National Education Campaign and Outreach (NEC)

The National Education Campaign and Outreach (NEC) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle, awarded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), provides a comprehensive mechanism for executing national integrated communications campaigns. The contract supports a wide range of public health education, outreach, and communication services designed to inform and engage various stakeholders at national, regional, state, and local levels. Its primary focus is to develop, implement, execute, and evaluate strategic communication initiatives that support CMS's programmatic objectives across multiple healthcare domains, including Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance exchanges, and public health emergency response efforts.

The NEC IDIQ has consistently awarded substantial task orders to three primary prime contractors: Ketchum Inc., Porter Novelli Public Services Inc., and Weber Shandwick (IPG Dxtra, Inc.). Task order values range from approximately $2 million to $863 million, with typical contract durations spanning two to four years. The task orders cover diverse scopes such as Medicare open enrollment education, health insurance exchange outreach, fraud prevention campaigns, minority health communications, and public health emergency communication strategies. None of the task orders utilized specific small business set-aside designations, and most employed time and materials or firm fixed-price pricing structures. The primary place of performance is Washington, D.C., with work primarily supporting the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).