TRICARE Quality Management Contract (TQMC) Sources Sought

TITLE: Government's Notice of extension of the TRICARE Quality Management Contract (TQMC) performed by the Keystone Peer Review Organization, Inc. (KEPRO) for up to 12 months. The work includes a variety of tasks supporting the direct care and purchased care systems under the terms of the TRICARE Quality Management Contract (TQMC). INTRODUCTION: The Defense Health Agency (DHA), Office of the Component Acquisition Executive (CAE), Deputy Assistant Director'Pricing & Contracting, Managed Care Contracting Division (MC-CD), is issuing this sources sought notice pursuant to Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 206.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The DHA intends to issue a sole-source bridge action to continue the provision of services provided under the existing TQMC contract, HT9402-16-D-0002, to Keystone Peer Review Organization, Inc. (KEPRO), in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. This contract modification to extend performance is necessary to continue to meet mission critical requirements and to support the transition to a competitively awarded follow-on TQMC contract. The base period of performance will be from March 01, 2022 - August 31, 2022 with an option to extend services, using FAR 52.217-8, for up to an additional 6 months. The total potential period of performance is March 01, 2022 - February 28, 2023. The extension is necessary to prevent a gap in support to critical DHA requirements after the end of the TQMC contract on February 28, 2022 until a competitive follow-on contract is awarded and the awardee completes transition-in. Background: The Department of Defense (DoD), through the Defense Health Agency (DHA) Clinical Support Division (CSD), has been tasked to assess and improve the quality of care delivered under the TRICARE benefit across the direct and purchased care systems. This contract assists DHA in decreasing unwarranted variation in the quality of medical care, implementing proven clinical and business practices, and creating an environment for learning and continuous improvement across the MHS. This contract also supports DHA with the management of clinical quality performance measurement to validate the quality of care. This contract meets the regulatory requirements of TRICARE's Quality and Utilization Peer Review Organization Program, 32 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Section 199.15; and DOD Instruction and Manual 6025.13, Medical Quality Assurance and Clinical Quality Management in the Military Health System. TRICARE quality monitoring is accomplished through a variety of tasks supporting the direct care and purchased care systems. These tasks include external, third party data collection, analysis and reporting of clinical quality measures, and comparison with national healthcare benchmarks; reviewing, evaluating, and reporting on published clinical care studies, evolving practices, and other data to identify superior quality healthcare services and recommend means to transfer successes; and conducting comprehensive, timely medical peer reviews to ensure medically-appropriate healthcare is provided per 32 CFR 199. A new contractor would require a minimum of 5 months to complete the transition-in requirements given the startup requirements associated with staff recruiting and training, meeting the Personnel Security, and System Security and connectivity requirements. The current contractor, KEPRO, is the only known contractor that is capable of providing these services within the needed time frame. AUTHORITY: The Defense Health Agency (DHA), Office of the Component Acquisition Executive (CAE), Deputy Assistant Director'Pricing & Contracting, Managed Care Contracting Division (MC-CD) is issuing this Special Notice Request for Information for the purpose of Market Research as required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201 and FAR Part 10 for issuing a sole-source bridge action per Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 206.302-1. DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES: THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. Any proposals submitted will not receive a response. This notice solely constitutes a market research effort, for informational purposes only, as described under FAR 10.002. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a potential contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government reserves the right to use results of the communications with industry for any purpose consistent with, and not otherwise prohibited by FAR Part 10. NEXT STEPS: Interested parties with information to share must make their submittals to the Government via email to the Primary Point of Contact (below) not later than 2pm Mountain Standard Time (MST) on December 1, 2021. 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. PRIMARY POINT OF CONTACT: Please respond or submit inquiries (via email) to the Defense Health Agency, Managed Care - Contracting Division, TRICARE Support Branch, through Mr. Greg Stephens at gregory.r.stephens3.civ@mail.mil. 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. CONFIDENTIALITY: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. Industry responses will be shared with DHA staff for the purpose of market research. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s). ADMINISTRATIVE: PSC Code: R408 Program Management/Support Services NAICS Code: 541611 - Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services