2. Equipment must maintain, or preferably reduce the number of work stations or overall labor required to accomplish the required testing. 2.1.3. The Contractor is required to provide a continuously stocked inventory of reagents, standards, controls, supplies, disposables, and any other materials required to properly perform tests on the equipment such that equipment operations are not interrupted. These items shall be of the highest quality, sensitivity, specificity and tested to assure precision and accuracy. The expiration date must be clearly marked on all reagents, standards, and control containers. Unexpected changes in methodology and technology shall be at the expense of the Contractor. Notify of any delays in shipment as well as any or all technical advisory recalls and alerts, prior to or simultaneously with field alerts shall be forwarded to the Contracting Officer Representatives (COR s) identified at contract award. 2.1.4. Special Handling for Emergency Orders of Supplies: In the event that supplies are found to be defective and unsuitable for use with the Contractor s equipment, or the Contractor has failed to comply with the requirements for routine supply delivery, the Contractor is required to deliver the supplies within twenty-four hours of receipt of a verbal order for emergency delivery. If either circumstance has occurred, the Contractor shall deliver to the Government Laboratory in the most expeditious manner possible at no additional cost to the Government the necessary consumables in sufficient quantity as required to allow operation of the Contractor s equipment for one week (under normal Government test load volume). If additional requests for emergency supply delivery are required by the Government, they shall be honored by the Contractor until the arrival at the Laboratory of the monthly standing order or routine supplies delivery. 2.1.5. Data Management And Middleware Capabilities: The ability to provide Middleware that are able to provide services such as but not limited to: interface with laboratory computer system, advanced quality control that can be used to determine method precision and accuracy including Levy Jennings graphs, and storage of patient results with the ability to retransmit and print results in the event of an LIS problem or barcode read error. Each of the three Laboratories requires its own Middleware Server. 2.2. DEFINITIONS: 2.2.1. Cost per Test (CPT) The Contractor is required to provide a price for each test that can be performed on their equipment. The per test price shall include costs covering the following: (1) Five year equipment use. (2) All reagents, standards, quality controls, supplies, consumable and disposable items, parts, accessories, and any other items required for the proper operation of the Contractor s equipment and necessary for the generation and reporting of a test result. All products to be shipped FBO Destination no exceptions. (3) All necessary maintenance to keep the equipment fully operational to include emergency repairs. Daily/weekly/monthly Preventive Maintenance is the responsibility of the Laboratory Technicians. (4) Training for Government personnel. (5) Contractor is required to provide delivery, installation, and removal of their equipment upon contract completion at no additional charge. 2.2.2. Parameter definitions- 2.2.2.1. A fully automated analysis system that is FDA approved and has been on the market for at least one year that is capable of performing electrophoresis testing for SPEP, UPEP, IFE, and CSF/Oligoclonal. 2.2.2.2. Contractor shall supply all instrumentation, reagents, supplies, and consumables to perform approximately 4,836 patient test results per year. Please note that this patient testing amount is the estimated total yearly number for all three Laboratories combined for all four tests. 2.2.2.3. Calibrators traceable to International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC). Ability to prioritize STAT testing without compromising existing programmed testing. 2.2.2.4. Minimum sample size shall be no more than 2ml. 2.3. TEST MENU: Refer to Attachment A for desired test menu and estimated annual volumes. 2.4. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS: 2.4.1 One Analyzer for Each Site Base equipment offered that shall fully support the scope of operations while meeting all minimal requirements of operation. The table shall be of sufficient size that all Contractor equipment is able to be placed on the table. 2.4.2 Operational Features- The instrumentation offered shall have the following: 2.4.2.1 The capability of performing analysis on 100% of the tests listed in Attachment A. 2.4.2.2 Sufficient capacity and throughput to meet the volume and service demands as defined in Attachment A. 2.4.2.3 Safety features to avoid unnecessary exposure to biohazardous and chemical material. The exposure to and the volume of biohazardous and chemical material generated by the equipment must be minimal and require a minimum amount of handling. 2.4.2.4 System must have a bi-directional bar coded computer interface compatible with Data Innovations. The fully operational interface (both hardware and software) shall be immediately available for implementation to the VA computerized hospital information system for all three Laboratories simultaneously. 2.4.2.4.1 The accuracy of the barcode reading must have less than a 1% failure rate. 2.4.2.4.2 Software with user defined parameters to assist with auto calibration or auto calibration alert multipoint calibration. 2.4.2.4.3 Computer connections and servers used for transferring data between the instrument and the VA s data server shall be provided by the Contractor and be compatible with the VA s data servers existing data ports. 2.4.2.4.4 Windows 10 compatibility and hardware and software functionality for direct network connectivity. 2.4.2.4.5 The ability to interface with the Vista System through Data Innovations bidirectionally. 2.4.2.4.6 Contractor responsible for any licensing or hardware used to connect to Data Innovations and the Network. 2.4.2.4.7 Any connections from the analyzer back to the Contractor shall follow the Department of Veterans Affairs guidelines and has to be FIPS 140-2 and CRISP compliant. 2.4.2.5 Daily maintenance shall require no more than ten minutes to complete. 2.4.2.6 Technician intervention not required once samples have been loaded into the analyzer and the results have been printed. 2.4.2.7 Ability to store and retransmit records for twenty-four hours of maximal instrument throughput in case of interface outage. 2.4.2.8 Reagent stability sufficient to accommodate both high and low volume use. The Contractor shall provide expiration dates of at least one year for reagents. New lots of reagents and controls shall be supplied one month in advance to allow for complete cross over studies. 2.4.3 Technical Features- The instrumentation must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and shall have the following Technical Features: 2.4.3.1 Muti-parameter semi-automated agarose gel electrophoresis instrument for SPEP, UPEP, IFE, and CSF/Oligocolonal testing. 2.4.3.2 Walk away after sample inoculation. 2.4.3.3 Sequenced sample application, migration, incubation, staining, destaining, and drying. 2.4.3.4 High voltage protein separation and direct protein detection of the following five protein zones: Albumin, Alpha-1, Alpha-2, Beta, and Gamma. 2.4.3.5 Scanner required for the identification of protein fractions. 2.4.3.6 Independent and separate self contained assay kits. 2.4.3.7 Software compatible with instrumentation to provide complete patient deomographic, curve editing, modification of the baseline, fraction identification, and curve overlay. 2.4.3.8 Software to provide a comprehensive patient report with electrophoretic curve, immunofixation pattern, and quantitive specific protein results. 2.4.3.9 A comprehensive quality control program with two levels of quality control to include Levy-Jennings charts. 2.4.4 Hardware Features- The instrumentation shall have the following Hardware Features: 2.4.4.1 A total equipment footprint that when installed in the laboratories shall not impact the functionality and or operations of each Laboratory. 2.4.4.2 Contractor shall supply a printer, replacement printers if required, and toner cartridges when required, as part of their cost per test pricing. 2.4.4.3 Equipment must be able to support multiple barcode formats with a minimum of ten characters in the specimen identifier. 2.4.4.4 Ability to store and retransmit records in case of interface outage. 2.4.4.5 The flexibility to set multiple units of measurement. 2.4.6 Method Performance And Validation Requirements Method performance and comparison will be at the expense of the Contractor and shall include the following: all reagents consumables and replacement parts, assayed quality control material, calibration material, and linearity material every six months. Linearity material and reagents, and results shall be consistent with current CLSI guidelines and related documents, College of American Pathologists (CAP) standards, and Federal Regulations. 2.4.6.1 The Contractor shall perform method validation to include correlation study, crossover studies, sensitivity, linearity, reproducibility, and any additional test workup required to demonstrate satisfactory instrument performance consistent with CLSI Standards. 2.4.6.2 Carryover Studies. Successful carryover studies, demonstrating absence of any clinically significant carryover, shall be completed by the Contractor on the analyzers during installation. These studies shall be performed using either Contractor developed programs or programs developed by a third party (CAP/CLSI). The programs shall be provided to each laboratory at no charge. 2.4.7 Support Features- 2.4.7.1 Commercial marketing. The equipment models being offered shall be in current production as of the date the Contractor s offer is submitted. For purposes of this Statement of Work, current production shall mean that the chemistry laboratory analyzer model being offered is new equipment. Discontinued models that are only being made available as remanufactured equipment are not acceptable. The Contractor shall perform to the satisifaction of the Government, as determined by the Laboratory Medical Director at each of the three sites, all validation studies including: precision, method comparison with current analyzer, accuracy (recovery), linearity (reportable range), calibration verification, verification of reference interval, and determination of sensitivity and specifity as part of the cost per test pricing. The Contractor shall perform all of the statistical analysis as stated in the Method Performance And Validation section above and report data in an organized and clearly comprehensible format to the satisfaction of the Laboratory Medical Director at each of the three sites. 2.4.7.2 Start-Up Reagents. The Contractor shall provide all reagents, calibrators, controls, consumable and disposable items, parts, accessories, and any other item included on the list of supplies defined in the Contract and required to establish instruments for operation for performance of acceptance testing. The Contractor shall perform to the satisfaction of the Government, as determined by each of the three Laboratory Medical Directors all validation studies including: precision, method comparison with current analyzer, accuracy (recovery), linearity (reportable range), calibration verification, verification of reference interval, and determination of sensitivity and specificity as part of the cost per test pricing. The Contractor shall perform all of the statistical analysis as stated in the Method Performance And Validation section above and report data in an organized and clearly comprehensible format to the satisfaction of each of the three Laboratory Medical Directors. 2.4.7.3 Training. The Contractor shall provide an instrument training program, as well as onsite training, that is coordinated with and timely to the equipment installation, sufficient to the size and scope of each of the three Sites services. This shall include training on the operation of the system, data manipulation, and basic trouble shooting and repair. Thereafter, the Contractor shall provide training for minimally two operators per Laboraotry per year at the discretion of the Government for each model of instrumentation placed. Utilization of the training slots shall be mutually agreed upon between the three Laboratories and the Contractor. A training program that involves off site travel shall include the cost of airfare and room and board for each participant. 2.4.7.4 Equipment Preventative Maintenance And Repair Service. The Contractor shall provide emergency equipment repair and preventative maintenance on all primary and back-up instrumentation according to the following terms: 2.4.7.4.1 Service Requirements 2.4.7.4.1.1 Technical support by telephone available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Onsite service Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM with emergency service provided within 24 hours. 2.4.7.4.1.2 A current contractor Service Agreement Plan will replace equipment and or any incremental networking or support equipment within one business day of complaint being received. 2.4.7.5 Upgrades - The Contractor shall provide upgrades to both the equipment hardware and software, excluding analyzers and related accessories, in order to maintain the integrity of the system and the state of the art technology as part of their cost per test price. These upgrades shall be provided as they become commercially available and at the same time as they are being provided to commercial customers. This requirement only applies to system upgrades that enhance the model of equipment being offered, i.e. new version of software, correction of hardware defect, upgrades offered to commercial customers at no additional charge, upgrades to replace a model of equipment no longer Contractor supported, etc. This does not refer to replacing the original piece of equipment provided under the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract; however, it does refer to significant changes in the hardware operational capability. 2.4.7.6 Ancillary Support Equipment - The Contractor shall provide, install, and maintain through the life of the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract, as indicated, any and all ancillary support equipment to fully operate the analyzer as defined in these specifications, cabinetry to support and house the analyzers if necessary, water systems (including consumable polishers, filters, etc.), and universal interface equipment. In addition, the Contractor shall include all ancillary components that are customarily sold or provided with the model of equipment they are proposing to include starter kits, tables and stands, etc. 2.4.7.7 Commercial Offerings - The Contractor shall provide any additional support material that is routinely provided to equivalent commercial customers and assists in regulatory compliance, to include a Computer Disc containing their procedure manual in CLSI format or an on-line procedure manual in the instrument software. 2.4.7.8 Characterization of Waste The Contractor shall provide documentation that it has characterized the hazardous nature of all wastes produced by all equipment, devices, reagents, and discharges in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Federal Regulations Title 40 Protection of the Environment Part 261 et seq. and applicable state and local requirements. Documentation shall include a description of the characteristics of the hazardous waste produced as a byproduct of the instrument operations, Safety Data Sheets (SDS) meeting the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the analytical process used to determine the hazardous nature and characteristics of the waste, and the analytical test results. Testing of hazardous waste is to be done in accordance with testing protocol specified for each individual waste as described in the Code of Federal Regulations Title 40 to make a determination if the waste is a hazardous waste or otherwise regulated. 2.4.7.8.1 The determination and description shall address the following: 2.4.7.8.1.1 Waste toxicity (Reference 40 CFR §261.11 and 40 CFR §261.24) 2.4.7.8.1.2 Waste ignitability (Reference 40 CFR §261.21) 2.4.7.8.1.3 Waste corrosivity (Reference 40 CFR §261.22) 2.4.7.8.1.4 Waste reactivity (Reference 40 CFR §261.23) 2.4.7.8.1.5 Hazardous waste from non-specific sources (F-listed) (Reference 40 CFR §261.31) 2.4.7.8.1.6 Discarded commercial products (acutely toxic or P-listed and toxic or U-listed) (Reference 40 CFR §261.33) 2.4.7.8.1.7 Solid Waste (Reference 40 CFR §261.2) 2.4.7.8.1.8 Exclusions (Reference 40 CFR §261.4) 2.4.7.8.2 The Contractor will provide written instructions and training material to ensure all required VHA Laboratory Staffs are trained as needed to properly operate devices with special emphasis to managing and disposing of hazardous waste in accordance with EPA and state requirements. Additionally, the training provided by the Contractor must fulfill Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) requirements for training as applicable to devices. 2.4.7.8.3 The Contractor shall provide a description of all wastes the process or equipment may discharge so that the facility can determine whether the discharge meets Local Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW), State and Federal discharge requirements. At a minimum, the characteristics of ignitability, corrosiveness, reactivity and toxicity as defined in 40 CFR §261 must be determined and documented. Any mercury containing reagents must be identified in any concentrations. All test results shall be provided. All listed chemicals (F, U, K and P) found in 40 CFR §261 shall be provided in product information and their concentrations documented. For those materials with a positive hazardous waste determination, a mechanism for the laboratory to meet local discharge requirements (i.e. mercury, thimerosal and formaldehyde) must be developed and SDS sheets must be provided in advance for review. At a minimum, documentation shall include, but not be limited to the concentration/measures of the elements and parameters listed below and must be included with vendor response: 2.4.7.8.3.1 Barium (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.2 Cadmium (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.3 Chromium (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.4 Copper (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.5 Cyanide (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.6 Lead (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.7 Mercury (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.8 Nickel (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.9 Silver (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.10 Zinc (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.11 Arsenic (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.12 Selenium (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.13 Tin (Total) 2.4.7.8.3.14 pH 2.4.7.8.3.15 Flash point (to higher than 200 F) 2.4.7.8.3.16 BOD; biochemical oxygen demand 2.4.7.8.4 The documentation the Contractor provides will be used to work with the VA Medical Centers to determine whether or not the waste from each device can legally be disposed of via the sewerage system. 2.4.7.8.5 The systems shall be totally self-contained excluding waste and shall not require external water, pressure, or vacuum. The Contractor shall provide a waste stream analysis for each proposed instrument and if any waste requires special handling before disposal. 2.4.7.9 Implementation And Transition Timeframe - The implementation of the requirements described in this Statement of Work shall be completed no later than ninety days after the the Indefinite Delivery contract award date. This ninety day timeline is based on a reasonable attempt of the Contractor to complete all of the necessary implementation requirements within the stated ninety day timeframe. The Contractor shall not be penalized for implementation timelines that extend beyond the ninety day timeframe, if the extension is through no fault of the Contractor and is a result of delays due to the Government. 2.4.7.9.1 Upon award of the Indefinite Delivery contract, the transition period for the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract to have all equipment and peripherals installed and operational shall be from the date of award through ninety days. During this ninety day time period all initial training of VA personnel in the operation and maintenance of said equipment shall also be completed. Training will include two operators per instrument at the Contractor s location for all of the Laboratories shifts. Further, training shall include provisions for additional training at the Contractor s location or at the respective Laboratory Facility as agreed upon by the Contractor and the respective Laboratory facility. During this ninety day time period all initial validations shall be completed to the satisfaction of each of the three Laboratory Directors. 2.4.7.9.2 The Contractor shall provide with their proposal an implementation plan for installation of their new equipment. The Contractor s submitted plan shall not exceed ninety days for the transition of all services under the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract including installation and training of personnel, transition of all testing materials, reagents and supplies, etc., and performance of all correlations and validations. Failure of the Contractor to conform to the transition period shall be considered as sufficient cause to terminate the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract for cause under the Termination for Cause clause of the awarded BPA. 2.4.7.9.3 At the end of ninety days from the award of the Indefinite Delivery contract, the awarded Contractor shall have full and sole responsibility for services under the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract. 2.4.8 Standard and Quality of Performance- This paragraph establishes a standard of quality performance that shall be met before any equipment listed on the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract is accepted by the Government. This also includes replacements, substitute machines, and machines that are added or field modified after a system has demonstrated successful performance. The acceptance period shall begin on the installation date. It shall end when the equipment has met the standard of performance for a period of thirty consecutive calendar days by operating in conformance with the Contractor s technical specification or as specified in the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract at an effectiveness level of 90% or more. 2.4.8.1 In the event that the equipment does not meet the standard of performance during the initial thirty consecutive calendar days, the standard of performance tests shall continue on a day-by-day basis until the standard of performance is met for a total of thirty consecutive days. 2.4.8.2 If the equipment fails to meet the standard of performance after ninety calendar days from the installation date, the user or users may at their option request a replacement or terminate the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract in accordance with the provisions of FAR 52.212-4 entitled Termination for Cause. The Contractor shall receive payment for tests reported during the ninety day acceptance period. 2.4.8.3 Operational use time for performance testing for a system is defined as the accumulated time during which the machine is in actual use. System failure downtime is that period of time when any machine in the system is inoperable due to equipment failure. Downtime for each incident shall start from the time the Government makes a bona fide attempt to contact the Contractor s designated representative at the prearranged contact point until the system or machine(s) is returned to the Government in proper operating condition. 2.4.8.4 During the performance period for a system, a minimum of 100 hours of operational use time with productive or simulated work shall be required as a basis for computation of the effectiveness level. However, in computing the effectiveness level, the actual number of operational use hours shall be used when in excess of the minimum of 100 hours. 2.4.8.5 The Government shall maintain daily records to satisfy the requirements of the Standard and Quality of Performance section and shall notify the Contractor in writing of the date of the first day of the successful period of operation. Operations use time and downtime shall be measured in hours and whole minutes. 2.4.8.6 During the term of the awarded Indefinite Delivery contract, should the repair record of any individual piece of laboratory equipment reflect a downtime of 10% or greater of the normal working days in one calendar month, a determination shall be made by the COR to replace the malfunctioning equipment with new equipment. The responsibility for maintaining the equipment furnished in good condition in accordance with the manufacturer s instructions, shall be solely that of the Contractor. Each instrument provided by the Contractor shall maintain an uptime of 90% in each month of the term of the agreement for the equipment. 2.4.9 Government s Responsibility- The Laboratory Technicians shall perform routine preventive maintenance and cleaning as required in the manufacturer s operation and maintenance instructions. The Laboratory Technicians sha...