TITLE: Federal Occupational Health (FOH) Medical Waste Disposal
I. Introductory
This is a Sources Sought. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this Sources Sought is to obtain a knowledge and information on potential vendor interest for project planning purposes. This project aims to acquire medical waste disposal services through a nationwide, contractor managed mail-back program to support the Program Support Center (PSC), Federal Occupational Health (FOH) under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
II. Project Description
Background
The mission of Federal Occupational Health (FOH) is to improve the health, safety, and productivity of federal employees. FOH Clinical Health Services (CHS) offers a full range of Occupational Health services to other federal agencies and their employees throughout the United States, U.S. Territories, and internationally. FOH provides defined health services as well as consultation to federal customer agencies exclusively through Interagency Agreements (IAAs). FOH is the largest provider of Occupational Health services in the federal government, serving more than 360 federal agencies and reaching 1.8 million federal employees. Agreements are negotiated with federal departments and federal agencies' national headquarters, and/or with their regional/local components. FOH maintains sole responsibility for consulting with federal agencies.
By offering flexible, cost competitive solution, FOH sets the standard for a culture of health and safety across the federal workforce. The quality of services and strength of program effectiveness depends heavily on the expertise and experience of Contractor-managed programs, including medical waste disposal. FOH has procured its medical waste disposal mail-back program via government contract for more than a decade. This contract will support FOH Occupational Health Centers, which are considered to be small generators of medical waste.
Purpose and Objectives
Program Support Center (PSC), Federal Occupational Health (FOH) is conducting market research to prepare for the continued requirement of providing medical waste disposal services through a nationwide contractor managed mail-back program to support Occupational Health Centers (OHCs).
Anticipated Period of Performance
The anticipated single award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) date is Fourth Quarter
fiscal year (FY)25. The anticipated period of performance is five (5) years.
Anticipated Place of Performance
The work will be performed at the Contractor centralized location and designated FOH Clinical Health Services (CHS).
Project Requirements
The contractor will be required to provide all necessary supplies/containers for the collection, return, and destruction of medical waste, including sharps (e.g., needles, syringes, etc.). Required supplies/containers are listed in Attachment A Supply List. The contractor will also be required to provide the following:
- A medical waste treatment facility for proper destruction of returned waste
- Prepaid shipping to and from FOH sites, including pre-printed shipping labels
- Certification of proof of destruction via electronic quarterly report
- Secure web-based, email and/or fax service for simplified ordering of authorized supplies only
- Toll-free customer service line available to FOH authorized personnel for orders and questions
- A database dedicated to the management of the FOH Master Account and OHC sub-accounts based on FOH-provided site name and address. Management includes the opening and closing of sites on FOH-defined dates.
The contractor must administer a program capable of supporting any FOH location within the 50 U.S. States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. All services provided shall be compliant with all federal, state, and municipal laws and regulations as they apply to shipping, handling, and the disposal of medical waste. These regulating agencies include but are not limited to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the United States Postal Service (USPS).
Medical Waste Treatment Facility
At the time of contract award the contractor shall have available or provide a medical waste treatment facility for the disposal of the medical waste. This medical waste treatment facility must meet all federal, state, and municipal laws and regulations that apply to the receiving and disposal of medical waste through a mail-back service throughout the life of the contract.
At the time of contract award and annually, the contractor shall provide the FOH Contracting Officer Representative (COR) copies of current licensures, certifications, and other applicable documentation that demonstrates that the medical waste treatment facility is in compliance with all federal, state, and municipal laws and regulations that apply to the receiving and disposal of medical waste through a mail-back service.
Supplies
The contractor shall provide all supplies specified in Attachment A Supply List. This list includes containers of various sizes, replacement return shipping boxes, wall mount brackets, and locking wall mount brackets. All containers designated for sharps disposal must have a restrictive opening to prevent easy removal or loss of sharps. The contractor shall provide the necessary supplies and a prepaid shipping label to return used/full containers to the contractor. The unit price for each supply item shall include costs for the container, shipping boxes, shipping and handling to/from all FOH locations nationwide and destruction.
At the time of contract award and annually, the contractor shall provide documentation to the COR confirming that all supplies provided are compliant with all federal, state, and municipal laws and regulations as they apply to shipping, handling, and the disposal of medical waste via a mail-back program.
Upon contract award, the contractor shall provide access to an easy to use secure web based, email and/or fax method for ordering and reordering of supplies by individual sites. The supplies must be received by the requesting OHC within three (3) business days of placing the order. An auto reorder feature shall be available to all sites on a case-by-case basis use of this feature must be authorized by the COR. All orders for replacement return shipping boxes and wall mount brackets must be pre-approved by the COR.
Customer Service and Training
The contractor will provide live web-based training on the proper use of the program to the COR and authorized FOH personnel within ten (10) business days of contract award.
At contract award the contractor will provide a toll free customer service line that has coverage from 8:00 AM 8:00 PM Eastern Time to place orders and address questions.
Account Management and Reporting
The contractor shall maintain a single FOH Master Account and within ten (10) business days of contract award shall provide a clear method and instructions for immediate creation of individual sub-accounts for each FOH OHC requiring medical waste disposal services.
The contractor will provide a detailed monthly tracking report to the COR. At a minimum, this tracking report ill include the following information:
- Order request date
- Order location (i.e., full address details) and FOH site code (i.e., a 3-character code provided by FOH)
- Order item ID number and quantities
- A general description of each order item
- Item unit prices
- Order delivery date
- Shipping details/tracking
On a quarterly basis, the contractor shall provide documentation to the COR listing all medical waste received and destroyed. An electronic based manifest tracking program to track and certify transportation and disposal of the medical waste generated by FOH is required.
Submission Instructions
1. Please respond to questions in their entirety regarding the requirement. Refer to the attached Excel copy Federal Occupational Health (FOH) Medical Waste Disposal
Questions.
2. Response Instructions
Potential vendors shall be capable of furnishing all labor, materials, and equipment required to meet the Project Requirements. Please provide supporting response to include the below information.
Possible solutions and approaches that may currently exist in the marketplace, and information regarding innovative ideas or concepts.
a) Experience Information: (a) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training; (b) current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; (c) prior completed projects of similar nature in the past three (3) years; (d) corporate experience and management capability; and (e) examples in the last 3 years of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information.
Note: Please include the Customer name; Customer's Point of Contact email address; Total Contract Value; Period of Performance; Brief description of services; Past Performance Questionnaires or Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) reports if available.
b) Company's Information: Unique Entity ID (UEI) number, Cage Number, company's name, address, point of contact (name, email address and phone number), and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc) pursuant to the applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.
Points of Contact
Only electronic responses will be accepted. The response shall be limited to 10 double-spaced pages total. The pages will have 1-inch margins, and using not less than 12-point font, Times New Roman. Tables and figures can be Times New Roman and no smaller than 9-point font. The total number of tables and figures shall be limited to 12. The Cover Letter, Tables of Contents, and Technical Appendix are not included in the page count. Please send responses via email to the primary point of contact, Angeleana Torres via email to angeleana.torres@hhs.gov with the subject line Sources Sought Federal Occupational Health (FOH) Medical Waste Disposal no later than Monday, May 19, 2025 12:00 PM Eastern Time. Earlier submission is highly encouraged. The Government reserves the right to not accept responses after the due date.
Questions regarding the contents of this Sources Sought shall be submitted via email to: angeleana.torres@hhs.gov with the subject line Sources Sought Questions- Federal Occupational Health (FOH) Medical Waste Disposal no later than Wednesday, May 5, 2025 9:00 AM Eastern Time. Questions should be emailed as a separate file in a Word compatible format. Phone calls will not be accepted. The Government reserves the right to respond to some, all, or none of the questions that will be submitted. The Government will not consider any questions received after the due date/time stated above.
Note: Office of Acquisition Management Services (OAMS) wants to ensure transparency of this process and ensure interested companies are provided the same information. If your company has a question regarding this Sources Sought Notice, the Government will post your company's questions, along with the Government's response, in Sam.gov. (Note: Your company's name will not be disclosed to the public).
III. Disclaimer and Important Notes
This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by the respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed. Information provided will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives available for the potential requirement and may lead to the development of a solicitation. Respondent are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted.
Any solicitation resulting from the analysis of information obtained will be announced to the public in SAM in accordance with FAR Part 5. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate to responses to a solicitation.
Confidentiality
No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).
