CCN Next Gen Medical Pre-Proposal Conference 01212026 Slides.pdf

Strategic Acquisition Center (SAC) Point of Contact: CCNNextGenInquiries@va.gov

CCN Next Generation – Medical Pre-proposal Conference

January 21, 2026

Agenda

Time Topic Speaker

9:00 am – 9:30 am Opening Remarks Neil Narine, CCN Next Generation Acquisition Program Manager

Jessica Portillo, Contracting Officer

Richard Topping, Assistant Secretary for Management and Chief

Financial Officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

9:30 am – 9:45 am Community Care Contracts

Overview

Janet Cabeen, Director of Network Development

9:45 am – 9:50 am CCN Contract / Task Order

Overview

Jessica Portillo

9:50 am – 10:05 am Multi-award IDIQ

• Evaluation Criteria

• On and Off Ramps

Jessica Portillo

10:05 am – 10:20 am TOPRs for East and West

• Evaluation Criteria

Jessica Portillo

10:20 am – 10:35 am Break and Submit Questions

10:35 am – 11:00 am Solicitation Question Themes to

Date

Neil Narine

11:00 am – 11:10 am Important Dates Jessica Portillo

11:10 am – 12:00 pm Questions and Answers

Industry Feedback

Neil Narine and Jessica Portillo

Laura Scott

Disclaimer for Pre-Proposal Conference

Please be advised that the information presented during this Pre-proposal Conference, including any questions and/or answers provided, is for informational purposes only. Attendees are reminded that the official solicitation document controls and supersedes any information provided at this event. For all requirements and evaluation factors, offerors must refer to and rely on the solicitation and any subsequent amendments issued by the contracting authority.

Any responses provided during the Pre-proposal Conference are intended to assist offerors in understanding the scope and requirements of the solicitation, but they do not alter the terms and conditions of the solicitation. Any changes or clarifications to the solicitation will be issued through formal amendments.

Offerors are encouraged to carefully review the solicitation documents and seek clarification through the official channels as specified in the solicitation.

Neil Narine, CCN Next Generation Acquisition Program Manager

Opening Remarks

Jessica Portillo, Contracting Officer

Honorable Richard F. Topping

Assistant Secretary for Management and Chief Financial Officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Janet Cabeen, Director of Network Development

Community Care Contracts Overview

Veteran Community

Care Program -

Next Generation

Medical Contract - Medical and Pharmacy*

National Dental

Contract

Provider Directory Contract

National Dialysis Services Contract

Community Care

Referral and Authorization

(CCRA)

System

Community Care Contracts Overview

Community Care Network (CCN)

CCN is the largest healthcare procurement VHA manages, supporting care for 9.1 million enrolled Veterans across the country.

VA’s largest nationwide contract vehicle at this scale, enabling Veterans to seamlessly access Community Care.

Deploys a standardized implementation strategy across

142 VA Medical Centers and around 1,700 sites of care, supporting a 300,000+ VA workforce.

Integrates thousands of community provider partners, expanding Veteran access to high-quality, convenient care closer to home, and creating more choice.

S iz e Scale

N e tw ork Im pac t

Purchasing

Healthcare for Veterans

CCN Next Generation Timeline to RFP

2021: Initial Market

Research

• Industry Days

• Environmental

Scans

2022: Internal

Research

• Identified current pain points

• Worked with key stakeholders to find solutions to pain points

• Brainstorming activities for new and innovative requirements

2023: Expanded

Market Research

• Six (6) Request for Information

(RFIs)

• Researched major initiatives

(VBC/APMs, technology, med docs, etc.)

2024: Requirements

Finalization

• Finalized structure

(Medical

East/West and

National Dental)

• Closed out final decisions and actions from each workstream

• Final refinements made to PWS

• Integrated content into manuals

2025: Final RFP

Release

• Updated contract structure (IDIQ and TOPRs for

Medical

East/West and

National Dental)

• Posted final RFP, including IDIQ and TOPRs, on

12/15/25

What’s Next: CCN Next Generation Regionality

Reduced administrative needs may allow for improved quality, Veteran experience, program integrity, and reduced administrative costs, while retaining healthy market competition.

Why does the change matter?

Next Generation Medical and Pharmacy Network

Next Generation

Dental Network

CCN Next Generation contracts will be comprised of contract vehicles covering all U.S. states and territories ensuring the best access to care:

▪ Medical and Pharmacy East Regions*

▪ Medical and Pharmacy West Regions*

▪ Dental National

What’s changing?

CCN Next Generation Improvement Focus

Goals and Guiding Principles

Choice – Quality – Oversight - Flexibility

Enhance

Competition

Align with VA

Goals

Expand Market

Participation

Improve Care

Access and

Quality

Align Industry

Standards and

Best Practices

CCN Veteran Impacts – Community Care Growth

VA’s total Medical Community Care (MCC) obligations were ~$41.0B in

FY2025 with Veteran healthcare services, community nursing home, and non-institutional care accounting for 87% of total obligations1

• Expanded access to care due to MISSION Act, PACT Act, Dole Acts, etc.:

– VA health care treated 6.3M unique Veterans in FY18 vs 7.1M in

FY25, a ~12% increase in Veterans / Patients served despite a shrinking Veteran population.

– Community Care utilization has grown rapidly, reaching ~3.8M

Veterans and ~50M visits in FY2025, reflecting ~37% growth in Veterans served and ~32% growth in visits compared to

2023.

– VA calls the PACT Act “perhaps the largest health care and benefit expansion in VA history,” expanding presumptive conditions and eligibility for toxic-exposed Veterans.

• Veterans with a 100% disability rating grew from ~0.7M

(2018) to 1.76M (2025), more than doubling in seven years.

MCC Total Obligations

$27.4B $31.8B

$36.6B $41.0B

$48.8B $54.0B+16%

+15% +13%

+18% +11%

FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26 FY27

Actual Projection

2. FY25 is an end of year extrapolation of actual obligations thru Sep 23, 2025

3. FY26 and FY27 projections as published in the 2026 Budget

1. 87% based on excluding state homes and Veteran Family Member

Programs

Data Sources: VHA Finance Cost By Payment Vehicle Reports and VA

Congressional Justification (CJ), Volume II Medical Programs, FYs 23-26

3 3

Jessica Portillo, Contracting Officer

Important Dates

Multi-award IDIQ

TOPRs for East and West

IDIQ and Task Order (TO) 0001/0002 Overview

CCN Medical

RFP

Base IDIQ

Source

Selection

Base IDIQ

Awards

TOPR 0001

Source

Selection

TO 0001

Award

Medical

TOPR 0002

Source

Selection

TO 0002

Award

Phase

I

Phase

II

Phase

I

Phase

II

• Minimum guarantee - $10,000.00

• IDIQ maximum - $700,000,000,000.00

• A maximum number of Base IDIQ awards has not been established.

• Only TOPR 0001 and TOPR 0002 proposals from Base IDIQ awardees will be evaluated and considered for TO 0001 and TO

0002 award.

• TOPR 0001 will result in a single task order award.

• TOPR 0002 will result in a single task order award.

*VA will not reimburse bid and proposal costs in any circumstance.

Medical IDIQ – Evaluation Criteria

• FACTOR 1: Technical Evaluation: Corporate Experience

• FACTOR 2: Veterans’ Involvement / Subcontracting Plan

• FACTOR 3: Price

• Proposals will be evaluated according to the following order of importance:

– Factor 1 is more important than Factor 2.

– When considered together, all non-price factors (Factors 1 and 2) are significantly more important than Factor 3 (Price).

– Price is the least important factor.

–FACTOR 1: Technical Evaluation: Corporate Experience

• In support of the scope of this IDIQ, VA requires evidence of prior contracts, as either a prime or subcontractor or member of a Joint Venture, which demonstrates the capability to support the scope of this work, as related to the Offeror’s service line and population served.

• The Offeror shall provide contract or task order references relevant to the requirements described in Section 1.2 in “Attachment 1- CCN Next Gen – Medical IDIQ PWS” of this RFP that demonstrate:

– Corporate experience in operating a healthcare and/or pharmacy network that meets $200,000,000 in healthcare and/or pharmacy claims paid within a 12-month period; OR

– Corporate experience in operating a healthcare and/or pharmacy network that includes a minimum of nine (9) U.S. states; OR

– Corporate experience demonstrating performance of a cross section of services or a particular service providing the implementation, program management, and IT integration capabilities that covers multiple U.S. states.

Medical IDIQ – Evaluation Criteria Cont'd

Medical IDIQ – On and Off Ramps

“On-ramping” and “off-ramping” processes may occur independently and will be conducted in accordance with FAR

16.504-4. The decision to “on-ramp” and “off-ramp” is at the sole discretion of the Government. (See Section B.5.2

On-Ramping / Off-Ramping of the RFP.)

On-ramping

Off-ramping

Medical IDIQ On-Ramp

On-Ramping

• The Government may, at its discretion, utilize an On-Ramp to add Contractors (RFP Section B.5.2).

• The Government may On-Ramp Contractors by, including but not limited to, revisiting the original pool of

CCN IDIQ Offerors deemed in the competitive range, and/or issuing a follow-on CCN solicitation with identical IDIQ requirements, terms, and conditions via the Government Point of Entry (GPE) at SAM.gov for evaluation (RFP Section B.5.2).

• IDIQ awardees will be added to the pool of contractors for future Task Orders competition.

• Contracts awarded via the “on-ramp” process will share in, but not increase, the previously established

IDIQ ceiling.

• The “on-ramping” process will not extend the IDIQ ordering period.

Medical IDIQ Off-Ramp

Off-Ramping

• The Government may off-ramp Contractors at any time during the contract for performance issues, responsiveness, or eligibility at its discretion (RFP Section B.5.2).

• Performance will be assessed/evaluated at the IDIQ and TO level. The Government will measure performance using a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) and any other performance measures determined to be appropriate in accordance with IDIQ PWS Section 1.4 and TO 0001 and 0002 PWS Section 2.5.

• TO performance will be reported through CPARS. In the event of severe and/or multiple performance failures not remedied to the Government’s satisfaction, the Government reserves the right to off-ramp the Contractor at no cost to the Government.

Medical IDIQ Off-Ramp Cont’d

• As stated in RFP section B.5.1 Task Order Procedures, Contractors are not required to propose on all TOPRs for which they are afforded the opportunity, however they are expected to respond to all.

• In accordance with applicable laws and the RFP terms, Contractors are required to report suspected conflicts of interest and other business integrity issues (including organizational/personal conflicts of interest, improper buying-in, kickbacks, fraud, etc.) to the Contracting Officer. In cases where Contractors are self-reporting conflicts of interest, they are expected to present a mitigation plan to the Contracting Officer for consideration.

• Failure to inform the Contracting Officer of suspected conflicts of interest or other business integrity issues, and/or failure to submit suitable conflict of interest mitigation could result in off-ramping at no cost to the

Government.

TOPRs for East and West – Evaluation Criteria

• FACTOR 1: Technical Evaluation

– Phase I – Oral Presentations – Use Cases

– Phase II – Written Submissions

• Subfactor 1.1 Deployment and Implementation Plan

• Subfactor 1.2 Medical Network Adequacy Plan

• FACTOR 2: Past Performance

• FACTOR 3: Veteran Involvement / Subcontracting Plan

• FACTOR 4: Price

• Proposals will be evaluated according to the following order of importance:

– Factor 1 (Technical Evaluation) consists of Oral Presentation and Written Submission, which are of equal importance. When combined, Factor 1 is slightly more important than Factor 2 (Past

Performance). Factor 2 is more important than Factor 3 (Veteran Involvement / Subcontracting).

When considered together, all non-price factors (Factors 1, 2, and 3) are significantly more important than Factor 4 (Price). Price is the least important factor.

Break

Neil Narine, CCN Next Generation Acquisition Program Manager

Solicitation Question Themes to Date

Solicitation Questions Themes to Date

Competition, Eligibility, and Corporate Experience Questions

• Whether single-state or smaller plans can realistically compete for a base IDIQ award

– This solicitation is being competed full and open to align with the Government’s intent to promote maximum competition. VA expects that its current IDIQ evaluation criteria will allow for a broad range of vendors to compete for a base IDIQ award. However, offerors must demonstrate relevant corporate experience in accordance with Section E of the RFP.

• How Corporate Experience is interpreted across affiliates, parents, or past performance

– The Offeror’s proposal and corporate experience contract or task order references, including the Offeror’s affiliates and/or subcontractors, must demonstrate performance in accordance with Section E of the RFP. Failure to do so will result in an unacceptable rating.

– VA will evaluate offerors based on the corporate experience demonstrated at the time of proposal submission, in accordance with Section E of the RFP. VA will not base

IDIQ award decisions on prospective future growth, expansion, or post award teaming arrangements that are not supported by demonstrated corporate experience.

Task Order Participation and No Bid Policy

• Whether declining to bid impacts future eligibility or performance standing

– A timely submitted Notice of No-Bid, provided in accordance with Section B.5.1, constitutes a compliant response to a Task Order Proposal Request (TOPR). Timely No-

Bid submissions will not be considered a failure to respond. The Government reserves the right to consider the overall level of participation at the task order level when evaluating past performance, exercising options, or making off-ramping determinations in accordance with the solicitation.

Data Needs

• Multiple data requests

– The Government is reviewing all requests for additional data and will include what is appropriate in future amendments.

Solicitation Question Themes to Date

Administrative Changes and Corrections Forthcoming

• Missing attachments

• Confirmation of where authoritative requirements reside

• Typos / minor errors in references

Important Dates

• Proposals are due by 2:00 p.m. EST on March 16, 2026

– Pricing shall remain valid and firm for 365 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the solicitation

• All questions are due by 10:00 a.m. EST on January 30, 2026

• Responses to industry questions received by the close date will continue to be provided via amendments to SAM.gov

• Future amendments

Questions and Answers / Industry Feedback

As this requirement is in active solicitation, please direct all questions and feedback for VA consideration to

CCNNextGenInquiries@va.gov.