Water Testing Laboratory Services

The purpose of this procurement is to establish laboratory services in collaboration with an Environmental Protection Agency-approved laboratory to analyze water quality in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act, specifically for the state's public water systems. The analysis requested involves national primary drinking water standards for various analytical groups, including: Microorganisms (Total Coliforms including E.Coli), Disinfection Byproducts (Bromate, Chlorite), Inorganic Chemicals (IOC - Heavy Metals, Sodium, Cyanide, Nitrate/Nitrite), physical/chemical analysis, and Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOC). Any selected laboratory must perform these analyses utilizing the Environmental Protection Agency Standard Methods for Drinking Water. At this time, the analysis for these particular contaminants can be performed by the Mississippi Public Health Laboratory (MPHL) as it is certified to perform these analyses. However, there are instances where the number of analyses required during a given time may exceed the capacity of the MPHL to perform the analysis during that time or MPHL is unable to perform the necessary analysis due equipment issues thus preventing the analysis to be performed in a timely manner. In these situations, the Department must have sufficient laboratory coverage to perform these analyses to ensure continued water system compliance with the standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act. These analyses are required for public water systems in order for them to maintain compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. Under state statute the Department is required to provide water quality analysis services to the state's public water systems. With this statutory requirement placed on the Department, it would appear that an appropriately certified backup laboratory must be secured in the event that MPHL's equipment is compromised or the laboratory as a whole is unable to operate due to extenuating circumstances out of the agency's control. A private laboratory is needed to provide analytical service to specified community and non-transient, non-community public water systems in the state of Mississippi. The services include the analysis of specific analytes or group of analytics including Disinfection Byproducts (Bromate, Chlorite), Inorganic Chemicals (IOC - Heavy Metals, Sodium, Cyanide, Nitrate/Nitrite, Lead and Copper), Fluoride spilt samples and Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOC) utilizing EPA approved drinking water methods. There are approximately 2,200 entry points subject to monitoring with the following breakdown for the contract period on an annual basis of approximately 800 IOC - Heavy Metals, 700 Sodium, 1850 Cyanide, 2,370 Nitrate/Nitrite, 7,681 Lead and Copper, 700 physical/chemical analysis, and 1,070 Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOC). There are several systems that must perform Disinfection By-Products analysis based on their use of certain disinfection/oxidizing chemicals or distribution sampling for Lead and Copper. These include 40 chlorite samples and 40 bromate samples. For Lead and Copper, there are approximately 7,700 distribution samples. The private laboratory must show that all proficiency tests have been passed, provide demonstration of capacity (DOC) for each method, provide last two NELAC or other EPA recognized certifying entity reports (to included certification status). We require samples results to submitted using both of the following - Electronic format is a .CSV spreadsheet that, at a minimum, contains Water System Name, System ID number, and Treatment Facility ID with descriptions, method number, collection date, results, and unit of measure. - Electronic delivery of samples results must be eDWR format, which is XML based, and Scheme validated. Results must also be digitally signed with a modern Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) and public key verified by the MSDH in advance. NOTE: DSA keys can be generated and files uploaded at https://filesign.mswater.us/ The purpose of this contract is to establish laboratory services with an Environmental Protection Agency approved laboratory for Safe Drinking Water Act water quality analysis for the state's public water systems. The analysis requested involves national primary drinking water standards for various analytical groups including: Microorganisms (Total Coliforms including E.Coli), Disinfection Byproducts (Bromate, Chlorite), Inorganic Chemicals (IOC - Heavy Metals, Sodium, Cyanide, Nitrate/Nitrite), and Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOC). Any selected laboratory must perform these analyses utilizing Environmental Protection Agency Standard Methods for Drinking Water. At this time, the analysis for these particular contaminants can be performed by the Mississippi Public Health Laboratory (MPHL) as it is certified to perform these analyses. However, there are instances where the number of analyses required during a given time may exceed the capacity of the MPHL to perform the analysis during that time or MPHL is unable to perform the necessary analysis due equipment issues thus preventing the analysis to be performed in a timely manner. In these situations, the Department must have sufficient laboratory coverage to perform these analyses to ensure continued water system compliance with the standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act. These analyses are required for public water systems in order for them to maintain compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. Under state statute, the Department is required to provide water quality analysis services to the state's public water systems. With this statutory requirement placed on the Department, it would appear that an appropriately certified backup laboratory must be secured in the event that MPHL's equipment is compromised or the laboratory as a whole is unable to operate due to extenuating circumstances out of the agency's control. It is anticipated that limited analysis will be needed for Microorganisms, Nitrate/Nitrate and Lead and Copper will be necessary, but the capability of analysis must be ensured.