National Prescription Audit Drug Data

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) intends to award on a sole source basis, under the Simplified Acquisition Procedures, FAR Part 13, a firm fixed price award to IMS Health, 660 West Germantown Pike, Plymouth, PA 19462 for data to support the development of U.S. expenditure estimates for prescriptions drugs in the National Health Expenditure Accounts from IMS Health. IMS Health will provide 2006 and 2007 data from the National Prescription Audit for the number of new prescriptions, number of refill prescriptions, pharmaceutical acquisition dollars and total retail dollars. This data should be provided by all channels of distribution (i.e., data for chain drugs stores, independent stores, mail order, and food stores. The IMS National Prescription Audit data was determined to be the most comprehensive source of prescription drug information on the market. No other data set could approach the reliability and consistency of those offered by IMS Health. The large number of retail pharmacies that report to IMS (a 20,000 pharmacy sample), the innovative computer design used to collect the data, and the use of sophisticated sampling techniques employed makes their database a superior one. All responsible sources may submit capability statements in consideration to the Agency at the above address. Therefore, this notice is not a request for a submission. However, interested parties may submit a description of their capabilities to perform within 10 days of this notice and the submission will be considered.