J065--Anesthesia Unit Equipment Maintenance Services

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY The purpose of this Sources Sought is to conduct market research to procure to implement a Full Service agreement on 16 GE/OHMEDA Anesthesia units and 16 compact airway monitors located at the Omaha VA, along with trace gas testing. Service agreement must provide a minimum of 2 scheduled preventive maintenance (PM) inspections to include parts replacement as described in the original manufacturer s service manual for the covered model. Base coverage period from 1 Nov 2026-31 Oct 2027, with 4 option years. Work includes, but is not limited to, periodically performing preventive maintenance, thoroughly inspecting and testing the GE Ohmeda anesthesia units at Omaha, making adjustments to, effecting repairs and replacing parts and keeping existing system software current with manufacturers recommendations. Semi-annual PMs are due in Nov and May of each year. PMs should normally be scheduled off-hours or as convenient to the surgery/anesthesia managers at the Omaha VA, so as not to interrupt patient care. Contractor must have access to all GE Healthcare maintenance bulletins and maintain the unit to meet Food and Drug Administration s approval under 510K. The medical equipment covered by this contract may contain electronic patient health information (EPHI). The vendor shall not remove/copy/delete any of the EPHI. If a computer hard drive needs to be replaced, the old hard drive must be turned-in to biomedical engineering for destruction. The vendor will not receive compensation for the hard drive. This notice serves to survey the market to ascertain whether-or-not sources are capable of providing the requested supply/services. This notice also allows potential contractors/vendors to submit a non-binding statement of interest and documentation demonstrating their capability. Please review the DRAFT Statement of Work (SOW) to compare your supply/service to what is requested. Complete the line-items below and submit any documentation supporting your product/service for consideration. Network Contracting Office 23 (NCO 23) is requesting responses from qualified business concerns; the qualifying NAICS code for this effort is 811210 - Electronic and Precision Equipment Repair and Maintenance. The Small Business Administration (SBA) Size Standard for this request is $34M.  This Sources Sought is to gain knowledge of potential qualified sources and their size classification(s) (Service Disabled/Veteran Owned Small Business (SD/VOSB), Hub zone, 8(a), small, small disadvantaged, woman owned small business, or large business) relative to NAICS 332311. Responses to this notice, will be used by the Government to make appropriate acquisition decisions. After review of the responses to this notice, a solicitation announcement may be published. Responses to this notice are not considered adequate responses to any corresponding solicitation announcement. All interested offerors are requested to respond to this notice but are required to respond to the official solicitation announcement in order to be awarded the contract.  INSTRUCTIONS:   RESPONSES MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:  Primary Information:  Company Name:   Point of Contact (POC) name:  Email address:  Phone number: Unique Entity ID No. listed in the System of Awards Management (SAM): Business Size: (Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB), Small Business Other, Small Business, or Large Business) for the NAICS code 811210.  Please indicate whether you hold a GSA Federal-Supply-Schedule or Indefinite Delivery/Indefinitely Quantity (IDIQ) contract that covers this type of request. If so, please provide the Schedule contract number. Must have an Authorized Distributor Letter issued from the manufacture if not the manufacture.  The attached SOW is a draft and is NOT finalized. If any portions are unclear, prohibited, and/or you are unsure about the draft description of the requirement please list your comments and/or concerns in your response so they can be addressed.   Response is due by 09/01/2026, at 1300 Central Standard Time. Please submit e-mail responses to Ms. Mariah Delaney, Contract Specialist, at email address: mariah.delaney-mack@va.gov. Please place Anesthesia Unit Equipment Maintenance Services in the subject line of your email. This notice is to assist the Department of Veterans Affairs in determining qualified sources only.   NOTES: Issuance of this notice does not constitute any obligation whatsoever on the part of the Government to procure these supplies and/or services, or to issue a solicitation, nor to notify respondents of the results of this notice. No solicitation documents exists at this time; however, in the event the acquisition strategy demonstrates that GSA is a viable option for procuring a solution, the RFQ shall be posted to GSA eBuy where only those firms who currently hold a GSA Schedule with the applicable SIN will be able to respond. The Department of Veterans Affairs is neither seeking quotes nor accepting unsolicited quotes, and responses to this notice cannot be accepted as offers. Any information the vendor considers proprietary should be clearly marked as such. The U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this Sources Sought notice. DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT 1. Scope of Work: 1.1. The contractor will furnish all labor, transportation, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts, test equipment, tools, and expertise necessary to implement a Full Service agreement on 16 GE/OHMEDA Anesthesia units and 16 compact airway monitors located at the Omaha VA, along with trace gas testing. Service agreement must provide a minimum of 2 scheduled preventive maintenance (PM) inspections to include parts replacement as described in the original manufacturer s service manual for the covered model. Base coverage period from 1 Nov 2026-31 Oct 2027, with 4 option years. 1.2. Work includes, but is not limited to, periodically performing preventive maintenance, thoroughly inspecting and testing the GE Ohmeda anesthesia units at Omaha, making adjustments to, effecting repairs and replacing parts and keeping existing system software current with manufacturers recommendations. Semi-annual PMs are due in Nov and May of each year. PMs should normally be scheduled off-hours or as convenient to the surgery/anesthesia managers at the Omaha VA, so as not to interrupt patient care. Contractor must have access to all GE Healthcare maintenance bulletins and maintain the unit to meet Food and Drug Administration s approval under 510K. 1.3. The medical equipment covered by this contract may contain electronic patient health information (EPHI). The vendor shall not remove/copy/delete any of the EPHI. If a computer hard drive needs to be replaced, the old hard drive must be turned-in to biomedical engineering for destruction. The vendor will not receive compensation for the hard drive. 1.4. Normal service requirements under this contract consist of scheduled preventive maintenance inspections, adjustments and repairs, as specified herein, along with scheduled contractor maintenance in response to service calls made by VA Omaha to the contractor due to a partial or complete system or subsystem failure which requires the contractor to respond within a specified time frame to make needed repairs/adjustments to the system. Software updates shall be included and consist of any error correction or modification that maintains existing software features and functionality and are made generally available to GE Healthcare s customer installed base. Provide on-site support within twenty-four (24) hours of notification by Customer or detection of any error or malfunction. Vendor shall perform testing at the final path to patient after any adjustment, modification, or repair and document it on the service report with wording such as tested, meets manufacturer s specifications, ready for patient use. . 1.5. Within 24 hours of award of contract, the contractor shall provide, in writing to the Contracting Officer the name, title, address, and telephone number of the contractor s representative. The contractor shall provide a single point of contact for all maintenance support required under this contract. The contractor will also provide a list of parts to keep on hand for the equipment. When this individual is on leave of any kind, the contractor shall provide an alternate point of contact. 2. Equipment: 2.1. The equipment to be serviced/maintained includes: GE HEALTHCARE ANESTHESIA UNITS EQUIPMENT SERIAL # AESTIVA MRI AMTT02022 AISYS CS2 APWW01439 AISYS CS2 APWZ01651 AISYS CS2 APWZ01652 AISYS CS2 APWZ01849 AISYS CS2 APWZ01850 AISYS CS2 APWZ01851 AISYS CS2 APWZ02697 AISYS CS2 APWZ02698 AISYS CS2 APWZ02699 AISYS CS2 APWZ02700 AISYS CS2 APWZ02701 AISYS CS2 APWZ02702 AISYS CS2 APWZ02703 AISYS CS2 APWZ02704 AISYS CS2 APWZ02705 AISYS CS2 APWZ02706 E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV17170108HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20190224HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20200002HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20220050HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20220084HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20220191HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20270064HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20310129HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20310180HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20310181HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20320123HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20320143HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20320179HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20320182HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20320184HA E-SCAIO-00, Gas Module SGV20330043HA 3. Definitions/Acronyms: 3.1. Omaha VA: 4101 Woolworth Ave, Omaha NE 68105 (ph 402.995.3040) 3.2. CO Contracting Officer, VA Omaha/Purchasing and Contracting Division, Bldg 6, Room 103, telephone number 402 346-8800 ext 4505. 3.3. COR Contracting Officer s Representative. 3.4. IAW In Accordance With 3.5. PM Preventive Maintenance Inspection. Services which are periodic in nature and are required to maintain the equipment in such condition that it may be operated in accordance with its intended design and functional capacity with minimal incidence of malfunction or inoperative conditions. 3.6. FSE Field Service Engineer. A person who is authorized by the contractor 3.7. ESR Vendor Engineering Service Report. A documentation of the services rendered for each incidence of work performance under the terms and conditions of the contract. 3.8. Acceptance Signature Signature of VA Omaha employee who indicates FSE demonstrated service conclusion/status and user has accepted work as complete/pending as stated in ESR. 3.9. Authorization Signature COR s signature; indicates COR accepts work status as stated in ESR. 3.10. OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 3.12. BESS Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist. VA employee responsible vendor coordination of maintenance for VA owned medical equipment. 4. Conformance Standards: 4.1. Contract service shall ensure that the equipment/system functions in conformance with the latest published edition of NFPA-99, OSHA, manufacturer s Network Equipment/System upgrades/updates shall be installed in strict accordance with manufacturer s specifications and must operate within manufacturer s specifications and must operate within manufacturer s specified parameters. 5. Hours of Coverage: The contractor will respond by phone at no additional charge, within the normal business hours (7:00 AM to 7:00 PM (CST) M-F). 5.2. All scheduled service/repairs shall be performed during these normal hours of coverage unless one of the following conditions exist: 5.2.1 The contractor wishes to perform such maintenance at a time that is outside of the normal hours of coverage, at no additional cost to the Government, and the contractor submits a request to the COR prior to the proposed start of the maintenance and the request is approved by the COR before work is begun. 5.2.1.1 The COR directs that the scheduled maintenance be performed at a time that is outside the normal hours of coverage and the additional cost is recommended by the COR and authorized by the CO. 5.3. Scheduled maintenance shall be performed in accordance at the manufacturer s recommended intervals and should be scheduled/completed during the month the VA requests. Changes in this periodicity will occur only when approval is granted by the COR. 5.4. Scheduling for unscheduled maintenance requirements outside of normal hours shall be coordinated with and require the approval of the COR. 5.6. Federal holidays observed by VA Omaha are: New Years Day Labor Day Juneteenth Martin Luther King Day Columbus Day President s Day Veteran s Day Memorial Day Thanksgiving Day Independence Day Christmas Day and any other day specifically designated by the President of the United States. 6. Unscheduled Maintenance: 6.1. Contractor shall maintain the equipment in accordance with Conformance Standards. 6.2. The contractor shall provide repair service, which may consist of calibration, cleaning, oiling, adjusting, replacing parts, and installing parts. 6.3. All parts will be covered in this agreement. 6.4. The Contracting Officer, COR and designated Alternate have the authority to approve/request a service call from the contractor. 6.5. Response time: 6.5.1. Contractor s FSE shall respond by phone during normal business hours. 6.5.2. If the problem cannot be corrected by phone or by remote diagnostics the contractor will dispatch a technician to arrive not later than the next business day (24hrs) after the call is placed. 7. Scheduled Maintenance: 7.1. Contractor shall perform PM service to ensure that equipment listed in the schedule performs in accordance with the manufacturers recommendations as published in the Manufacturer s Maintenance Manuals for the system. 7.2. Contractor shall provide and utilize procedures and checklists with worksheet originals indicating work performed and actual values obtained (as applicable) provided to the COR at the completion of the PM. 7.3. PM services shall include, but need not be limited to, the following: 7.3.1. Cleaning of equipment to include filters, gearing, and other parts. 7.3.2. Reviewing operating system software diagnostics to ensure that the system is operating as specified by the manufacturer s specifications. 7.3.3. Calibrating and lubricating the equipment. 7.3.4. Performing remedial maintenance of non-emergent nature. 7.3.5. Performing electrical safety inspection IAW NFPA 99. 8. Parts: 8.1 The Contractor will provide all replacement parts needed to keep the system in operating condition as originally designed by the manufacturer. 8.2 Parts may be repaired or replaced, as the contractor deems appropriate. No used parts will be used to repair this equipment. 9. Service Manuals: 9.1. VA will not provide service manuals of service diagnostic software to the contractor. The contractor shall obtain, have on file, and make available to its FSEs all operational and technical documentation, (such as: operational and service manuals, schematics, and parts list), which are necessary the meet the performance requirements of this contract. 9.2. The location and listing of the service data manuals, by name, and/or the manuals themselves shall be provided to the Contracting Officer upon request. 10. Documentation/Reports: 10.1. Documentation shall include detailed descriptions of the scheduled and unscheduled maintenance procedures performed, including replaced parts and prices required to maintain the equipment in accordance with performance requirements. 10.2. Any additional charges claimed will be approved by the CO via the COR before service is completed. 11. Reporting Requirements: 11.1. Upon arrival at VA Omaha the contractor shall be required to log in with Biomed in room B556 in Omaha, room C09 in Grand Island or room 7-3-LN in Lincoln. This log in is mandatory as well as wearing the contractor badge issued upon log in. Contractor s FSE(s) shall wear visible identification at all times while on the premises of the VA. Identification shall include, as a minimum, the employee s name, position, and the contractor s trade name. In addition, the contractor shall submit fingerprints through the VA police for issuance of a VA identification badge that shall be worn at all time while working at a VA facility. 11.2. When service is completed, the FSE shall document services rendered on a legible ESR(s) and submit to the BESS who set-up the service. The ESR can be submitted when logging out with Biomed, via an internet web site or e-mail. ESRs should be submitted not later than 5 business days after service is complete. Preferred method of delivery is via email to NWIHCSBiomedicalStaff@va.gov 11.4. In those cases when the Biomed office is closed, contractor personnel will log in and/or out via the VA police and after-hours service shall be prearranged with the BESS. 12. Services Beyond the Contract Scope: 12.1. Contractor shall immediately, but not later than 24 consecutive hours after discovery, notify the CO and COR, (in writing), of the existence of the development of any defects in, or repairs required to, the scheduled equipment which the contractor considers he/she is not responsible for under the terms of the contract. 12.2. Contactor shall furnish the COR with a written estimate of the cost to make necessary repairs. 13. Condition of Equipment: 13.1. The contractor accepts responsibility for the equipment described in as is condition. 13.2. Failure to inspect the equipment prior to contract award shall not relieve the contractor from performance of the requirements of this contract. 14. Test Equipment: 14.1. Test equipment calibration shall be traceable to National Institutes of Standard Technology standards and teste equipment used for calibration shall be listed on service report by Manufacturer, Model, Serial Number, and date due calibration. 15. Identification, Parking, Smoking, and VA Regulations: 15.1. Contractor s FSE(s) shall wear visible identification at all times while on the premises of the VA. Identification shall include, as a minimum, the employee s name, position, and the contractor s trade name. 15.2. It is the responsibility of the contractor to park in the appropriate designated parking areas. Information on parking is available from VA Police Service. VA will not invalidate or make reimbursement for parking violations of the contractor under any conditions. 15.3. Smoking is prohibited inside all VA buildings. 15.4. Possession of weapons is prohibited. Enclosed containers, including tool kits, shall be subject to search. 15.5. Violations of VA regulations may result in citation answerable in the United States (Federal) District Court, not a local district, state or municipal court. 16. Contractor Qualifications: 16.1. Contractor must have full time staff that is fully qualified FSE and a fully qualified FSE who will serve as the backup for the equipment identified in this solicitation. 16.2. Fully qualified is based upon training and on experience in the field. For training, the FSE(s) has successfully completed a formalized training program for the equipment identified in this solicitation as required by the manufacturer. 16.3. Contractor must provide, upon request, evidence of appropriate training of any FSE(s) providing services under terms of the contract. Subcontracting of any ensuing award of this solicitation will not be allowed without written permission of the Contracting Officer. Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan Performance Objective SOW Para Performance Threshold Unscheduled Maintenance 6.1 No more than ONE 1 COR write-up per quarter. Repeat complaints/ discrepancies for the same area/ facility will result in an unacceptable rating for the month. Scheduled Maintenance 7.1 No more than 1 COR write-up per quarter. Repeat complaints/ discrepancies for the same area/ facility will result in an unacceptable rating for the month. Reporting Requirements 11.2 No more than 1 COR write-up per quarter. Repeat complaints/ discrepancies for the same area/ facility will result in an unacceptable rating for the month. Test Equipment 14.1 No more than 1 COR write-up per quarter. Repeat complaints/ discrepancies for the same area/ facility will result in an unacceptable rating for the month. VA INFORMATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEM SECURITY/PRIVACY LANGUAGE FOR INCLUSION INTO CONTRACTS GENERAL Contractors, contractor personnel, subcontractors, and subcontractor personnel shall be subject to the same Federal laws, regulations, standards, and VA Directives and Handbooks as VA and VA personnel regarding information and information system security. ACCESS TO VA INFORMATION AND VA INFORMATION SYSTEMS A contractor/subcontrator shall request logical (technical) or physical access to VA information and VA information systems for their employees, subcontractors, and affiliates only to the extent necessary to perform the services specified in the contract, agreement, or task order. All contractors, subcontractors, and third-party servicers and associates working with VA information are subject to the same investigative requirements as those of VA appointees or employees who have access to the same types of information. The level and process of background security investigations for contractors must be in accordance with VA Directive and Handbook 0710, Personnel Suitability and Security Program. The Office for Operations, Security, and Preparedness is responsible for these policies and procedures. Contract personnel who require access to national security programs must have a valid security clearance. National Industrial Security Program (NISP) was established by Executive Order 12829 to ensure that cleared U.S. defense industry contract personnel safeguard the classified information in their possession while performing work on contracts, programs, bids, or research and development efforts. The Department of Veterans Affairs does not have a Memorandum of Agreement with Defense Security Service (DSS). Verification of a Security Clearance must be processed through the Special Security Officer located in the Planning and National Security Service within the Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness. Custom software development and outsourced operations must be located in the U.S. to the maximum extent practical. If such services are proposed to be performed abroad and are not disallowed by other VA policy or mandates, the contractor/subcontractor must state where all non-U.S. services are provided and detail a security plan, deemed to be acceptable by VA, specifically to address mitigation of the resulting problems of communication, control, data protection, and so forth. Location within the U.S. may be an evaluation factor. The contractor or subcontractor must notify the Contracting Officer immediately when an employee working on a VA system or with access to VA information is reassigned or leaves the contractor or subcontractor s employ. The Contracting Officer must also be notified immediately by the contractor or subcontractor prior to an unfriendly termination. VA INFORMATION CUSTODIAL LANGUAGE Information made available to the contractor or subcontractor by VA for the performance or administration of this contract or information developed by the contractor/subcontractor in performance or administration of the contract shall be used only for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without the prior written agreement of the VA. This clause expressly limits the contractor/subcontractor's rights to use data as described in Rights in Data - General, FAR 52.227-14(d) (1). VA information should not be co-mingled, if possible, with any other data on the contractors/subcontractor s information systems or media storage systems in order to ensure VA requirements related to data protection and media sanitization can be met. If co-mingling must be allowed to meet the requirements of the business need, the contractor must ensure that VA s information is returned to the VA or destroyed in accordance with VA s sanitization requirements. VA reserves the right to conduct on site inspections of contractor and subcontractor IT resources to ensure data security controls, separation of data and job duties, and destruction/media sanitization procedures are in compliance with VA directive requirements. Prior to termination or completion of this contract, contractor/subcontractor must not destroy information received from VA, or gathered/created by the contractor in the course of performing this contract without prior written approval by the VA. Any data destruction done on behalf of VA by a contractor/subcontractor must be done in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requirements as outlined in VA Directive 6300, Records and Information Management and its Handbook 6300.1 Records Management Procedures, applicable VA Records Control Schedules, and VA Handbook 6500.1, Electronic Media Sanitization. Self-certification by the contractor that the data destruction requirements above have been met must be sent to the VA Contracting Officer within 30 days of termination of the contract. The contractor/subcontractor must receive, gather, store, back up, maintain, use, disclose and dispose of VA information only in compliance with the terms of the contract and applicable Federal and VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies. If Federal or VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies become applicable to the VA information or information systems after execution of the contract, or if NIST issues or updates applicable FIPS or Special Publications (SP) after execution of this contract, the parties agree to negotiate in good faith to implement the information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies in this contract. The contractor/subcontractor shall not make copies of VA information except as authorized and necessary to perform the terms of the agreement or to preserve electronic information stored on contractor/subcontractor electronic storage media for restoration in case any electronic equipment or data used by the contractor/subcontractor needs to be restored to an operating state. If copies are made for restoration purposes, after the restoration is complete, the copies must be appropriately destroyed. If VA determines that the contractor has violated any of the information confidentiality, privacy, and security provisions of the contract, it shall be sufficient grounds for VA to withhold payment to the contractor or third party or terminate the contract for default or terminate for cause under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12. If a VHA contract is terminated for cause, the associated BAA must also be terminated and appropriate actions taken in accordance with VHA Handbook 1600.01, Business Associate Agreements. Absent an agreement to use or disclose protected health information, there is no business associate relationship. The contractor/subcontractor must store, transport, or transmit VA sensitive information in an encrypted form, using VA-approved encryption tools that are, at a minimum, FIPS 140-2 validated. The contractor/subcontractor s firewall and Web services security controls, if applicable, shall meet or exceed VA s minimum requirements. VA Configuration Guidelines are available upon request. Except for uses and disclosures of VA information authorized by this contract for performance of the contract, the contractor/subcontractor may use and disclose VA information only in two other situations: (i) in response to a qualifying order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or (ii) with VA s prior written approval. The contractor/subcontractor must refer all requests for, demands for production of, or inquiries about, VA information and information systems to the VA contracting officer for response. Notwithstanding the provision above, the contractor/subcontractor shall not release VA records protected by Title 38 U.S.C. 5705, confidentiality of medical quality assurance records and/or Title 38 U.S.C. 7332, confidentiality of certain health records pertaining to drug addiction, sickle cell anemia, alcoholism or alcohol abuse, or infection with human immunodeficiency virus. If the contractor/subcontractor is in receipt of a court order or other requests for the above-mentioned information, that contractor/subcontractor shall immediately refer such court orders or other requests to the VA contracting officer for response. For service that involves the storage, generating, transmitting, or exchanging of VA sensitive information but does not require C&A or an MOU-ISA for system interconnection, the contractor/subcontractor must complete a Contractor Security Control Assessment (CSCA) on a yearly basis and provide it to the COTR. INFORMATION SYSTEM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT Information systems that are designed or developed for or on behalf of VA at non-VA facilities shall comply with all VA directives developed in accordance with FISMA, HIPAA, NIST, and related VA security and privacy control requirements for Federal information systems. This includes standards for the protection of electronic PHI, outlined in 45 C.F.R. Part 164, Subpart C, information and system security categorization level designations in accordance with FIPS 199 and FIPS 200 with implementation of all baseline security controls commensurate with the FIPS 199 system security categorization (reference Appendix D of VA Handbook 6500, VA Information Security Program). During the development cycle a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) must be completed, provided to the COTR, and approved by the VA Privacy Service in accordance with Directive 6507, VA Privacy Impact Assessment. The contractor/subcontractor shall certify to the COTR that applications are fully functional and operate correctly as intended on systems using the VA Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC), and the common security configuration guidelines provided by NIST or the VA. This includes Internet Explorer 7 configured to operate on Windows XP and Vista (in Protected Mode on Vista) and future versions, as required. The standard installation, operation, maintenance, updating, and patching of software shall not alter the configuration settings from the VA approved and FDCC configuration. Information technology staff must also use the Windows Installer Service for installation to the default program files directory and silently install and uninstall. Applications designed for normal end users shall run in the standard user context without elevated system administration privileges. The security controls must be designed, developed, approved by VA, and implemented in accordance with the provisions of VA security system development life cycle as outlined in NIST Special Publication 800-37, Guide for Applying the Risk Management Framework to Federal Information Systems, VA Handbook 6500, Information Security Program and VA Handbook 6500.5, Incorporating Security and Privacy in System Development Lifecycle. The contractor/subcontractor is required to design, develop, or operate a System of Records Notice (SOR) on individuals to accomplish an agency function subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, (as amended), Public Law 93-579, December 31, 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) and applicable agency regulations. Violation of the Privacy Act may involve the imposition of criminal and civil penalties. The contractor/subcontractor agrees to: Comply with the Privacy Act of 1974 (the Act) and the agency rules and regulations issued under the Act in the design, development, or operation of any system of records on individuals to accomplish an agency function when the contract specifically identifies: The Systems of Records (SOR); and The design,...