R -- Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Sets Collection and Management

This is a Notice of Proposed Contract Action Synopsis: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) intends to incorporate an additional two (2) years and seven (7) months of Optional performance periods to its contract with the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) pursuant to the authority of FAR 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. This action is subject to the availability of funds. CMS intents to extend the unique services of NCQA to assist CMS in the collection and management of the annual Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) data submission for Medicare Advantage managed care organizations. CMS also requires the Contractor's specialized capabilities in the development and testing of new quality of care performance measures for services provided to Medicare beneficiaries. Since January 1997, Medicare managed care organizations (MCOs) have been required to annually report performance measures from the HEDIS. HEDIS is a widely used set of health plan performance measures employed by both private and public health care purchasers to promote accountability and to assess the quality of care provided by managed care organizations. Originally designed for private employers' needs as purchasers of healthcare, HEDIS has been adapted for use by public purchasers, government compliance monitors, and managed care consumers. HEDIS is developed and maintained by NCQA with input from other health care stakeholders, providers/practitioners, managed care organizations, consumers and federal government health agencies. CMS collects a subset of the HEDIS measure set annually. It is critical to CMS's mission that we continue to collect and disseminate information that will help beneficiaries choose among health plans (consumer information); information that contributes to better health care through the identification of quality improvement opportunities (quality assurance); and provides for proper oversight and management of the Medicare Program (program oversight). CMS's working relationship with NCQA contributes significantly to the attainment of these goals. CMS requires an experienced contractor to provide and maintain an information system and IT infrastructure to collect and support submission of HEDIS measures data for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans and generate a database on Medicare plans. In addition to providing MA plans with data submission tools and instructions with detailed technical specifications for submitting HEDIS measures, the contractor must facilitate and provide technical support and assistance to individual Medicare Advantage plans as they submit data according to Medicare requirements. The addition of these option periods will make the contract's period of performance a total of five (5) years. The estimated total value of the additional option periods is $728,420.00. This synopsis is a notice of intent to incorporate additional option periods into the current contract with NCQA and should not be considered a request for proposals nor does it restrict the Government to a particular acquisition approach. This synopsis should not be construed as commitment by the Government for any purpose other than market research. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement that will be considered by the agency. The statement must demonstrate that the firm(s) has the capability to perform the required work. All capability statements must be submitted via email to Aileene Mitchell Ford at: aileene.mitchellford@cms.hhs.gov on or before November 8, 2007 by 2:00 p.m. Voice communications will not be entertained. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed action based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. CMS will not reimburse costs for submission of capability information. All documentation shall become the property of the Government.