Legionella Water Testing (Base Plus Four)

Description of Services: One Firm Fixed Price contract will be awarded for the Alaska VA Healthcare System for a contractor to provide Legionella Water Testing Services. The Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the service herein. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the contractor, who in turn is responsible to the Government.

A total of 80 water samples will be collected by VHA staff at selected sites from the Alaska VA Healthcare System on a quarterly basis. The laboratory will process the water samples for Legionella must be able to test and analyze samples for the presence of Legionella spp., by using semi-selective culture media using procedures specific to the cultivation and detection of Legionella spp (Rapid testing methods, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and direct fluorescent antibody (DFA), are not recommended for the detection of Legionella in environmental water samples).

The testing laboratory shall meet the requirements of Appendix C, paragraph 2b of VHA Directive 1061 Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Legionella Disease and Scald Injury from Potable Water Distribution Systems found at the following website: http://www.va.gov/vhapublications/publications.cfm?pub=1

VA Directive requires all the water samples for legionella to be analyzed by a laboratory which is certified under U.S. Center for Disease Control and Data Registry (CDC) Environmental Legionella Isolation Technique Evaluation (ELITE) program or the Public Health England (PHE) Legionella External Quality Assessment (EQA) scheme as proficient at performing the culture of Legionella from environmental samples.

The laboratory must also have environmental microbiology accreditation by a recognized accrediting program. The testing laboratory shall provide specific sampling, preservation, handling procedures, and chain-of-custody protocols to be followed for the samples. The testing laboratory shall provide quantitative Legionella reports containing the following report information: Legionella pneumophila serotype 1, Legionella pneumophila serotype 2-14, and other Legionella species.

Sterile sample bottles with sodium thiosulfate added for de-chlorination of water shall be received from the laboratory the first week of each quarter. The VA will collect samples and send them to the laboratory for testing along with a chain of custody. The laboratory will send back completed chain of custody, any findings and results of analysis. The laboratory will input all chain of custody data along with the electronic legionella analyses for electronic input into the VA database: electronic data submit must be compatible with VA database. Shipping containers, chain-of-custody, shipping to the laboratory, and electronic data submittal and all other sampling materials shall be included in the price.