Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) RFP

Through the issuance of this RFP, Pittsburgh Water is interested in soliciting proposals from qualified Firms that are financially and technically qualified to implement a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS). Services should be provided by an experienced team who have successfully implemented LIMS at other municipalities with similar requirements for the functionality in scope. [...]

Pittsburgh Water currently utilizes a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) that has been in use for nearly a decade and was not built to support modern integration requirements or evolving regulatory reporting obligations. The Element v6 LIMS solution, now owned by Clinisys, will reach end-of-support on June 30, 2027. [...] To ensure there are uninterrupted laboratory operations and maintained compliance with state and federal reporting requirements, Pittsburgh Water plans to procure and implement a replacement LIMS solution prior to the end of the support date.

In general, the Firm will be expected to provide the following scope of services:

• Deliver a LIMS solution that is compatible with Pittsburgh Water’s IT environment and will meet or exceed the requirements listed in the supporting RFP attachments.
• Support complete sample lifecycle management from intake to completion.
• Meet regulatory requirements under PA Code Chapter 252 for recordkeeping, reporting, chain-of-custody, and QC documentation.
• Provide secure, auditable workflows with electronic signatures, immutable logs, and Azure AD SSO/MFA capability.
• Improve laboratory productivity, scheduling, and turnaround time (TAT) adherence.
• Support offline data entry and field synchronization.
• Provide integration capability to interface LIMS with existing systems: Online calibration meters (chlorine, turbidity), Laboratory instruments (ICP-MS, Ion Chromatograph, Atomic Absorption Spectrograph), Trimble Unity Maintain, SCADA (Rockwell Automation FactoryTalk), and PowerBI are preferred but not required.
• Training for identified end users in the Laboratory

Vendor responsibilities include system design/configurations, workflow and report set up, integrations, quality assurance/validation testing, training, and post go-live support.

**Submission method:** Proposals will be received electronically via the Procurement software tool. Proposals shall not be accepted in person, by U.S. Mail, by private courier service, via oral or e-mail communication, telephone or fax transmission.

Late proposals will not be accepted.

This Contract will be awarded to the highest ranked Bidder, based on the evaluation criteria described herein. Evaluation points: Firm Qualifications & References 10; Project Team 5; Project Approach and Scope of Work 10; Project Schedule 20; Project Requirements 30; Schedule of Prices 15; Supplier Diversity Program-Participation Plan 10; Total 100. Firms with an office located in Pittsburgh are given preference.

The term of this Agreement shall commence upon Pittsburgh Water's issuance of a Notice to Proceed and shall continue for five (5) years from the date of the issuance of the Notice to Proceed (the “Term”).

All proposals [...] will remain firm and effective for 90 days from the closing date of this RFP.