DBM Billing and COBRA Administration System

The State of Maryland Department of Budget and Management is requesting proposals for a cloud-based Billing and Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) Administration System (Solicitation BPM057552), with proposals due August 28, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. EST. A Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) subcontracting goal of 5 percent and a Veteran-Owned Small Business Enterprise (VSBE) participation goal of 2 percent apply to this procurement.

The scope encompasses turnkey Software as a Service (SaaS) administration of direct billing and COBRA services integrating with the State Personnel System (Workday). The contractor must process approximately 923 monthly qualifying events, 1,530 monthly new hires, and 1,451 monthly terminations; manage approximately 650 initial COBRA notices, 650 18-month notices, 220 36-month notices, and 15 expiration notices monthly; and administer twelve qualified health plans across six insurance carriers. The contractor must serve approximately 78,000 active employees, 300 current COBRA participants, 1,850 COBRA-eligible former employees, approximately 3,000 direct-billing participants as of January 1, 2027, and approximately 2,700 payroll-deduction participants transitioning on that date, with administrative support from 12–15 state users. The State retains responsibility for printing and mailing COBRA notices; the contractor provides templated notifications. Virtual oral presentations are scheduled for August 24–25, 2026 by appointment. The contractor must achieve full operational readiness within 120 days of contract commencement.

The contract term is ten years with no renewal options, anticipated to commence October 2026. Pricing is firm fixed-price, fully-loaded Per Employee Per Month (PEPM) rates on a monthly arrears basis, plus one-time implementation fees; rates must remain flat for the first five contract years. Bidders must document minimum ten years of direct billing and COBRA administration experience and provide three client references. The contractor must maintain comprehensive insurance coverage including $1 million commercial general liability, $500,000 professional liability, $1 million crime insurance, and $5 million cyber security/data breach insurance, and must comply with HIPAA, the HITECH Act, Maryland's Personal Information Protection Act, and WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA accessibility standards. Disaster recovery and business continuity require a geographically redundant backup site at least 100 miles from primary operations with 24-hour recovery time objective and one-hour recovery point objective. Key personnel include a dedicated Account Service Representative (100% full-time equivalent, though not exclusively assigned to the State). Maryland's living wage requirements apply to this contract. The State has filed a Small Business Reserve waiver; the procurement encourages small businesses to submit proposals as prime contractors at secondary competition level.

Questions were due July 30, 2026. Amendment 1 (August 5, 2026) clarified operational scope and PEPM rate structures. Amendment 2 (August 17, 2026) advanced the due date to August 21, 2026. Amendment 3 (August 21, 2026) revised the due date to August 28, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. EST and clarified the Account Service Representative dedication requirement.