Survey Management, Analysis, Reporting, and Technical Support for Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs)

This Sources Sought Notice is for informational and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation or commitment by the Government. This notice is intended strictly for Market Research. This is a Request for Information only. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is conducting a market survey to help determine the availability and technical capability of qualified small businesses, veteran-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses and/or HUBZone small businesses capable of serving the needs identified below. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified 8(a) small business sources. This work was previously competing in the 8(a) small business environment and must remain with an 8(a) contractor. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, NO SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME. PROJECT REQUIREMENTS: I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) Program is one of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) quality improvement programs that serves to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries. One of the primary statutory missions of the Program, as set forth in the Social Security Act (referred to as the "Act") is to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, economy, and quality of services delivered to Medicare beneficiaries. As a general matter, Section 1862(g) of the Social Security Act mandates that the Secretary enter into contracts with the QIOs, private businesses, for the purpose of determining that Medicare services are reasonable and medically necessary, for the purposes of promoting the effective, efficient, and economical delivery of health care services, and of promoting the quality of services of the type for which payment may be made under Medicare. To meet these goals, QIOs, review health care services funded under Title XVIII of the Act (Medicare) to determine whether those services are reasonable, medically necessary, furnished in the appropriate setting, and meet professionally recognized standards of quality. Additionally, QIOs conduct reviews in response to Medicare beneficiaries' (or their representative) complaints about their quality of care or when appealing the termination of Medicare covered services or hospital discharge. One method CMS has used to measure whether the QIOs are effectively meeting their mission is to survey Medicare beneficiaries directly served by the QIO. CMS will again utilize a contractor to conduct the Medicare beneficiary experience survey activity. This includes sharing QIO-specific survey data with the QIOs for use in their on-going quality improvement efforts to better serve Medicare beneficiaries. The Medicare beneficiary experience survey measures the beneficiaries' experience with the QIO for quality of care and appeals' of termination of services or discharge and provides CMS with a formal method to obtain direct feedback from beneficiaries regarding the effectiveness of the QIO program. More specifically, the surveys measure how satisfied Medicare beneficiaries (or their representative) are with the services performed by the QIO, particularly services and or duties preformed during the beneficiary complaint and/or appeals process. II. OBJECTIVES Independently, and not as an agent for the government, the contractor shall provide services to the CMS from qualified and experienced personnel to support the, development, administration, and maintenance of a beneficiary survey of satisfaction with the QIOs. The contractors shall have demonstrated experiences in survey management, analysis, reporting and technical support. Following presents the program area and project that require contractor support. The support encompasses but is not limited to the following: III. TASKS The mandatory skills and qualification for this include but not limited to the following: 1. show expertise in the management of large projects with healthcare stakeholders in every state and territory 2. be able to develop, explain, adjust, and carry out plans that involve numerous and varied professional staff across many time zones 3. conduct training exercises for CMS, QIO, and other staff on how to instruct others to complete any of the survey instruments 4. show expertise in survey methods and design 5. develop reports and presentations using plain language (for details see http://www.medicare.gov/about-us/plain-writing/plain-writing.html) 6. show expertise in questionnaire design and expertise in statistical sampling 7. ability to complete surveys via computer-assisted telephone interviewing [CATI], Internet, and/or mail 8. have experience in selecting, hiring, training, and managing interviewers (if personal or telephone interviews is the method used to survey ) 9. have access to a telephone interviewing facility (or network of facilities) that enable the Contractor to maintain a qualified and experienced workforce and is capable of time zone differences in scheduling calls 10. must have telephone interviewing capacity to provide sufficient capacity to conduct telephone interviews, depending on the mix of calling times that is most productive 11. show expertise in data cleaning and aggregation 12. show expertise in conducting post-coding of any open-ended questions and run data checks for inconsistent responses 13. shall provide Spanish translations of the survey instruments and employ staff who can interview subjects and respond to inquiries in Spanish Contractors must respond to all the above points, by indicating your experience and ability to provide services Teaming Arrangements: All teaming arrangements shall include the above-cited information and certifications for each entity on the proposed team. Teaming arrangements are encouraged. Responses must be submitted not later than October 31, 2013. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. IV. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE TBD V. CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION In accordance with FAR 52.227-14(b), the contractor shall guarantee strict confidentiality of the information/data that it is provided by the Government during the performance of the contract. The Government has determined that the information/data that the Contractor will be provided during the performance of the contract is of a sensitive nature and cannot be disclosed in any manner. The Contractor, in whole or in part, can only make disclosure of the information/data, after the Contractor receives prior written approval from the Contracting Officer. Whenever the Contractor is uncertain with regard to the proper handling of information/data under the contract, the Contractor shall obtain a written determination from the Contracting Officer. Interested firms responding to this sources sought notice must adhere to the following: a. Provide a capability statement demonstrating relevant experience, skills, and ability to fulfill the Government's requirements for the above. The capability statement should contain enough sufficient detail for the Government to make an informed decision regarding your capabilities; however, the statement should not exceed 5 pages. b. The capability statement must identify the responder's business type and size. c. The capability statement must provide company name and address, point of contact, phone/fax/email and NAICS Code(s). d. All capability statements must be submitted electronically no later than 12:00 pm eastern standard time on October 31, 2013 to Brendan Doherty at Brendan.Doherty@cms.hhs.gov. All capability statements can be submitted via e-mail, facsimile, or regular mail to the point of contact listed below. Responses shall be no more than 5 pages. THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. 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). A determination by the Government to proceed with the acquisition as a set-aside is within the discretion of the Government. If capability statements are not received from at least two responsible businesses by the response date or if the Government determines that no small business concerns are capable of performing this requirement based upon an evaluation of the capability statements submitted, the Government may proceed with a full and open competition. NO TELEPHONE REQUESTS WILL BE ACCEPTED.