FY26 Recompete of the Electro-Therapeutic Modalities for Pain Management (ETMPM) - Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) Procurement Programview on SAM.gov

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Enterprise Procurement Office (EPO), is releasing an updated edition of the FY26 Recompete Electro‑Therapeutic Modalities for Pain Management (ETMPM) & Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) Program – Consolidated Request for Information (RFI) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). This update incorporates all questions received during the January 20, 2026 and June 25, 2026, RFI cycles, inputs submitted during the FY26 Denver Logistics Center (DLS) Industry Days and newly received industry inquiries submitted during August–September 2026. These updated FAQs continue to support uniform, transparent communication with industry during the market research and presolicitation phases, and they remain strictly informational in accordance with FAR 15.201(e). They do not establish proposal requirements, do not constitute Government direction, and do not provide a competitive advantage to any party. Additionally, the VA is releasing a targeted, Request for Information (RFI). This posting continues the VA's commitment to transparent, enterprise‑wide communication throughout the market research and presolicitation phases of this national procurement. These exchanges remain strictly informational and are conducted in accordance with FAR 15.201(e); no guidance herein constitutes direction, evaluation criteria, or binding requirements. Final, enforceable requirements will be issued exclusively in the solicitation on SAM.gov. Acknowledging Industry RFI Fatigue: The VA recognizes that industry partners have already responded to two (2) extensive RFI cycles on January 20, 2026, and June 25, 2026, and that many vendors have expressed RFI fatigue. This feedback is both heard and valid. However, the FY26 ETMPM–TENS Recompete is a national, enterprise‑wide, multi-year, multi-modality procurement, spanning: Five distinct device categories (TENS, IFC, SWD Thermal, SWD Non‑Thermal, Neuromodulation); Twenty‑plus accessory categories (electrodes, cables, gels/sprays, chargers, garment‑based solutions); CLIN‑level therapeutic devices and SLIN‑level consumables; Full compliance with the Buy American Act (BAA) and Trade Agreements Act (TAA) for every item offered; Distribution across 168 VA Medical Centers and 1,000+ outpatient clinics nationwide. Because the procurement is so structurally complex and because the VA uncovered significant gaps and inconsistencies in early RFI submissions, the VA must now issue another RFI focused exclusively on Country‑of‑Origin (COO) identification at the CLIN and SLIN level. This step is not repetitive; it resolves the final missing data required to complete the solicitation package. Why This Third RFI Is Necessary (Based on Prior RFI Analysis): Analysis of responses to the first two RFIs revealed several industry‑wide issues: 1. COO data was incomplete or inconsistent across submissions: Some vendors provided COO at the corporate level, others only at the…