The VA's elevator job at its Lyons campus keeps slipping, and that tells you something. Solicitation 36C24226R0097 covers upgrade and modernization repairs on three passenger elevators and one service elevator in Buildings 6 and 53 at the VA New Jersey Health Care System in Lyons. It was posted August 10. An amendment posted September 18 moved the due date to September 28. Another, posted September 30, moved it again, to 1 p.m. on October 15. Both gave the same reason: the VA “is preparing the responses for a large number of Requests for Information.”

Here's the thing. A pile of RFIs means bidders found plenty in the package they couldn't price without asking. When the answers post, most likely as an amendment, that's what you price. If you built your number off the August set and haven't looked since, start over when the responses post.

Now, who can actually prime it. The VA calls this “a SDVOSB set-aside solicitation,” under NAICS 238290, Other Building Equipment Contractors, with a $22 million size standard. And the prime can't be a GC fronting an elevator sub: the solicitation says the offeror “must be a licensed/certified elevator maintenance company” and “must have a full-time elevator mechanic on staff,” with a copy of the license in the proposal.

On top of that, you need the paperwork any VA set-aside asks for. The SBA says firms chasing VA set-asides “must be certified” and there's no self-certification, and you need an active SAM.gov registration to bid as a prime. No dollar estimate is posted.

What to do now: pull the latest amendment to 36C24226R0097 on SAM.gov, watch for the RFI responses, and have the proposal in by 1 p.m. on October 15.

On the record: J039--561A4-25-500 Elevator Upgrade & Modernization Repairs at VA NJ HCS Lyons Buildings 6 & 53, issued by VETERANS AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF / VETERANS AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF. Solicitation 36C24226R0097. Bids are due October 15, 2026. The listing on SAM.gov (Federal): https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/49d5801bfb064b1cbca65168d2921c33/view. Full record on The RFI Wire's board: https://therfiwire.com/rfi/RFI-003124.html.