Socioeconomic status adjustments for pharmacy quality alliance measures

NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD SOLE SOURCE

INTENT TO AWARD SOLE SOURCE: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Center of Medicare (CM) intends to negotiate and award as a sole source procurement to the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA), 6213 Old Keene Mill Court, Springfield, VA 22152-2324. The sole source award will be made under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies and Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. A Sole Source Justification has been approved. This requirement is intended as a sole source contract because the PQA is the sole proprietor of the measures used by CMS in the Part D Star Ratings, PQA is responsible for developing and maintaining its' measures and ensuring that the measures remain endorsed by the National Quality Forum. This includes re-specifying its' measures for case mix adjustment or other exclusion criteria if warranted after examination of this issue. 

PQA Requirements: The PQA, with expertise in developing and maintaining medication-related quality measures, is in a unique position as the measures steward to analyze this issue in order to preserve the integrity of the measures and ensure comparability amongst plans. CMS currently uses several PQA-endorsed measures as part of the CMS Part D Star Rating measure set. The measures include:

• High Risk Medication (HRM) measure
• Medication Adhere(ADH) for Cholesterol (Statins)
• Medication Adherence (ADH) for Hypertension (RAS Antagonists)
• Medication Adherence (ADH) for Diabetes Medications
• Medication Therapy Management Program Comprehensive Medication Review Completion Rate
• Statin Use in Persons with Diabetes (SUPD)

NAICS CODE: The North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) is 813920 - Professional Organizations.

INTERESTED PARTIES: All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency. To be considered, interest vendors must submit technical literature describing their capability to effectively satisfy this requirement, as well as terms and conditions and a complete price quote within 15 days of this notice, to the following electronic mail address: Lucille.Lee@cms.hhs.gov.

DISCLAIMER: This notice is not a Request for Proposals or a Solicitation, nor does it restrict the Government as to the ultimate acquisition approach. This notice is not a commitment from the Government. The Government will not reimburse any bid or proposal costs as a result of this notice. No solicitation exists and requests for a copy of the solicitation will be disregarded. However, any future solicitation that will be open to competition will be subsequently issued on FedBizOpps in order to permit firms to respond.