AMENDMENT 2 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - RURAL HEALTH TRANSFORMATION.pdf

1 Cover Page N/A Is the state open to extending the proposal response deadline to August 11? No.

2 N/A N/A Could the agency please share any preferences or requirements the agency has related to proposal formatting?

The State does not have a preference for proposal format if all submission requirements are met.

3 N/A N/A

If selected to perform the requested services under this solicitation, would that engagement preclude us from participating in any future or resulting contracts related to the subject matter of this work?

This is a legal question to be answered on a case-by-case basis at the time any future contracts are being awarded.

4 NA NA

Does the State have an expected budget allowance, or Not to Exceed for completion of the required application work through December 31, 2025?

No.

Rural Health Transformation Consultant RFx# 3140004330

Amendment #2 Questions and Answers July 31, 2025

This Amendment must be signed and submitted as part of the quote response to be considered for this procurement.

Quote response deadline is August 4, 2025 by 2:00 p.m.

Question RFP Section RFP Page Question DOM Response

5 NA NA

Does the State have an expected budget allowance, or Not to Exceed for completion of the required application work through December 31, 2025?

No.

6 Project Overview 4 With the successful offeror be expected to facilitate or moderate any sessions during the August 22 forum?

The State has not made a decision at this time and welcomes offerors to make suggestions as to the forum in their proposals.

7 Project Overview 2 Does the State have pre-established preferences for prioritizing three of the ten eligible fund uses? No.

8 Project Overview 3

“The State must also plan to expend no more than 10% of its allotment on administrative expenses and prepare an annual report on the use of its allotments.” Does this 10% include the cost paid to the Offeror?

No.

9 Project Overview 3&4 Will the agency please share the opening and closing dates of the survey?

The survey was made publicly available on July 31, 2025 and will remain publicly available through the date of the forum. The State may choose to leave the survey publicly available after the forum but has not decided at this time.

10 Project Overview 4

Will the agency please provide a list of who is included in #28 on the list of Stakeholders who will be invited to respond to the survey and/or participate in the forum, “Mississippi healthcare providers or interested parties”? If the names are not available, does the agency have an estimate of how many will be included?

The survey was made publicly available on July 31, 2025, advertised broadly through social media, and sent to the Division of Medicaid's provider communication list serve. The State cannot estimate what the volume of engagement will be.

11 Submission Requirements 6 Is there a budgeted cost for this request for quote? No.

12 Submission Requirements 6 If there is not a budgeted cost, what cost was proposed to obtain approval for publishing this request?

The State was not required to obtain approval to publish this request.

13 Submission Requirements 6 Is there a scoring criteria that can be shared regarding the submission requirements? No.

14 Submission Requirements 6

Since the Rural Health Transformation Program is newly authorized under the BBA and no prior applications have been submitted under this statute, could the State clarify what types of prior work would be considered “similar proposals”? Would work related to rural health strategy, Medicaid transformation, or Section 1115 demonstrations be viewed as analogous for evaluation purposes?

Any of the work identified in the question would be a similar proposal. Any other work in which the offeror worked with a large group of stakeholders to gather and analyze feedback, provide key information to decision makers, and to draft a compelling proposal in a condensed period of time would be a similar proposal.

15 Submission Requirements 6

Will the State conduct a Best and Final Offer (BAFO) process or engage in price negotiations following quote submission, or will award decisions be made based on initial submissions only?

The State has not made a decision at this time.

16 Submission Requirements 6

Would the State prefer that references focus on Medicaid and rural health experience specifically, or is a broader set of public sector engagements acceptable?

The State does not have a specified preference.

17 Submission Requirements 6

Can the State clarify what types of experience will be considered “relevant” for evaluation purposes? Specifically, is the State interested in both organizational experience and the individual experience of proposed staff, or does one carry greater weight than the other?

The State is willing to consider any experience the offeror determines is relevant.

18 Submission Requirements 6 How much weight does the optional rebate offer carry in evaluation? The State has not made a decision at this time.

19 Submission Requirements 5

With respect to requirement #4 - what kinds of projects and experience would be most helpful to highlight - proposals to CMS for applications of funding or projects showing our team's stakeholder facilitation work?

See response to Question 14.

20 Submission Requirements 5 With respect to requirement #5 - Does the state have a preferred pricing structure for this project? No.

21 Submission Requirements 5 Is there a page limit for the proposal? No.

22 Submission Requirement #5 6 Are there any restrictions on the fee structure? No.

23 Submission Requirements 6 Can DOM provide a preliminary budget or funding ceiling for the proposed plan and application? No.

24 Submission Requirements 6

Please confirm the pricing structure in our quote should only address the base contract period (August 4–December 31, 2025).

The pricing structure should address what is required to prepare, submit, and obtain approval of the State's application for an allotment under the Rural Health Transformation Program.

25 Submission Requirements 6

Three references are noted to be required.Can the State please clarify whether it is allowable to include Mississippi state staff as one of the three references?

References should include three entities other than the three entities identified as collaborating on this proposal (the Office of the Governor, the Mississippi State Department of Health, and the Mississippi Division of Medicaid). Otherwise, there is no prohibition on state employees serving as references.

26 Scope of Services 4

Regarding logistics for the Forum on August 22, is the role of the vendor attendance only, or would the vendor also need assist in preparation of meeting materials or similar materials for the State?

The State has not made a decision at this time and welcomes offerors to make suggestions as to the forum in their proposals.

The State understands pre-forum expectations, if any, must be tempered by the time limitations involved.

27 Scope of Services 4 Does the State anticipate the vendor will facilitate the August

22 forum or will the State facilitate the meeting?

The State has not made a decision at this time and welcomes offerors to make suggestions as to the forum in their proposals.

28 Scope of Services 4&5

Beyond the forum and survey, does the State anticipate any formal or informal external stakeholder review or comment on the Plan that will need to be included in the workplan? If so, what is the process and timing for soliciting and incorporating that additional feedback?

The State does not currently have any additional plans to solicit stakeholder feedback and welcomes offerors to make suggestions as to stakeholder engagement in their proposals.

29 Scope of Services 5 Will raw survey responses be provided in structured format or only as summary findings?

The raw survey responses will be available to any vendor awarded a contract from this Request for Quotes.

30 Scope of Services 5

Will there be a single designated project lead from DOM, or should vendor plan to coordinate separately with DOM, MSDH, and the Governor’s Office staff?

The vendor should be prepared to coordinate collaboratively with DOM, MSDH, and the Governor's Office.

31 Scope of Services 5

Will vendor be responsible for submitting the CMS application directly, or will DOM handle formal submission once the consultant delivers the final package?

The State has not made a decision at this time.

32 Scope of Services 5

Can DOM confirm whether prior DOM-developed frameworks (e.g., VBP, referral platforms) can be reused or referenced in the application?

The State has not received the application requirements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

33 Scope of Services 5

If CMS guidance is delayed, will DOM extend internal deadlines (e.g., 8/31 use list) by the same number of business days?

The State and the Consultant will be expected to work collaboratively to adjust the project timeline, if needed, as CMS issues new guidance.

34 Scope of Services 5 Will survey data be delivered in structured form (e.g., Excel) or summary only? Excel

35 Scope of Services 5

Does the State have preferred funding uses under Section 71401? Can DOM confirm if existing materials (e.g., VBP, tech specs) can be reused?

The State does not have a preference at this time. The State has no objection to any materials being used in the application which support the State's plan for Rural Health Transformation and which are not otherwise prohibited by CMS.

36 Scope of Services 5

Given the 30–60 day application development window (per CMS guidance), does the State anticipate adjusting its internal review period or other deliverables if CMS timelines shift?

The State anticipates that any element of the timeline may be adjusted depending on the deadlines established by CMS.

37 Scope of Services 5

Will vendor be granted access to current MCO, SPBM, or IntelliTrue contracts, or relevant scopes of work, to inform the Plan’s strategic alignment?

The vendor will be granted access to any legally accessible materials which would support development of the State's application for the Rural Health Transformation Program.

38 Scope of Services 5

Does the State expect the consultant to perform only a high-level synthesis of survey responses, or is a formal thematic analysis or quantitative breakdown anticipated (e.g., cross-tabs, regional analysis, stakeholder segmentation)?

A high-level synthesis.

39 Scope of Services 5

Should the consultant proactively update and revise the project timeline as CMS guidance evolves, or will the State issue updated deadlines and task adjustments as needed?

The State and the Consultant will be expected to work collaboratively to adjust the project timeline, if needed, as CMS issues new guidance.

40 Scope of Services 5

Will the Governor’s Office, MSDH, and DOM jointly review the Plan, or will one agency consolidate comments and serve as the single point of feedback during the 30-day review period?

The consultant will be expected to coordinate with all three agencies, but the State will not send the consultant competing comments and feedback. The State entities will collaborate in their communication with the consultant.

41 Scope of Services 4 Beyond the August 22nd forum, are there expectations for continued in person work?

The State has not made a decision at this time, but may require an in-person meeting(s) with the key decision-maker(s).

42 Scope of Services 4

Beyond the August 22nd forum, does the state anticipate additional stakeholder input into the development of the Rural Health plan?

The State does not currently have any additional plans to solicit stakeholder feedback and welcomes offerors to make suggestions as to stakeholder engagement in their proposals.

43 Scope of Services 5

Please confirm that the 30 days for review of the Plan and application by the Governor, the State Health Officer, and the Executive Director of the Division of Medicaid, is anticipated to be a concurrent review

Confirmed.

44 Scope of Services 4 Will the successful offeror have access to the presentations from the ten invited stakeholders at the forum? Yes.

45 Scope of Services 5 Will raw survey data, versus summary-level data, be shared directly with the successful offeror?

The raw survey responses will be available to any vendor awarded a contract from this Request for Quotes.

46 Scope of Services 5 Is the successful offeror expected to conduct additional stakeholder engagement beyond the survey and forum?

The State does not currently have any additional plans to solicit stakeholder feedback and welcomes offerors to make suggestions as to stakeholder engagement in their proposals.

47 Scope of Services, #3 5 Would list of options need to include $ estimates?

The list of options should provide enough information regarding each option so that an informed final decision can be made as to which options will be included in the Plan.

48 Scope of Services, #6 5 Is there any flexibility/What is the accelerated or least amount of time for Plan review by State if 30 days is not feasible?

The State and the Consultant will be expected to work collaboratively to adjust the project timeline, if needed, as CMS issues new guidance.

49 Scope of Services 5

According to the scope of services, the Contractor will be expected to analyze responses from written surveys along with feedback from the forum to be held in August. Does the State have an estimate for the number of written surveys expected based on the number of individuals that will receive the survey?

The survey has been made available to the public and therefore the State is unable to estimate an anticipated level of engagement.

50 HIPAA

Compliance 5

Given that the RFQ anticipates no PHI use, will vendor be expected to execute a BAA or DUA to access any operational Medicaid data (e.g., FFS utilization, MCO measures, transportation claims)?

Should the State determine the consultant requires access to protected health information or other personally identifiable information, the State would require execution of a Business Associate Agreement compliant with all HIPAA requirements.

51 Term 5

Is DOM open to a longer contract term to allow for a delay in the August 4, 2025 award date or an extension in the application deadline? In either event, would the contract term still end on December 31, or will the timeline shift accordingly to maintain the full 5-month term?

The contract term is intended to provide time for what is required to prepare, submit, and obtain approval of the State's application for an allotment under the Rural Health Transformation Program.

The consultant will be exepcted to work collaboratively with the State to adjust the contract term as needed.

52 Term 5 Should the term of the consultant agreement be extended to the full year beyond 12/31/2025, what additional scope of work or activities would be expected of the consultant?

The purpose of any contract awarded hereunder would be limited to preparing, submitting, and obtaining approval of the State's application for an allotment under the Rural Health Transformation Program.

53 Term and Attachment F 5 & 18-28

Is the State willing to negotiate the terms and conditions of the contract? If so, should vendors include any exceptions to the terms and conditions in the RFQ response or will the contract be negotiated upon notice of award?

The State would be very reluctant to negotiate terms and conditions and cautions offerors against creating overly burdensome conditions for contracting.

54 Term and Attachment F 5 & 18-28

If exceptions are to be included in the RFQ response, can the State please provide further guidance on the preferred format for submitting exceptions to terms and conditions—such as a memo or a redlined document?

See response to Question 53.

55 Attachment A 7 Is there a maximum price for this project? No.

56 Attachment F 20

Would the Division consider applying the limitation of liability allowance under § 43-13-117(K) to this contract, given the statute’s broader language referring to ‘services performed by actuarial firms’ rather than narrowly to ‘actuarial services’?

No.

57 Attachment F 20

Will the successful offeror be prohibited from receiving funding for delivering any services or technologies that will be established under the Mississippi Rural Health Transformation Plan?

See response to Question 3.

58 Attachment D 12

Does the State anticipate that the Plan will follow a specified template or format from CMS, or should the consultant propose a structure that addresses all required elements under Section 71401?

The State has not received the application requirements from CMS. The consultant would be expected to conform the application to CMS requirements. The State does not have a preference for how a vendor chooses to submit its proposal in response to this Request for Quotes.

59 Amendment 1 N/A

If DOM’s responses to vendor questions are delayed beyond the expected timeline, would the State consider extending the August 4 submission deadline by a corresponding number of business days?

The responses to vendor questions were posted on the established timeline.

Signature

Title

Entity Name

Printed Name

Receipt of Amendment #2 Acknowledged:

Sheet1