RFX 3160007100 PROCUREMENT FILE PART 3 OF 3.pdf

Project Officer, 2013 – 2017

• Managed data survey collection effort in Shanghai and Beijing, China, resulting in 5,456 surveys: contributed to survey design, led local data collection training, enforced QC of incoming data.

• Successfully negotiated and closed multiple data sharing agreements with the National China Centers for Disease Control and the Maternal and Child Health Surveillance Groups.

• Spearheaded collaboration with the China Centers for Disease Control. Achieved first-ever data access and analysis on China subnational burden of disease.

• Supervised overhaul of UNAIDS Spectrum HIV model and production of comprehensive TB and malaria estimates.

Enabled systematic progress measurement towards Millennium Development Goal 6 worldwide for publication.

GOLDEN BRIDGES FOUNDATION, BEIJING, CHINA 2012 – 2013

Product Manager

Directed local and remote web development teams developing hybrid (in-person/online) social engagement platform.

Supported and engaged the CEO in bilingual (Chinese and English) environment to establish and maintain project management systems.

• Overhauled platform’s web user interface and branding, significantly improving onboarding experience.

• Doubled the number of new monthly users through re-design and engagement campaigns.

Education

M.A. in International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, WA B.A. in Economics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA Udacity Nanodegree, Introduction to Programming, Python

Languages: Advanced Mandarin Chinese (spoken and written); intermediate Spanish

BRIDGET S. KEATON

bridgetkeaton@hotmail.com | (206) 612-2760 | www.linkedin.com/in/bridget-keaton

Highly driven and motivated professional with experience in client relations, product operations, benefits management, content creation, storytelling, and marketing. Excellent written communication skills, strong interpersonal and collaboration abilities that lead to strong client relationships.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Abett Inc. | Seattle, WA Aug 2021-Current Director, Client Services Sept 2024-Current

• Established standard practices across the Client Services team to ensure onboarding policies, quarterly business reviews, quarterly updates, new implementations, and client outreach are consistent across the company. These were previously done in whatever method that each account manager deemed appropriate.

• Maintains strong relationships with all clients and ensures each account manager keeps their accounts at top of mind. Each client should feel like they are the only client.

• Launched our first analytics tool with a Fortune 100 client. This analytics tool was designed with the client and took a year to bring to fruition. They previously had no way of seeing their benefits data and can now understand the health patterns of their members.

• Collaborated cross-functionally to remove communication silos. Helped establish the standard usage of Asana as a workflow tool to minimize thrash and create smoother communication.

Account Manager July 2023-Sept 2024

• Successfully create relationships with Abett’s highest profile clients. This includes constant communication and transparency with the clients to ensure all their needs are met.

• Accountable for the smooth implementation of each client’s Lockbox with constant coordination between internal teams and outside vendors.

• Managed the implementation of a Fortune 100 client’s incentive program. This program was launched in less than six months and operated as the rewards engine for over 110,000 members.

Implementation Manager Nov 2021-July 2023

• Collaborate with clients to understand their business needs.

• Work with data partners to build and test data connections and pipelines.

• Create and validate mission-critical data reports for clients and data partners.

• Review and resolve operational production issues, responding with sharp attention to detail.

• Engage with Abett's engineering and product teams to improve and enhance the Lockbox platform and processes.

Content Marketing Manager Aug 2021-Nov 2021

• Write and publish White Papers to the Abett website and LinkedIn on healthcare policy

• Anticipate the key topics in the market to create relevant collateral

• Assist with rebranding Abett’s image

TheWMarketplace.com |Seattle, WA Content Writer Dec 2020-Aug 2021

• Conduct interviews and create weekly articles spotlighting female entrepreneurs who broke barriers and challenged societal norms to be published on TheWMarketplace.com, a woman owned ecommerce site

• Write compelling content that creates an emotional connection with the audience through storytelling

• Increased traffic to TheWMarketplace.com with articles and received high praise from founder for writing abilities

Seattle Photo Organizing |Seattle, WA Creative Project Manager June 2020- Aug 2021

• Organize, scan and archive photos for families to efficiently view and aesthetically preserve their belongs

• Design and create personalized wedding, travel and family photo albums using Adobe Creative Suite

• Produce a high-quality final deliverable for clients with attention to detail and aesthetic

Cozen O’Connor |Seattle, WA Administrative Coordinator Aug 2019-Jan 2020

• Created written procedural legal communications in support of pleading documents

• Increased office efficiency through creation of new file organization system and standard format for documents

• Communicated with team of legal secretaries, paralegals and attorneys on a daily basis to complete projects glassybaby |Seattle, WA Sales Associate June 2018-Aug 2019 Amazon |Seattle, WA Creative Lab Intern Oct 2018-June 2019 http://www.linkedin.com/in/bridget-keaton

• Taught daily art classes to Amazon employees with an average of 30+ students per class

• Engaged with different Amazon team members to enhance their creativity in the workplace

• Created “how-to” instruction guides using Adobe Photoshop for each art activity

PicMonkey |Seattle, WA Channel Marketing Intern Oct 2017–Dec 2017

• Copywriter for social media posts on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

• Managed all social media and responded to user questions and comments to drive Increased engagement

• Promoted the PicMonkey brand by creating a content calendar focused on key themes, crafted and scheduled daily social media posts based on editorial publishing calendar

• Designed and created templates and how-to videos to bring more traffic to PicMonkey site

University of Washington |Seattle, WA May 2020 B.A. Photomedia and International Studies, GPA: 3.7, Nominated for Jackson Leadership Award (2020)

• Study Abroad: Bangalore, India (Winter, 2018) & Rome, Italy (Winter, 2020)

LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES

Seattle Preparatory School Girls Cross Country Coach Aug 2021-Dec 2023

• Coached high school girls’ varsity and junior varsity cross country teams for three seasons. The girl’s teams competed at the

Washington State meet all three years.

Jackson School of International Studies Task Force Editor Jan 2020-Mar 2020

• Selected by former U.S. Ambassador to edit 200+ pages of report on EU Security Planning for final presentation

• Conducted research and analysis of EU Security & Defense to present solution to board for the German Marshall Fund

Kappa Alpha Theta Fraternity: Philanthropy Director Jan 2017-Jan 2018

• Developed philanthropy efforts including organizing 5K race and week-long fundraising events

• Inspired participation and coordinated with outside vendors and sponsors to raise awareness for CASA

INTERESTS & SKILLS

• Completed 7 marathons (PR: 2:55.22), 6 half-marathons, 2 triathlons and 12X finisher of Seattle to Portland Bike Ride

• Skills: Adobe Creative Cloud, PicMonkey, Microsoft Office Suite, Asana, PowerBI, Salesforce, Get Outline, Basic SQL

Jonathan C. Brown Seattle, WA jonatcb@gmail.com | 206-856-5929

Qualifications Summary

• 12+ years of experience in client-facing, product ownership, and project management roles building strategic relationships with executive stakeholders, tailoring services and projects to client goals, and managing product across geographically dispersed teams.

• Especially effective in communicating complex topics to broad audiences in insurance, life sciences and other industries.

• Knowledgeable in statistical modeling techniques (regression models, time series forecasting, hierarchical models, ensemble models, Bayesian models), programming languages (Python, SQL, HTML, CSS) as well as natural history models and simulation.

Career Experience

ABETT, SEATTLE, WA 2021 – Present VP of Analytics

• Own the development of Abett’s Lockbox Analytics platform, coordinating across engineering, data science, sales, and operations teams.

• Collaborate with clients to understand their data needs, ensuring the platform delivers actionable insights that drive business value.

• Drive the Lockbox Analytics platform’s product roadmap, prioritizing features based on impact, feasibility, and customer feedback.

IHME CLIENT SERVICES, SEATTLE, WA 2018 – 2021

Senior Associate

• Led analytics team doing bespoke simulation and statistical analyses for client engagements across insurance, pharmaceutical, and tech sector.

• Spearheaded production of SaaS data access and visualization platform to streamline client engagement with data products.

• Founding member of the IHME Client Services group, an entrepreneurial and independent body housed within the University of Washington Medical School.

• Co-led commercialization of products such as a global public health data set that generated over $18M in revenue since launching.

• Responsible for client engagement from start to finish: business development, scoping projects, planning analyses, and presenting outcomes to senior leadership.

INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATION, SEATTLE, WA 2013 – 2018

Senior Research Manager, 2017- 2018

• Led team of 12 engineers, researchers, and data analysts to produce IHME’s first comprehensive global demographic and disease projections.

• Developed data visualization tool (Link: vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-foresight) by managing forecasting platform development, incorporating external and internal user insights.

• Supported publication and dissemination of first-ever mortality forecasts for all diseases across 195 countries globally as well as population and fertility projection to 2040. Resulted in top 5% publication (Altmetric).

• Successfully presented project results to internal and external key stakeholders such as OECD, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Pacific Life Re, and Boston Consulting Group.

• Promoted from Research Manager to Senior Research manager in 2017 after one year.

https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-foresight/

Researcher | Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation | 2010 – 2014

• Led childhood mortality estimation for the Global Burden of Disease 2010 and 2013 studies in The Lancet.

• Evaluated preventative care services covered through the IMSS insurance system through a one-year field assignment in Mexico.

• Developed death distribution methods to account for the under-registration of deaths in vital registration system

Publication Summary Over 20 total publications with 18,000+ citations in the literature published in high-impact journals including The Lancet, The American Economic Review, and Health Economics. I have a history of successful oral presentations and panel participation at ASHEcon, SMDM, ISPOR, and ASCO. My full publication list is available on my google scholar page here. Recent senior and first-author publications are listed below:

Huang, R. S. P., Lee, J. K., & Lofgren, K. T. (2024). Clinical value of comprehensive genomic profiling on clinical trial enrollment for patients with advanced solid tumors. The Oncologist. Advance online publication.

https://doi.org/10.1093/oncolo/oyae293

Yorio, J*., Lofgren, K. T*., Lee, J. K., Tolba, K., Oxnard, G. R., Schrock, A. B., Huang, R. S. P., & Brisbin, L.

(2024). Association of Timely Comprehensive Genomic Profiling With Precision Oncology Treatment Use and Patient Outcomes in Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer. JCO precision oncology, 8, e2300292.

https://doi.org/10.1200/PO.23.00292 *co-first authors

Education Harvard University Ph.D. in Health Policy with a concentration in Decision Science (Committee Chair: Dr. Laura Hatfield) Dissertation Title: Informing Financial Investments in Health: Applications of Decision-Analytic Models University of Washington M.P.H in Global Health Smith College B.A in Biology with a minor in Mathematics

Skills Claims analysis, EHR data, RWD/RWE, econometric methods, decision-analytic methods, value-based contracting, R, AWS, Azure, public speaking (with experience up to 2000+ person audiences), community practice engagement in research projects, collaboration with academics.

Service Co-Chair of the Society for Medical Decision Making | 2020 – Current

• Run a committee of 20+ individuals hosting 4 events at the Society’s annual meeting as well as 3+ off-conference seminars or other educational events per year

Awards 2018 | National Bureau of Economic Research Valuing Health Research Fellowship 2017 | John C. Hanson and Katherine Vogelheim Research and Travel Grant 2016 | Award for Teaching Excellence, Harvard Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning 2016 | Howard Raiffa Teaching Grant 2015 | Harvard Summer Pre-Dissertation Fellowship 2008 | Inducted into Mu Sigma Rho the National Statistics Honor Society https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ni-4hy0AAAAJ&hl=en https://doi.org/10.1093/oncolo/oyae293 https://doi.org/10.1200/PO.23.00292

MDFA OI IFB RFx 3160007100 Amendment One 1

MDFA OI IFB for Decision Support and Related Health Care Analysis Consulting Services MDFA OI IFB RFx Number: 3160007100

Amendment One Issue Date: February 13, 2025

The Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration (MDFA) Office of Insurance (OI) through this Amendment One, modifies the original MDFA OI IFB RFx 3160007100 issued on January 28, 2025.

1. The attached Questions and Answers document is incorporated fully along with this

Amendment One as part of MDFA OI IFB RFx 3160007100.

Please acknowledge receipt of MDFA OI IFB RFx 3160007100 Amendment One by signing and returning this amendment, along with your bid, on or before 2:00 PM CST, February 28, 2025.

This acknowledgment should be enclosed in your bid packet in accordance with the submission instructions located in the IFB. Failure to submit this acknowledgment may result in rejection of the bid.

Company Name: ________________________________________________________________

Printed Name of Representative: __________________________________________________

Date: _________________________________________________________________________

Signature: _____________________________________________________________________

Abett, Inc.

Kurt Baxley

2/27/2025

Procurement Questions and Answers for IFB # 3160007100 Page 1 of 4

IFB RFx # 3160007100 IFB for Decision Support and Related Health Care Analysis Consulting Services

Procurement Questions and Answers

Procurement Section, Page Number

Date Received

Question (As submitted) Response

1. 02/11/2025, 9:54 AM

Will you please confirm that we can submit our vendor questions via the following email address? InsuranceRFP@dfa.ms.gov

All questions must be submitted as prescribed within the IFB to the email address identified.

2. 02/11/2025, 9:54 AM

We are a registered vendor today with the State of Mississippi but do we need to register on your MAGIC platform to submit our IFB proposal due on 2/28 or can we submit our proposal and exhibits/attachments via email.

Please understand that being recognized by the State of Mississippi Chief Procurement Officer for a state contract or cooperative is not the same as being a registered supplier with our state e-procurement system. If your company is not already registered with our state e-procurement system and has an assigned supplier number/account with it, we recommend doing so in advance as all electronic bids are required to be submitted via this system. Timely submission is the supplier’s responsibility, regardless of delivery method elected (electronic or paper). Assistance with supplier registration or any other system related issues is available via email, mash@dfa.ms.gov, or by calling the MMRS Call Center at (601) 359-1343. This registration is a one-time event, so we recommend retaining the supplier information and using a generic company contact method (email) versus a specific individual to prevent any potential issues later with your company’s account.

As stated in IFB Section 7.2.3, “Bids may be submitted in a paper format via the two address options below or electronically via the State of Mississippi’s Accountability System for Governmental Information and Collaboration (MAGIC).” These are the only two acceptable methods for

Procurement Section, Page Number

Date Received

Question (As submitted) Response bid submission. Submission by other means will be rejected.

Furthermore, emailed submissions fail to meet the “sealed” competitive bid requirement.

3. Section 4.1.25 - Must have/provide the following functional system requirements, 02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

"Ability to provide audit trails" - Please further define the requirement related to audit trails.

This refers to the system’s ability to track and report changes and updates to the received and stored data.

4. Section 4.1.21 - Provide access to the system for a minimum of eight (8) designated users, page 7

02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

How many of the eight requested users will be third-party users from your consultant and actuary vendors?

The Board’s users currently include approximately 5 personnel in accounting, benefits, analysis, and management, as well as approximately 3 external actuarial and consultant users.

5. Section 7.1.6 - Signed IFB Statutory Requirement Disclosure Statement, pages 17-18

02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

Please provide a table showing the data source and data type that will be loaded to the decision support system. Please see sample table, below.

Vendor Data Type Active Health Disease

Management BCBS-MS Medical CVS Caremark Rx Minnesota Life Life Insurance Vendor Name Eligibility Vendor Name Biometrics Vendor Name Provider

Of the vendors listed in Section 7.1.6 of the IFB, the Board currently receives data into the decision support system from ActiveHealth® Management, Inc., Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, Caremark PCS Health (CVS Pharmacy, Inc.), Acentra Health f/k/a Keystone Peer Review Organization, Inc. (Kepro), and Minnesota Life Insurance Company. The Board reserves the right to add or delete vendors to the current list of entities that will supply data to the selected decision support services vendor.

Currently, the decision support system is receiving and maintaining wellness data relative to biometric measures, health risk assessments, and related risk assessment metrics. The volume, frequency, and content of such data imports is subject to change.

Page Number

Date Received

Question (As submitted) Response

Currently, all data feeds are transmitted on a monthly basis.

6. Section 4.1.6 - Maintain on-line access to at least the most recent sixty (60) months of claims data, 02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

For #3, directly above, have any of the data sources/data types been in effect to support loading 63 months of data (based on claims' paid date) to the initial decision support system? Please share details in the data source table if data sources/data types have changed over time and if historic data only is needed for any data source/data type.

The vendors identified in Question #5 have remained the same for the past 5+ years, except for Caremark PCS Health (CVS Pharmacy, Inc) as our Pharmacy Benefit Manager, which was previously Prime Therapeutics, LLC.

ActiveHealth® Management, Inc.

Health & Wellness Management

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi

Medical

Caremark PCS Health (CVS Pharmacy, Inc.

Rx

Minnesota Life Insurance Company

Life Insurance

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi

Eligibility

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi; Caremark PCS Health (CVS Pharmacy, Inc.;

AND Acentra Health f/k/a Keystone Peer Review Organization, Inc. (Kepro)

Biometrics

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi; AND Caremark PCS Health (CVS Pharmacy, Inc

Provider

7. Section 1 - Authority, Purpose, and

02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

How many of the 190,000 members are employees and retirees (I.e., excluding dependents)?

Approximately 135,000.

Question Submission Deadline: February 11, 2025, 5:00 PM CST Response Issue Date: February 13, 2025

Section, Page Number

Date Received

Question (As submitted) Response

Background,

8. Section 4.1.17 - Cooperate with the Board and all other vendors of the Board with respect to on-going activities and in any transition of responsibilities, 02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

Please clarify the requirement for "any transition of responsibilities".

The Board’s goal is to minimize service disruption while providing adequate time and resources for the successful implementation of any new contract, either for these services or any other related services.

9. I am wondering if there is a way to pull the incumbent's bid from the last time this contract was awarded. It would be great to understand who the competitors are for this bid and what the price point was in the prior period.

The current Decision Support and Related Health Care Analysis Consulting contract with Health Data & Management Solutions, Inc. is viewable by the public via https://www.transparency.ms.gov/.

Section 6 – Minimum Vendor Qualifications

The vendor must have:

6.1 Prior Experience: The vendor must have been in business and provided services equivalent or similar in requirements and scale to those described in this IFB for a minimum of five (5) years as of February 1, 2025. The vendor must provide suMicient detail to demonstrate it has significant experience in working with programs similar in size and complexity to the Plan, such as providing a list of suMicient clients, including all requested information per client listed, to document the vendor provides at least one million (1,000,000) covered lives in its book of business and one (1) employer client with at least one hundred thousand (100,000) covered lives. The determination of the length of time an entity has provided these services will be based upon the initial date the vendor established a contractual relationship to provide such services. For each client, please specify:

a. Client information, including the client name and address as well as the name, title, address, email address, and phone number of a person whom we may contact to confirm as needed,

b. The type of work your company provided to the client (include brief description of services rendered and size of group or how their program is similar in size and/or complexity to the Trust),

c. The number of covered lives in the client’s group, and

d. Dates/time period(s) or number of years your company provided services to the client.

Identify six (6) clients/accounts (individual or group) your company has provided the equivalent or substantially similar services in requirements and scale to those services described in this IFB in the past five (5) years. One (1) of the six (6) must be the longest standing client, one (1) of the six (6) must be the client with the largest employee population, and three (3) of the six (6) must be governmental clients. In addition to the minimum list of six (6) clients provided to establish equivalent prior experience, the vendor must provide all clients that have discontinued use of your services in the past five (5) years and your understanding of their discontinued use of your services.

Response: Please note that Abett has provided 5 employer references and one government reference, Kyrene School District.

1. PointB, 1,800 covered lives, 6 years (longest standing client)

• Kasey Schreiner, Benefits Specialist, kschreiner@pointb.com

• Abett provides data management and warehousing services for PointB

2. Microsoft, 200,000 covered lives, 1.33 years

• Surekha Archer, Benefits Actuarial Analyst, suarcher@microsoft.com

• Abett provides data management, warehouse, and analytics services to

Microsoft.

3. AT&T, 250,000 covered lives, 2.67 years

• Luke Prettol, Principal Benefits Strategy Consultant, lp755h@att.com

• Abett provides data management, warehouse, and analytics services to

AT&T.

4. Prudential, 80,000 covered lives, 4 years

• Dan Reber, Director Corporate Benefits, Daniel.Reber@Prudential.com

• Abett provides data management and warehousing services for Prudential.

5. Linde, 60,000 covered lives, 4.5 years

• Melanie Douglas, Director Global Benefits, Melanie.Douglas@linde.com

• Abett provides data management and warehousing services for Linde.

6. Kyrene School District, 4,000 covered lives, 2.75 years

• Deb Spiurgin, Chief Benefits OMicer, dspurgin@kyrene.org

• Abett provides data management, warehouse, and analytics services to

AT&T.

Former Clients in the past 5 years:

• Spectrum Brands

• Was not fully utilizing the lockbox and benefits team fully turned over. The new team was not interested in data warehousing

• Wayne Farms

• Was not fully utilizing the lockbox, lots of turnover on the SB team and the new benefits team didn't know who we were

• Western Union mailto:kschreiner@pointb.com mailto:Daniel.Reber@Prudential.com

• Removed complexity in plan and had fewer data sources.

• Accenture

• Left an employer coalition, contract was three-way and forced to leave Abett.

• Curran Group

• Left an employer coalition, contract was three-way and forced to leave Abett.

• The Hartford

• Removed complexity in plan and had fewer data sources.

• Maricopa School District

• Not enough funding to continue services

• IDEX

• Was not utilizing the lockbox

6.2 References: A minimum score of six (6) on the Reference Score Sheet (IFB Attachment D) from reference interviews by MDFA staM with two (2) vendor references (for a total minimum scoring requirement of twelve (12) points), as well as all other requirements of this IFB.

Response: Please see responses to 6.1 and Attachment C

6.3 The vendor must agree that all services performed on behalf of the Board must be provided (performed) within the United States. Please confirm.

Response: Confirmed, all services will be performed within the United States.

6.4 The vendor must comply with Mississippi Code Annotated § 79-4-15.01 regarding authorization to transact business in Mississippi. Please confirm.

Response: Confirmed, Abett complies with Mississippi Code Annotated § 79-4- 15.01.

6.5 The vendor must agree to perform all services required in this IFB in accordance with customary and reasonable industry standards as well as in strict conformance to all laws, statutes, and ordinances and the applicable rules, regulations, methods and procedures of all government boards, bureaus, oMices, and other agents whether currently in place, updated and replaced, or newly created. The vendor shall be responsible for the complete performance of all work; for the methods, means, and equipment used; and for furnishing all materials, tools, apparatus, and property of every description used in connection therewith. No statement within this IFB shall negate compliance with any applicable governing regulation. The absence of detail specifications or the omission of detail description shall be recognized as meaning that only the best commercial practices are to prevail, and that only first quality materials and workmanship are to be used. Please confirm.

Response: Confirmed, Abett agrees to perform all services required in this IFB in accordance with customary and reasonable industry standards.

6.6 Performance Standards: The vendor must agree to comply with the following minimum performance standards and applicable guarantees or liquidated damages. Please respond by restating each performance standard listed and confirm your agreement to be bound by this standard by stating, “Confirmed”. If your company has exceptions to the standard, respond by stating, “Confirmed, but with exceptions” and include your exceptions in IFB

Statement of Compliance and Exception(s) form, Attachment F. If your company cannot agree to the standard, respond by stating, “Do Not Agree” and include your reason for not agreeing in IFB Statement of Compliance and Exception(s) form, Attachment F. It is the intent of the Board to assess liquidated damages to any vendor who fails to meet the minimum performance standards listed below. The final contract between the Board and the vendor will incorporate the specific terms and conditions under which such damages may be assessed, including the measurement methodology, amounts, and recovery provisions. Unless otherwise agreed to in writing, an independent claim reviewer/performance auditor contracted by the Board will evaluate the vendor’s compliance with these standards. Any objections, suggestions, or proposed conditions you have to these standards and this process should be included in your signed IFB Statement of Compliance and Exception(s) form, Attachment F. The following performance standards and discount guarantees will apply separately to each year of the resulting contract.

1. The vendor must guarantee the system will be available to the Board on-line ninety-eight percent (98%) of the time between 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM CST, Monday through

Friday, for other than scheduled maintenance agreed to by the Board. If the vendor is found to be non-compliant with this requirement, the vendor may be assessed a fee of $5,000.00 in liquidated damages per day for which the vendor is non-compliant.

The vendor must provide 30-day notice for scheduled maintenance.

Response: Confirmed

2. The vendor must guarantee the data files supplied by the data providers will have passed the vendor’s standard quality assurance testing and be accurate, complete, and available to the Board as required by the contract within twenty (20) calendar days from receipt of clean, useable data from all data providers. If data is not accurate, complete, and available to the Board within this time, the vendor will be considered non-compliant with this requirement and may be assessed liquidated damages of

$5,000.00 per day for which the vendor is non-compliant.

Response: Confirmed

3. The vendor must guarantee for the duration of the contract a toll-free telephone number as well as internet access to a post implementation help desk that oMers live assistance or the ability to leave a message twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week. The vendor shall provide non-automated responses to inquiries within one (1) business day. The vendor may be assessed liquidated damages of one percent

(1 %) of all annual fees in the event of non-compliance with this requirement.

Response: Confirmed

4. The vendor must guarantee to notify the Board within twenty-four (24) hours by phone and by e-mail of any material security breach of the Board’s confidential information that is in the vendor’s possession including any unauthorized use, dissemination or access. The vendor may be assessed liquidated damages of

$5,000.00 per day for which the vendor is non-compliant.

Response: Confirmed

5. The vendor will place a maximum of twenty percent (20%) of the contract administrative fees at risk annually.

Response: Confirmed

6.7 Implementation Performance Standards: The vendor must describe their Implementation Performance Plan: Outline the overall strategy and approach for organizing all required resources and implementing the services within the desired time frame;

Describe the proposed process including data reconciliation and testing as well as identify tasks, critical paths, timelines, file feeds, and parties responsible for each. The final implementation plan will be agreed to by both parties during contract negotiations.

Response: We have provided our typical 15-week implementation timeline in Exhibit II. Because of the diligence and automations we have built into our implementations, we can successfully implement a client like the State of Mississippi in just 15 weeks. We have also provided further description into our processes for ingesting data below.

Data ingestion and storage – Lockbox enables multiple input channels (e.g. SFTP, S3, API) for any file type (e.g. CSV, TSV, XLS, FHIR). A flexible interface enables the definition of data fields and file formats which allows Lockbox to receive and store files in a wide range of industry-standard formats over any connection. Upon receipt the file is securely saved, then parsed and validated. Lockbox is designed to scale to any type of connection or industry-standard file, through a design that decouples the channel details – including format and data definition – from the data loading mechanism.

Data standardization – Once a feed is parsed and stored in the Lockbox, Abett-defined rules are applied to the file to transform fields into a consistent standard format. This allows the client’s Lockbox to receive vendor specific data but translate and operate on the same data format for all carriers, vendors, healthcare providers, and data partners. The rules allow for the renaming, splitting, combining, or reformatting of one or more fields into a canonical vocabulary.

Person Identification (UPID – Universal Person Identification) – Once data is standardized, the Lockbox executes a custom algorithm to identify individuals across the data inputs. The person identification process can identify individuals across files even when the unique person-related fields are not shared across files.

Each individual is assigned a unique person id (UPID) which is added to the canonical version of the data feeds.

Data modeling and classification – The data feeds sent from partners overlap, are not standardized, and contain row duplications. They also express business concepts that are internal to the data providers. The Lockbox can take this data from multiple sources, combine, deduplicate and augment it so vendor specific business logic (i.e. adjudications) are expressed consistently across vendors. This produces a single clean and simple internal database from the data of multiple separate businesses. This data is then run through several internal algorithms to augment it with additional details (e.g. preventable ER visits or other classifications)

Abett General Implementation Plan Roles Legend

A-Ops Abett Operations A-AM Abett Account Manager

Client-PM Client Project Team

Supplier Supplier

Task Start Date Due Date Responsible

INBOUND DATA SETUP Week 1 Week 1 A-AM Abett sends client data request email template Week 1 Week 2 Client-PM

Client sends supplier data request email to initiate project Week 1 Week 2 Client-PM

Project Kick Off Meeting Week 1 Week 2 A-AM

Client outlines provides project requirements and expectations Week 1 Week 1

Client-PM

Abett initiates SFTP process Week 1 Week 1 A-AM Abett sends supplier the SFTP form link Week 1 Week 1 A-AM Supplier assigns IT team to work on SFTP connection Week 2 Week 4 Supplier Supplier completes the SFTP form and passes it back to Abett Week 2 Week 4 Supplier Abett provides supplier with final SFTP information (depending on how supplier completed the form)

Week 2 Week 4 A-AM

Abett finalizes SFTP connection Week 2 Week 4 A-AM Abett and supplier test for connectivity Week 2 Week 4 A-AM Supplier provides data specifications Week 1 Week 2 Client-PM Abett reviews layout specifications Week 1 Week 2 A-Ops Abett provides feedback to client and supplier Week 2 Week 3 A-Ops Client, supplier, and Abett discuss layouts Week 3 Week 4 A-AM Layouts finalized; approved by client Week 3 Week 4 Client-PM

Abett and supplier build schemas to the required specifications Week 4 Week 5 A-Ops

Finalize legal issues Week 1 Week 6 A-LEG Supplier delievers test files with dummy data Week 6 Week 6 Supplier Abett tests the inbound files from supplier Week 6 Week 7 A-Ops Abett ensures the data matches the layout Week 6 Week 7 A-Ops Abett ensures there are no special characters or other problematic elements

Week 6 Week 7 A-Ops

Abett and Client prepare pre-built dashboards and report Week 7 Week15 A-AM Go-live with production data Week 15 Week 15 A-Ops

On Friday, February 28, 2025 at 3:08 PM CST the bid opening for Decision Support and Related Health Care Analysis Consulting Services IFB or RFx 3160007100 commenced. Alicia Coleman, MDFA OI staff member, welcomed all attendees to the bid opening and asked if anyone present had not already done so, to please sign in on the form provided. All present had done so.

From the MDFA OI, the following staff members were present:

Patrick Black – MDFA OI Deputy Director, and Alicia Coleman – Procurement & Contracts Director.

Alicia Coleman stated the following:

• As this is a closed meeting, no others were in attendance;

• Bids were opened individually;

• The opening would consist of the opening, reading, and listing the name of each vendor for all bids received in response to this IFB by the stated deadline; and

• No discussions would be entered into as to the quality or provisions of the specifications and no award would be made either stated or implied at the bid opening.

The timely bids submitted, which were opened and read aloud, are listed on the Register of Proposals and Opening Attendance Log.

Truven Health Analytics, LLC (6000016219) Maximum Flat Annual

Fee/Rate Decision Support &

Consulting/Analytics Support Services

Cost for additional users above 8 users

Other: We are waiving implementation fees; pricing is for 5 years of ongoing services post implementation Year 1 $340,000.00 N/A N/A Year 2 $357,000.00 N/A N/A Year 3 $374,800.00 N/A N/A Year 4 $396,600.00 N/A N/A Year 5 $413,300.00 N/A N/A

Abett, Inc. (6000016230)

Maximum Flat Annual Fee/Rate

Decision Support & Consulting/Analytics

Support Services

Cost for additional users above 8 users

Other: _________

Year 1 $150,000.00 N/A N/A Year 2 $150,000.00 N/A N/A Year 3 $150,000.00 N/A N/A Year 4 $150,000.00 N/A N/A Year 5 $150,000.00 N/A N/A

The bid opening concluded at 1:40 PM CST. All present were thanked for attending.

MDFA OI IFB RFx Number: 3160007100

January 28, 2025.

This acknowledgment should be enclosed in your bid packet in accordance with the submission instructions located in the IFB. Failure to submit this acknowledgment may result in rejection of the bid.

Company Name: ________________________________________________________________

Printed Name of Representative: __________________________________________________

Date: _________________________________________________________________________

Signature: _____________________________________________________________________

IFB for Decision Support and Related Health Care Analysis Consulting Services

Procurement Questions and Answers

Procurement Section, Page Number

Date Received

Question (As submitted) Response

1. 02/11/2025, 9:54 AM

Will you please confirm that we can submit our vendor questions via the following email address? InsuranceRFP@dfa.ms.gov

All questions must be submitted as prescribed within the IFB to the email address identified.

2. 02/11/2025, 9:54 AM

We are a registered vendor today with the State of Mississippi but do we need to register on your MAGIC platform to submit our IFB proposal due on 2/28 or can we submit our proposal and exhibits/attachments via email.

Please understand that being recognized by the State of Mississippi Chief Procurement Officer for a state contract or cooperative is not the same as being a registered supplier with our state e-procurement system. If your company is not already registered with our state e-procurement system and has an assigned supplier number/account with it, we recommend doing so in advance as all electronic bids are required to be submitted via this system. Timely submission is the supplier’s responsibility, regardless of delivery method elected (electronic or paper). Assistance with supplier registration or any other system related issues is available via email, mash@dfa.ms.gov, or by calling the MMRS Call Center at (601) 359-1343. This registration is a one-time event, so we recommend retaining the supplier information and using a generic company contact method (email) versus a specific individual to prevent any potential issues later with your company’s account.

As stated in IFB Section 7.2.3, “Bids may be submitted in a paper format via the two address options below or electronically via the State of Mississippi’s Accountability System for Governmental Information and Collaboration mailto:InsuranceRFP@dfa.ms.gov

Page Number

Date Received

Question (As submitted) Response bid submission. Submission by other means will be rejected.

Furthermore, emailed submissions fail to meet the “sealed” competitive bid requirement.

3. Section 4.1.25 - Must have/provide the following functional system requirements, 02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

"Ability to provide audit trails" - Please further define the requirement related to audit trails.

This refers to the system’s ability to track and report changes and updates to the received and stored data.

4. Section 4.1.21 - Provide access to the system for a minimum of eight (8) designated users, page 7

02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

How many of the eight requested users will be third-party users from your consultant and actuary vendors?

The Board’s users currently include approximately 5 personnel in accounting, benefits, analysis, and management, as well as approximately 3 external actuarial and consultant users.

5. Section 7.1.6 - Signed IFB Statutory Requirement Disclosure Statement, pages 17-18

02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

Please provide a table showing the data source and data type that will be loaded to the

Management BCBS-MS Medical CVS Caremark Rx Minnesota Life Life Insurance Vendor Name Eligibility Vendor Name Biometrics Vendor Name Provider

Of the vendors listed in Section 7.1.6 of the IFB, the Board currently receives data into the decision support system from ActiveHealth® Management, Inc., Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, Caremark PCS Health (CVS Pharmacy, Inc.), Acentra Health f/k/a Keystone Peer Review Organization, Inc. (Kepro), and Minnesota Life Insurance Company. The Board reserves the right to add or delete vendors to the current list of entities that will supply data to the selected decision support services vendor.

Currently, the decision support system is receiving and maintaining wellness data relative to biometric measures, health risk assessments, and related risk assessment

Page Number

Date

Maintain on-line access to at least the most recent sixty (60) months of claims data, 02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

For #3, directly above, have any of the data sources/data types been in effect to support loading 63 months of data (based on claims' paid date) to the initial decision support system? Please share details in the data source table if data sources/data types have changed over time and if historic data only is needed for any data source/data type.

The vendors identified in Question #5 have remained the same for the past 5+ years, except for Caremark PCS Health

Inc.

Health & Wellness Management

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi

Medical

Caremark PCS Health (CVS Pharmacy, Inc.

Rx

Minnesota Life Insurance Company

Life Insurance

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi

Eligibility

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi; Caremark PCS Health (CVS Pharmacy, Inc.;

AND Acentra Health f/k/a Keystone Peer Review Organization, Inc. (Kepro)

Biometrics

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi; AND Caremark

Purpose, and

02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

How many of the 190,000 members are employees and retirees (I.e., excluding

Question Submission Deadline: February 11, 2025, 5:00 PM CST Response Issue Date: February 13, 2025

Section, Page Number

Date Received

Question (As submitted) Response

Background,

8. Section 4.1.17 - Cooperate with the Board and all other vendors of the Board with respect to on-going activities and in any transition of responsibilities, 02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

Please clarify the requirement for "any transition of responsibilities".

The Board’s goal is to minimize service disruption while providing adequate time and resources for the successful contract was awarded. It would be great to understand who the competitors are for this bid and what the price point was in the prior period.

The current Decision Support and Related Health Care Analysis Consulting contract with Health Data & Management Solutions, Inc. is viewable by the public via https://www.transparency.ms.gov/

From: Alicia Coleman Cc: Bert Emrick Bcc: molly.graham@merative.com; schrammt@merative.com; christoph.evanguelidi@merative.com;

dana.maul@merative.com; rpanella@mpro.org; jlonglais@artemishealth.com; amy.basile@benefitfocus.com;

patrick.guiney@milliman.com; kbaxley@abett.com; alicia.doyle@fticonsulting.com; donald.p.weber@us.pwc.com;

robert.t.williams@optum.com; judy.tse@truvenhealth.com; George Nessim

Subject: FW: State of Mississippi"s IFB for Decision Support and Related Health Care Analysis Consulting Services - RFx # 3160007100

Date: Thursday, February 13, 2025 1:59:00 PM Attachments: IFB RFx 3160007100 Amendment One.pdf Importance: High

Warmest greetings, This is just an email to apprise you the written answers to all questions and requests for clarification received by the time and date identified in IFB Section 2 were posted as Amendment One on February 13, 2025, on the agency website at https://www.dfa.ms.gov/bids-and-rfps-notices and on the Mississippi Contract/Procurement Opportunity Search Portal website at https://www.ms.gov/dfa/contract_bid_search/Bid?

autoloadGrid=False. For convenience purposes, Amendment One is attached to this email.

Bids must be submitted as described in the IFB and received no later than 2:00 PM CST, February 28, 2025.

Best regards, Alicia Coleman, MCPM, CMPA MDFA OI Procurement & Contracts Director Office of Insurance/Procurement & Contracts 601-359-9271 (Office) P.O. Box 24208 Jackson, MS 39225-4208

501 North West Street, Suite 1201C Jackson, MS 39201

Confidentiality Note: The information contained in this e-mail and/or document(s) attached is for the exclusive use by the individual named above and/or their organization and may contain confidential, privileged and non-disclosable information. If you are not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, please refrain from reading, photocopying, distributing, retransmission, or otherwise using this e-mail or its contents in any way. If you have received this email in error, please notify me immediately by replying “Received in Error” and delete this message from your computer.

From: Alicia Coleman Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2025 2:27 PM Cc: Bert Emrick <Bert.Emrick@dfa.ms.gov>; Carlotta Edwards <Carlotta.Edwards@dfa.ms.gov> Subject: State of Mississippi's IFB for Decision Support and Related Health Care Analysis Consulting mailto:Alicia.Coleman@dfa.ms.gov mailto:Bert.Emrick@dfa.ms.gov mailto:molly.graham@merative.com mailto:schrammt@merative.com mailto:christoph.evanguelidi@merative.com mailto:dana.maul@merative.com mailto:rpanella@mpro.org mailto:jlonglais@artemishealth.com mailto:amy.basile@benefitfocus.com mailto:patrick.guiney@milliman.com mailto:kbaxley@abett.com mailto:alicia.doyle@fticonsulting.com mailto:donald.p.weber@us.pwc.com mailto:robert.t.williams@optum.com mailto:judy.tse@truvenhealth.com mailto:nessim.george@gmail.com https://www.dfa.ms.gov/bids-and-rfps-notices https://www.ms.gov/dfa/contract_bid_search/Bid?autoloadGrid=False https://www.ms.gov/dfa/contract_bid_search/Bid?autoloadGrid=False

MDFA OI IFB RFx Number: 3160007100

January 28, 2025.

This acknowledgment should be enclosed in your bid packet in accordance with the submission instructions located in the IFB. Failure to submit this acknowledgment may result in rejection of the bid.

Company Name: ________________________________________________________________

Printed Name of Representative: __________________________________________________

Date: _________________________________________________________________________

Signature: _____________________________________________________________________

IFB for Decision Support and Related Health Care Analysis Consulting Services

Procurement Questions and Answers

Page Number

Date

1. 02/11/2025, 9:54 AM

Will you please confirm that we can submit our vendor questions via the following email address? InsuranceRFP@dfa.ms.gov

All questions must be submitted as prescribed within the IFB to the email address identified.

2. 02/11/2025, 9:54 AM

We are a registered vendor today with the State of Mississippi but do we need to register on your MAGIC platform to submit our IFB proposal due on 2/28 or can we submit our proposal and exhibits/attachments via email.

Please understand that being recognized by the State of Mississippi Chief Procurement Officer for a state contract or cooperative is not the same as being a registered supplier with our state e-procurement system. If your company is not already registered with our state e-procurement system and has an assigned supplier number/account with it, we recommend doing so in advance as all electronic bids are required to be submitted via this system. Timely submission is the supplier’s responsibility, regardless of delivery method elected (electronic or paper). Assistance with supplier registration or any other system related issues is available via email, mash@dfa.ms.gov, or by calling the MMRS Call Center at (601) 359-1343. This registration is a one-time event, so we recommend retaining the supplier information and using a generic company contact method (email) versus a specific individual to prevent any potential issues later with your company’s account.

As stated in IFB Section 7.2.3, “Bids may be submitted in a paper format via the two address options below or electronically via the State of Mississippi’s Accountability System for Governmental Information and Collaboration bid submission. Submission by other means will be rejected.

Furthermore, emailed submissions fail to meet the “sealed” competitive bid requirement.

3. Section 4.1.25 - Must have/provide the following functional system requirements, 02/11/2025, 10:25 AM

"Ability to provide audit trails" - Please further define the requirement related to audit trails.

This refers to the…