Secure Exchange Data Software

A. Introductory:

This is a Sources Sought set aside for Indian Economic Enterprise (IEE) and Indian Small Business Economic (ISBEE). This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The objective of this Sources Sought # IHS1526579 is to identify potential IEE and ISBEE vendor that can provide a base + 4 Option Periods for secure exchange data software for the Cheyenne River Health Center, Business Office/Patient Registration, 24276 166th St Airport Road Eagle Butte, SD 57625.

B. Project Description:

B.1 Background:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Indian Health Service (IHS), is responsible for providing federal health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. The provision of health services to members of federally recognized tribes grew out of the special government to government relationship between the federal government and Indian tribes. The IHS is the principal federal health care provider and health advocate for the Indian people. The goal is to assure that comprehensive, culturally acceptable personal and public health services are available and accessible to American Indians and Alaska Natives. The IHS currently provides health services to approximately 1.5 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who belong to more than 557 federally recognized tribes in 34 states.

The Great Plains Area Office (GPAO) collaborates with its 19 IHS and Tribally managed service units to deliver healthcare to approximately 130,000 Native Americans residing in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. The Area Office’s service units include seven hospitals, eight health centers, and several smaller health stations and satellite clinics.

B.2 Requirements:

The contractor shall provide a secure exchange data software solution that includes technology for:
• Connectivity to the Medicare DDE (Direct Data Entry) /FISS (Fiscal Intermediary Standard System) and automated claims status reporting, payment floor details, and other reports.
• Eligibility verification for third-party payers to include Medicaid and Medicare. Anticipated monthly volume for Eligibility Checks: 100.
• Eligibility results must include start and end dates of coverage.
• Capability to search eligibility for third-party coverage for patients who do not provide or present insurance information. Anticipated volume for Insurance Searches per month: 1000.
• Third-party insurance medical claims validation, approval, and processing services via a clearinghouse for Medicare, Medicaid, VA, and Commercial Payers (not limited to but including United Health Group) for the Cheyenne River Health Center. Anticipated volume for Claims Submission per month: 2,500.
• Processes all claim types (professional and facility): Emergency, Inpatient, Outpatient, and Specialty Clinics; and provides both solicited and unsolicited claims status. Anticipated volume for Claims Status per month: 1000.
• The software must provide rigorous and thorough claims rules and custom business rules.
• Capability for self-monitoring usage of services for thresholds.
• Training and support related to the scope of work – training provided either on-site or via teleconference.
The software services shall comply with the following constraints:
• The software service shall not require Cheyenne River Health Center to install contractor software within the Cheyenne River Health Center or the Indian Health Service network.
• The service shall enable Cheyenne River Health Center to exchange data utilizing a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) as approved by the Indian Health Service Office of Information Technology.
• The service shall support Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) transactions and interactive Telnet application protocol sessions.
• The service should support an unlimited number of users, and access should be workstation independent.
• The service shall not entail development of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) transaction set translation or mapping processes, non-CMS or non-IHS-generated data or messages, or data reformatting.
• The service shall also conform to a Business Associate Agreement to be established between the Cheyenne River Health Center and the Contractor.
• The contractor shall support end-to-end communication testing, implementation, and daily operations of the data transfers from the contractor to the Cheyenne River Health Center, which shall include, at a minimum:
• The contractor should provide routine technical support to implement corrections to services that occur as a result of errors, flaws, or other failures within their service.
• The contractor shall notify a designated Cheyenne River Health Center point of contact (Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR)) of any scheduled maintenance that shall result in downtime at least two (2) days before the maintenance period.
• The contractor shall notify a designated Cheyenne River Health Center point of contact of any issues that result in a disruption of data exchange capabilities. This notification shall occur as soon as possible after the disruption has been identified.
• The contractor shall provide customer support for reporting, documenting, tracking, and resolving service problems, which shall be available via telephone and email to the Cheyenne River Health Center technical staff.
• The contractor shall provide the capability for self-monitoring usage of services that have a threshold.

B1. Scope:

The Contractor shall deliver standard or custom reports upon request and/or via dashboard, to allow for monitoring monthly usage of the following:
• Claims Submissions
• Claims Status Checks
• Eligibility Checks
• Insurance Searches

C. Eligible Vendors:

Businesses must be Indian Economic Enterprises (IEEs) (at least 51% Indian owned and controlled).
Business size and type of business (e.g., ISBEE/IEE, 8(a), SDVOSB, etc.). All respondents should be registered on the System for Award Management (SAM) located at https://www.sam.gov. Submission of Invoices: The contractor will submit invoices in accordance with FAR 52.212-4(g) on a monthly basis.

D. Anticipated Period of Performance:

The anticipated start of performance is July 1, 2027.
 

D.1 Place of Performance:

Cheyenne River Health Center
Business Office/Patient Registration
P.O. Box 1012
24276 166th Street Airport Road
Eagle Butte, South Dakota 57625

E. Compliance Requirements:

The Contractor shall adhere to all official coding and billing rules as published by the American Hospital Association (AHA) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations and guidelines to ensure the highest levels of integrity, compliance, and ethics.
The Contractor shall maintain records of confidentiality in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Privacy Act of 1974, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and other pertinent Federal regulations.

F. Deliverables:

The Contractor shall deliver standard or custom reports upon request and/or via dashboard, to allow for monitoring monthly usage of the following:
• Claims Submissions
• Claims Status Checks
• Eligibility Checks
• Insurance Searches
F1. Work Schedule/Availability
24/7 availability of all payer eligibility verification and search services for health care center staff (with exceptions to scheduled service disruption)

G. Experience:

The Contractor shall possess knowledge, skills and abilities to maintain and provide software licensing and support services on a monthly basis.
The contractor shall define license and all relative documents.
Licensing and Service:
Inspection: all services rendered will be inspected, reviewed, and monitored by the COR.
Contracting Officer Representative (COR): TBD
Department Point of Contact: TBD

H. SMALL BUSINESS STATUS: Provide business size and socioeconomic status (e.g., ISBEE, IEE), along with your UEI, organization name, address, and point of contact. The anticipated NAICS code for this requirement is 518210 - Other Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting and Related Services.
I. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Provide any additional information that may assist the Government in refining its acquisition strategy or determining whether a competitive set-aside or other RFO-aligned commercial approach is appropriate.
J. CLOSING STATEMENT: Point of Contact: Maliaka Pinkney, Contract Specialist, at maliaka.pinkney@hhs.gov. Submission Instructions: Interested parties shall submit capability statement via email to maliaka.pinkney@hhs.gov. Must include Sources Sought Number SS-26-IHS1526579 in the Subject line and complete the attached IEE Representation Form. The due date for receipt of statements is May 29, 2026, 12:00 PM, EST. All responses must be received by the specified due date and time in order to be considered. Late responses and responses from sources other than IEE, ISBEE will not be accepted. This notice is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of HHS. HHS/OMAS does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. As a result of this notice, HHS/OMAS may issue a Request for Quote (RFQ). THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. However, should such a requirement materialize, no basis for claims against HHS shall arise as a result of a response to this notice or HHS’s use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement. Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or 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 SAM.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

Information Submission Instructions;

Questions regarding the contents of this Sources Sought shall be submitted via email to: maliaka.pinkney@hhs.gov no later than 9:00am EST on May 22, 2026. Phone calls will not be accepted. The Government reserves the right to respond to some, all, or none of the questions that will be submitted.

Interested companies should review the attached and then submit a response that provides feedback, if any, on the attached and that addresses all of the information listed under “Capability Statement/Information Sought”. Capability statements and responses shall be submitted via email to maliaka.pinkney@hhs.gov no later than 12:00 PM EST on May 29, 2026. The subject line for the email heading shall be “Secure Exchange Data Software”– SS-26-IHS1526579. Please provide succinct detail and depth. 
Please add a cover letter to your response with the following information:
1. Company Name
2. Company Unique Entity ID number
3. Company points of contact, mailing address, telephone and website address
4. Any Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule vehicle, or other available procurement vehicles your company maintains that could meet this requirement
5. Business Size relative to NAICS code 518210 - Other Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing
6. Type of Company (e.g., large business, small business, 8(a), woman owned, veteran owned, etc.) as registered in the System for Award Management (SAM)
7. Identify any/all teaming arrangements
8. Indian Economic Enterprise (IEE) Representation Form providing Native American Indian representation.
 

Disclaimer and Important Notes:

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by the 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.
Information provided will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives available for the potential requirement and may lead to the development of a solicitation. Respondent 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.
Any solicitation resulting from the analysis of information obtained will be announced to the public in SAM in accordance with FAR Part 5. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate to 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).