# SAM #26-005175
Sole Source Procurement of Covidien Situate Detection System for Surgical Sponge Counting
**Buyer:** NIH Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations
**Posted:** September 23, 2026
**Respond By:** September 25, 2026
**Identifier:** 26-005175
**NAICS:** 339112, 339113
This notice details a sole source procurement by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center's Department of Perioperative Medicine for a surgical sponge counting device.
- The NIH seeks to acquire the Covidien Situate Detection System, manufactured by Covidien (a Medtronic company), to enhance operating room safety by preventing retained surgical sponges.
- The device supplements manual sponge counting, addressing recommendations from the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) and reducing human error.
- The procurement is justified as sole source due to the Covidien Situate's unique suitability for the department's workflow and counting policy, following evaluation of alternatives from Stryker and Steris.
- Only one unit is being requested; no specific part number is provided.
- No additional products or services are included in this procurement.
- The opportunity may interest other manufacturers of surgical sponge counting systems, though the justification favors Covidien.
- No period of performance or contract value is specified.
### Description
The purpose of this request is to purchase the Covidien Situate device. The device is used for counting sponges in the Operating Room. This device is needed to support the prevention of retained sponges in patients after surgery by helping ensure that all sponges are accounted for before the procedure is completed. AORN recommends that hospitals use adjunct technology to supplement the manual counting process for surgical soft goods as part of efforts to prevent retained surgical sponges. This unit is intended to support manual counting and help reduce the risk of human error.
This request is due to the change in practice in the operating room. To prevent sponges from being retained in a patient the operating room looked at several different devices to determine the one that would best support their practice. During a count if a sponge is missing an x-ray will only find the sponge 67 percent of the time and this also adds to the OR time and prolonged anesthesia exposure.
[View original listing](https://sam.gov/opp/049c43cc68654a79a4fde3402cab4df6/view)