American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. , American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Drug Information database

Pursuant to the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i), the Contracting Officer may solicit from one source if the Contracting Officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source is reasonably available. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Program Support Center (PSC), Acquisition Management Services (AMS), on behalf of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Consolidated Data Analysis Center (CDAC), intends to sole source to:

American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc.
7272 Wisconsin Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814

CDAC seeks to obtain a subscription to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc., American Hospital Formulary Service (AHFS) Drug Information database. Use of the database ensures that Medicare and Medicaid coverage for prescription drugs is limited to those that are medically accepted indications, and supports OIG/CDAC's mission to promote the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of HHS managed programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start.

For Medicare Part D and Medicaid coverage, the Social Security Act lists the following acceptable compendia for use of drug coverage: (1) the AHFS Drug Information compendium; (2) Truven Health Analytics Inc. DrugDex Information System; and (3) United States Pharmacopeia-Drug Information (USPDI). For Part B coverage, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has designated (1) the AHFS Drug Information compendium, (2) Truven Health Analytics DrugDex Information System, (3) National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Drugs and Biologics Compendium, and (4) Elsevier Gold Standard Drug Database.

Because an indication being listed in any of these compendia is generally enough to justify coverage, OIG must purchase each compendia in order to effectively complete any work involving the appropriateness of payments for off-label use. USPDI is no longer published. Of the remaining four compendia, the Office of Management and Policy has already purchased access to quarterly downloads of DrugDex. Region III OIG has already purchased a hardcopy of AHFS DI and one year of online access for NCCN and Elsevier's Clinical Pharmacology. OIG must upgrade the formats of these compendia to allow for the downloading and warehousing of legacy versions, as historical data is necessary for OIG's work. The electronic format, therefore, is required to complete OIG's ongoing and planned work involving off-label use of drugs. Without the AHFS DI database, OIG would be unable to conduct its work or protect the programs and beneficiaries from inappropriate uses of prescription drugs.

This is not a solicitation for competitive proposal. No solicitation document is available. All responsible sources that have determined that they can provide the same services may submit product information and a capabilities statement that speaks to the services OIG/CDAC is seeking in this proposed acquisition. The email subject line must reference OIG156615. All responses are due by July 2, 2015, 12:00 PM Eastern Time and can be sent to Khristine Agnello at Khristine.Agnello@psc.hhs.gov. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract base upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.