Research, Measurement, Assessment, Design and Analysis 2

Sources Sought Notice: Research, Measurement, Assessment, Design and Analysis 2 (RMADA 2) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services THIS IS NOT A FORMAL REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) AND DOES NOT COMMIT THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES (CMS) TO AWARD AN INDEFINITE DELIVERY INDEFINITE QUANTITY UMBRELLA CONTRACT NOW OR IN THE FUTURE. This is a SMALL BUSINESS SOURCES SOUGHT notice posted for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY and will be used to assist the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in determining the availability of small businesses that have the capability in providing research, measurement, assessment, design, and analysis services for models and demonstration programs created or derived under the auspices of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), other non-ACA statutes, and future health reform legislation. CMS is interested in responses to this notice from SMALL BUSINESSES ONLY (including 8(a) businesses, service-disabled veteran owned small businesses, HUBZone small business, veteran-owned small businesses, women-owned small businesses, and small disadvantaged businesses). Your size determination will be the size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition, 541720 -- Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. THIS IS STRICTLY MARKET RESEARCH TO ASSIST IN DETERMINING THE APPROPRIATE ACQUISITION STRATEGY TO OBTAIN CONTRACTOR SUPPORT SERVICES TO PERFORM THE SAME OR SIMILAR REQUIREMENTS TO THOSE DESCRIBED IN THIS NOTICE. THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES (CMS) MAY OR MAY NOT ISSUE A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL OR REQUEST FOR QUOTATION. RESPONSES TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE SHALL BE THE SUBMISSION OF A CAPABILITY STATEMENT; ACCORDINGLY, CMS WILL NOT ENTERTAIN QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS MARKET RESEARCH. BACKGROUND The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is the Federal agency responsible for the operation and oversight of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and the Federal participant in State-operated Medicaid programs and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CMS' mission is to assure health care security for the general public through the management of programs that include Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children's Health Insurance Programs and to provide leadership in the broader health care marketplace to improve the health of all citizens. As an effective steward of public funds, CMS is committed to strengthening and modernizing the nation's health care system by putting patient needs first, creating more flexibilities at the state and local level, and providing access to high quality care and improved health at lower costs. To help accomplish this mission, CMS was given broader authorities through legislation to test innovative models of care delivery and payment to determine whether they can maintain or improve quality and reduce cost, are sustainable, and are feasible for broader scale application. This work includes the development, implementation, monitoring, analysis, and rapid cycle evaluation of such models, building collaborative learning networks to disseminate best practices, developing necessary technology to support this activity, conducting rapid cycle analysis of the programs and participants, and rapid reporting of interim findings and summative findings as feasible. The models and demonstrations that will be performed under this IDIQ can move from design to announcement, then to implementation in less than a year. These models and demonstrations can be scaled without Congressional approval if programs can demonstrate cost savings while maintaining and improving quality. The models and demonstrations are highly visible and are tightly integrated with other programs. PURPOSE OF THE IDIQ Under this Research, Measurement, Assessment, Design, and Analysis Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) 2 umbrella contract, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) shall award task orders (TOs) for a wide range of analytic support and technical assistance activities that support models and demonstration programs created or derived under the auspices of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), other non-ACA statutes, and future health reform legislation. The demands of new reforms created under ACA have redefined the way CMS approaches and conducts research activities, Model Testing, and demonstrations affecting Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and uninsured populations. The role of state and private sector payers is also being redefined, as many of the new models include multiple payers working in collaboration with CMS to reform the care delivery system. The RMADA 2 IDIQ contract shall provide CMS with a robust tool to meet these needs and opportunities. The Contractor shall work with CMS on matters including but not limited to: - Supporting all aspects of model design, implementation and operations (with the exception of information technology design, application and security); - Conducting programmatic technical, and environmental analyses; - Assisting with application development and review of model participants / applicants; - Monitoring of model site's and participant's progress; - Designing and carrying out surveys and other primary data collection activities; - Obtaining and analyzing secondary data sources including data regarding Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and data from private payer sources needed to support model design, operations and evaluations; - Reporting on formative and summative analyses; - Providing rapid cycle evaluation feedback to CMS and/or model participants; - Implementing learning systems to support accelerated learning and improvement and dissemination of promising practices; and creating summative reports of annual and final program findings. CAPABILITY STATEMENT INFORMATION Please prepare a capability statement addressing your company's knowledge, expertise and experience, within the last three years, for each of the following requirements. Please provide a response to each of the capabilities/requirements bullet points listed below. The vendor shall demonstrate experience with contracts of similar size and scope. Include the following information for each reference utilized to demonstrate experiences and capabilities: - Name of Contracting Activity - Contract Number, If Applicable - Period of Performance - Total Contract Value - Contracting Officer, Telephone Number and Email Address - Contract Program Manager, Telephone Number and Email Address Capabilities/Requirements: A. Model Design: Business Case Development 1. Conduct literature reviews, evidence assessments, environmental scans, and market research. 2. Identify regulatory and policy issues and requirements, including identification of necessary waivers. 3. Obtain Federal, state, and private health care sector data, as needed or requested. The Contractor shall be knowledgeable about available CMS, federal and public data sources. 4. Prepare a preliminary design detailing the relevant research questions of interest and how the questions of interest shall be addressed. 5. Support or produce, as requested, evaluations of intervention strategies, benefits, risks, and financing options. 6. Consult with and/or engage experts internal and external to CMS, serving as an education and outreach liaison. 7. Analyze Return on Investment (ROI) for different design options for any Model Test being developed. 8. Produce, as requested, assessments of the evalu-ability of different design options for any Model Test being developed. B. Technical Assistance- Application support 1. Provide support and consultancy with CMS in all aspects of administering the solicitation/application (used interchangeably) process, including the development of a scoring rubric/ methodology to assigned scores to any request for Application (RFA) or Notice of Funding Opportunity. 2. Conduct readiness reviews of applicants and scale to the appropriate size of the model. 3. Assess and monitor potential and/or continuing model participants for program integrity issues. 4. Assist CMS in developing briefing materials and decision memos regarding recommendations for the selection of participants and awardees in models. 5. Revise waiver cost estimates or financial models, and knowledge of the appropriate mathematical formulation to reflect the results of the solicitation process to include in a clearance package. C. Design, Implement, and Evaluate During the Build Phase 1. Provide orientation and ongoing technical assistance to model participants as well as self-administered design plans. 2. Provide enrollment support to CMS and model participants. 3. Develop model-specific and cross- model quality strategies, as well as core measures and quality improvement reviews. 4. Develop operational requirements and systems for sharing data, including processes for administering data use agreements. 5. Develop viable operational requirements for monitoring including, but not limited to, providing payment audit support. 6. Perform quantitative and qualitative analyses, as well as financial analysis and forecasting. 7. Provide and support stakeholder engagement / outreach. During the Implementation Phase 1. Implement beneficiary and/or provider enrollment process. 2. Support data sharing. 3. Create and distribute analytic files. 4. Provide technical assistance to model sites. 5. Conduct routine program monitoring activities. 6. Refine the model. 7. Maintain critical systems of record. During the Evaluation Phase 1. Understanding the Model and the Evaluation Design a) Addresses all relevant research questions for a given task order and be implementable in a robust, cost effective manner. b) Provides sufficient detail regarding the intervention being tested and the proposed strategy for assessing the effects of the intervention. c) Identifies testable research hypotheses and methods for addressing the hypotheses specified. d) Selects outcomes of interest appropriate for the model, intervention(s), and research hypotheses with data sources identified. e) Provides CMS with the results of a power analysis that derives appropriate, reasonable, and relevant sample size estimates. f) Creates appropriate comparison groups. g) Identifies evaluation design challenges and mitigation strategies both in the research design of the model and in obtaining data (primary or secondary) for the evaluation. h) Provides a strategy to identifying relevant competing models, policies, waivers that have the potential to impact either the process or impact outcome for the model. 2. Secondary data collection, Primary data collection, and Integration of secondary and primary data analyses a) Propose a strategy for obtaining timely and appropriate data, tailored to the needs of the model, recognizing data strengths and limitations. b) Propose an efficient strategy for leveraging primary data that balances the need for contextual information with the added cost and burden of collecting that data. c) The Contractor shall propose a detailed plan for integrating qualitative and quantitative findings in a manner that is clear, crisp, and cohesive. 3. Savings/ total cost of care estimates and Secondary analyses a) Propose an approach to providing CMS with timely, accurate, and actionable cost information as well as savings estimates at regular intervals. b) Analyzing secondary data identified and obtained for purposes of the evaluation that includes how it plans to leverage and incorporate multiple types of analyses and econometric approaches that include but are not limited to the use of a Difference in Difference (DID) approach and/or Bayesian analyses. 4. Reports a) Provide key findings in a clear, concise manner in a format agreed upon by CMS. D. Learning, Improvement, and Diffusion 1. Manage and coordinate learning systems and improvement networks for CMS models. 2. Manage and coordinate activities related to assessment and feedback, use of data for improvement, and measuring performance towards model aims to support and accelerate the ongoing learning of organizations involved in CMS models. 3. Use a web-based platform that CMS shall provide for knowledge sharing, collaboration, networking, and reporting with the capacity to support multiple, parallel learning communities involved in learning and diffusion activities of the CMS. 4. Develop networks capable of providing improvement and transformation support to organizations participating in program models and fostering engagement and collaboration among model participants. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REQUESTED: Interested parties having the capabilities necessary to perform this requirement may submit capability statements in PDF format via email to Andrew Crochunis (Andrew.Crochunis@cms.hhs.gov). CAPABILITY STATEMENTS MUST DEMONSTRATE THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OUTLINED ABOVE. Please address each in order listed above under "Capability Statement Information." Capability statements shall be limited to 20 pages and fonts no smaller than 12 points. Capability statements shall also include the following: Business Information -- a. DUNS b. Tax ID c. Company Name d. Company Address e. Company Point of Contact, Phone and Email Address f. Current GSA Contracts and Schedules or Other Relevant Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) g. Statement about whether or not you have a Government approved accounting system. If you have an approved accounting system, provide the certification in which the accounting system was deemed adequate (e.g. the name of the audit agency and audit number). You may submit this information as an attachment that will not count towards the overall page limit. h. Business Size Status (e.g., small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as validated via the System for Award Management (SAM) for the applicable NAICS code (i.e. 541720). All vendors must be registered in the SAM located at http://www.sam.gov. i. Reference Points of Contact, Phone and Email Address (e.g. individuals who can verify the demonstrated capabilities identified in the responses.) The capability statement shall designate any/all teaming arrangements and the work proposed to be performed by each team member. Specifically, the capability statement must address how much effort would be performed by any proposed team member. Note that any resulting small business set aside would require that at least 50% of the cost of contract performance for personnel be expended for employees of the concern (see FAR 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting). The capability statement shall also address the following items: Tasks could have a period of performance that could span up to ten years. How will your team approach and manage work associated with long task durations? Demonstrate through organizational experience, capacity or teaming arrangements that support personnel possess a wide-range of health care and health policy expertise, multi-disciplinary staff, and can adequately staff multiple large and mid-size models at the same time. Does your team have the capacity to support various tasks on several large (250+ participants) and midsize model (100+ participants) simultaneously? What experience or steps will you take to assure the highest level of quality with each task? Demonstrate your understanding/expertise leading the development of highly visible, complex models that require tight integration with other types of health programs and other federal vendors in order to meet programmatic needs? Demonstrate your experience/capability with shared learning in the health sector? Demonstrate your understandings/experiences developing, augmenting and collecting data on health care performance and outcome measures? Responses must be submitted by 12:00 p.m. ET on March 20, 2018 . Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s). Conflicts of Interest. It is essential that the vendor be free of all appearance of or actual conflicts of interest. Specifically, the vendor must not have any relationships or arrangements through its business operations or its employees that could be considered as possibly lessening the company's objectivity concerning any aspect of the campaign. If such relationships or arrangements exist, vendors shall be required, during the procurement process, to identify potential conflicts of interest and discuss how the conflicts will be addressed and mitigated. Questions concerning submission requirements may be directed to Andrew Crochunis, Contract Specialist, Andrew.Crochunis@cms.hhs.gov. CMS will not entertain questions related to contracting strategy.