B -- Physician Practice Expense (PE) Data

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) intends to contract on a sole source basis with the American Medical Association for the further development of SMS survey data to assist the Center for Medicare Management. CMS is using the exception to full and open competition described in FAR 6.302-1 to procure this information.Section 121 of the Social Security Amendments of 1994 (Pub.L.103-432) required the Secretary to implement a system of resource-based practice expense relative value units (PERVUs) for all physicians' services, beginning in 1998. Section 4505 of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA)(Pub.L.105-33) made a number of changes to the system for determining PERVUs, including delay of initian implementation until 1999 and provision for a four-year transition. CMS adopted methodology for computing resource-based preactice expense RVUs utilized significant sources of actual practice expense data that were available; the Clinical Practice Expert Panel (CPEP) data and the AMA's SMS data. The AMA's SMS collected information on aggregate practice expenses from a random national survy of approximately 4,000 physicians who spend the greatest proposrtion of their time in patient care activities. The survey includes AMA members and non-AMA member physicians and office and hospital-based physicians. CMS initially used practice expenses data by specialty, derived from the 1995 through 1997 SMS survey data, to create six cost pools: administrative labor, clinical labor, medical supplies, medical equipment, office suplies, and all other expenses. The AMA's SMS survey of actual cost data was used to determine practice expense per hour by cost category. CMS subsequently updated the data by incorporating SMS data from 1998 and 1999. The AMA discontinued the SMS survey due to its cost and CMS is unable to further update the data. In order to receive new data necessary for the practice expense methodology, CMS plans to offset some of the AMA's survey cost by purchasing the necessary data from the AMA and to include modifications to the survey that include additional questions specific to CMS' requirements. The proposed contract type is a firm-fixed price. A Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition citing the authority provided by FAR 6.302-1 will be prepared and approved. Interested parties must submit complete cost and technical informaiton by the response date established above. Email or fax responses are not acceptable. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Informaiton received will be reviewed solely for the purposes of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. See Note 22. Direct questions to Georgette Vlangas at (410) 786-8372.