Electronic Clinical Quality Measures Standards and Support   3

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) intends to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Electronic Clinical Quality Measures (eCQM) Standards and Support. The primary purpose of this contract is to achieve updates for standards and evolution of these standards for eCQM reporting as well as harmonization and alignment for the electronic clinical quality improvement (eCQI) ecosystem related efforts for both eCQM and clinical decision support (CDS). This will be accomplished through the expertise of the Contractor as well as collaborating with industry experts. Some of this harmonization will occur with the support of the Standards and Interoperability (S&I) Framework, and some will occur in other communities (e.g., Health Level 7 Working Groups) with the Contractor leading and performing this task.

The other main purpose of this contract is to continue to support CMS's efforts to provide an online, single location eCQI Resource Center. This includes information, education, and program web links related to eCQM topics, programs and reporting and submission information. This work was initiated by a federal Contractor in an existing contract, but will be transitioned to and continued through this new contract.

The Contractor and any applicable subcontractors must work collaboratively or as directed, with all other federal Contractors supporting business functions related to eCQM and CDS development and implementation.

As part of the harmonization process within CMS, the Contractor shall understand the Lean methodology, including single piece flow (SPF) system in conjunction with scrum/agile and apply these principles and practices when appropriate and agreed upon by the Contractor and COR. Single piece flow refers to the Lean concept of moving one work piece at a time through the development cycle rather than process an entire batch of a deliverable or document before moving it to the next operation. Scrum/agile refers to a Lean methodology that is an iterative and incremental development framework for managing software projects and product or application development.

This procurement is a competitive small business set-aside, under NAICS code 541690 (Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services) with a size standard of $15million.

It is anticipated that CMS will award a one (1) year cost-plus-fixed-fee contract with four (4) option years.

This announcement is not a request for proposal (RFP). The solicitation package will be available 15 calendar days after this notice and the due date of receipt of proposals are 30 days from the RFP issue date. The solicitation will be available on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website. Contract awards are anticipated by August 2015. It will be the Offeror's responsibility to frequently check the FedbizOpps site where the solicitation is to be posted for any amendments, changes to the RFP issue and closing date. Questions related to this synopsis should be referred to Irina Perl at Irina.Perl@cms.hhs.gov.

Contractors must be free of conflicts of interest or prepare an OCI mitigation plan to address any actual, potential or apparent organizational conflicts of interest that could arise.

All contractual and technical questions must be submitted in writing (via e-mail). Telephone questions will not be accepted. The Government is not obligated or committed to award any contract as a result of this notice. Hard copies or CD ROMs will not be available. Telephone and fax requests will not be honored.

Source selection procedures will be used with the intent to award a cost plus fixed-fee contract to the responsible Offeror whose proposal, conforming to the Request for Proposal (RFP), is the most advantageous and offers the best value to the Government, price and other factors considered.