Medicare Cost Reporting Services

This is a sources sought notice prepared in accordance with the solicitation format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice.

The Division of Acquisition Policy (DAP) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Indian Health Service (IHS) wants to identify businesses that can provide the IHS Office of Resource Access and Partnership (ORAP) with the services outlined in section (vi) below.

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY.

This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. All responses will be used for market analysis in determining the availability of potential qualified businesses that may be used to determine the appropriate acquisition strategy. No solicitation is being issued at this time, but will be issued at a later date.

(ii) The solicitation number 75H70419R00033 is being issued as a sources sought notice.

(iii) A statement that the solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2019-02, dated June 5, 2019.

(iv) Pending receipt of responses from qualified vendors, the Government intends to issue a combined synopsis/solicitation RFP following the closure of this sources sought notice. The NAICS code for the requirement is 541219, Other Account Services, with a small business size standard of $20.5M.

(vi) The IHS provides comprehensive primary health care and disease prevention services to approximately 2.1 million American Indians and Alaska Natives through a network of over 632 hospitals, clinics, and health stations on or near Indian reservations. Facilities are predominantly
located in rural primary care settings and are managed by IHS, Tribal, and Urban Indian health programs. The IHS provides a wide range of clinical, public health and community services primarily to members of 576 federally recognized Tribes.

Under special legislative authority, Social Security Act (SSA), Title 18 and Title 19, the IHS is eligible for Medicare and Medicaid payment for services provided to these beneficiaries. The IHS is required to submit Medicare cost reports (Method A) to establish inpatient and outpatient Medicare and Medicaid rates used as the basis to set Medicare and Medicaid rates for reimbursement. Over $1 billion annually in collections from Medicare and Medicaid is used to maintain its current level of health care.

All Part A providers such as hospitals, skilled nursing homes, Home Health Agencies, Hospice and Federally Qualified Health Centers, Physicians, non-institutional providers, and federal hospitals, such as Veterans Hospitals, Indian Health Services Hospitals, some children's hospitals and emergency hospitals (hospital outside of the U.S.) are required to submit a cost report.

The IHS requires contract support services to complete 42 Medicare hospital cost reports, IHS wide management cost analyses, documented explanations of cost variances for determining the cost of delivering health care and developing specific reimbursement rates used by IHS, Tribal hospitals, and clinics. In addition, this includes allocating Headquarters (HQs) and Home Office costs to areas and hospital facilities. The Contractor must develop separate rates for 9 Critical Access Hospitals (CAH) based on a separate financial analysis. In order to properly allocate ancillary costs, the Contractor must conduct a chart cost audit to develop a statistical ratio split of ancillary costs between inpatient and outpatient service categories in Option Period 1 and Option Period 4 of the contract.

The Contractor shall develop and deliver Medicare cost reports, management cost analyses, cost report variances/explanations, support to determine the cost of delivering health care and developing
recommendations on cost of care for Medicare and Medicaid to support rate setting, CAH financial analysis, and an ancillary cost ratio development.

(vii) The period of performance will start from September 29, 2019 through September 28, 2020. In addition, four (4) Option Periods will be included with the award, with performance ending September 28, 2024 should all options be exercised. The work is to be performed from the Contractor site, at IHS Healthcare Facilities and IHS Offices. The acceptance term for the services and deliverables to be provided is FOB Destination.

(viii) N/A

(ix) N/A
(x) N/A

(xi) N/A

(xii) N/A

(xiii) N/A

(xiv) N/A

(xv) Responses must be submitted by July 3, 2019, 6 P.M. (EST). Questions are due June 28, 2019, 12 P.M. (EST).

All responsible sources that are capable of performing the work outlined in section (vi) may submit a written response to this notice, which shall be considered by the Agency. Indian Small Business Economic Enterprises, and other small and/or disadvantaged businesses are encouraged to apply. General capability statements will be considered non-responsive and will not be accepted. Please submit these responses by e-mail using pdf or MSWord to Brendon Moran, Contract Specialist, Division of Acquisition Policy, at Brendon.Moran@ihs.gov. SUBMISSIONS WILL ONLY BE ACCEPTED VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL. Written responses will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. TELEPHONE CALLS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

The Government requests interested parties submit a written response to this notice which includes:

1. Company name and a brief description of their company's business size (i.e. annual revenues and employee size);
2. Company point of contact, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, DUNS number, and website address;
3. Name, telephone number, and e-mail address of a company point of contact who has the authority and knowledge to clarify responses with Government representatives;
4. Business status (i.e., Small Business, SDB, 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOB, American Indian/Alaska Native owned business, etc.). Type of company is validated via the System for Award Management (SAM). All respondents must be registered on SAM located at https://www.sam.gov;
5. The firm's capability and experience in creating Medicare cost reports (particularly Method A) , cost analysis, documenting explanations of cost variances for determining the cost of delivering health care and developing specific reimbursement rates;
6. The firm's capability and experience in working with Federal Government healthcare agencies;
7. Description of same/similar services offered to the Federal Government and to commercial customers. Any responses involving teaming agreements should delineate between the work that will be accomplished by the prime and the work accomplished by the teaming partners;
8. Anticipated teaming arrangements (i.e. prime contractor/subcontractor, joint venture, mentor-protege relationship, etc.);
9. Applicable GSA Schedule number or other available procurement vehicle, if applicable;
10. Date Submitted.

Disclaimer and Important Notes:
This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract. Any information provided by industry to the Government as a result of this sources sought synopsis is strictly voluntary. Responses will not be returned. No entitlements to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges to the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses, or the Government's use of such information or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published on a government GPE. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.
Confidentiality:
No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

(xvi) The Indian Health Service Point of Contact for the solicitation is Brendon Moran, Contract Specialist, Division of Acquisition Policy. All questions regarding the solicitation must be emailed to Brendon.Moran@ihs.gov.

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