This notice is for information purposes only. This work (PFDC) is being done as a modification to an existing contract, HHSM-500-2010-00028C that was awarded to National Government Services, Inc. IAW FAR Part 16, the PFDC contract was competitively awarded in August 2010 and approved to be awarded as "Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee". This modification is to exercise option year 1, which will enable the government to help the PFDC contractor develop and finalize the business and technical requirements for the files transferred between the PFDC, NLR, Treasury, and the Medicare bank; conduct daily balancing/reconciliation to the National Level Repository (NLR) including data integrity testing between the NLR and the PFDC systems; attend meetings and conference calls with various CMS components and HITECH contractors to help develop business and technical requirements for the interface between the PFDC and the NLR; review and comment on established and proposed HITECH processes; prepare the weekly PFDC project schedule and coordinate with both CMS HITECH and contractor staff on updating the HITECH integrated project schedule on a weekly basis; attend the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and Technical Review Board meetings in Baltimore and other meetings as required; ensure that all HITECH conference calls are attended by PFDC staff with adequate technical and programmatic understanding of both the PFDC tasks and the broader HITECH project goals to contribute effectively to the progress of the HITECH project.
CMS must ensure that the PFDC has participated in the development of the business and technical requirements for the file transfer between the PFDC, NLR, Treasury, and the Medicare Bank and that they modify their internal systems to capture these data and to transfer updates from the monthly payment activity back into the NLR. It is essential to the success of the HITECH program that the PFDC has adequate staffing and financial resources to gather information and attend meetings associated with requirements development and to report progress through the integrated schedule. Finally, it is critical that the PFDC establish and manage data integrity test protocols to ensure that data reported from their internal systems is identical to reports generated from the NLR.

The Contracting Officer determined at time of award that a Cost-Reimbursement contract was suitable for this requirement as uncertainties in the services required did not permit the Government or contractor to estimate with sufficient accuracy in order to use a fixed-price contract.

The business requirements for the Payment File Development Contractor (PFDC) were discussed by OFM/FSG leadership and staff with OAGM leadership and the Contracting Officer. The discussion concluded that no other viable alternative to awarding a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract through full and open competition could be found which would meet the collective requirements of time, end result effectiveness, cost/price, and lowest risk to the Government, and highest quality result.
CMS executive leadership, as well as the CMS executive HITECH Steering Committee has designated OFM- FMSG as the primary Agency business owner of Phase-1 of the ARRA-HITECH incentive payment program. To this end, OFM is in need of ensuring that its payment systems and processes can support HITECH program demands. Importantly, HITECH funding is managed according to ARRA requirements; therefore, HITECH payments to providers cannot comingle with regular Medicare payments. As such, CMS/OFM/FMSG determined that a PFDC is required in order to disburse HITECH payments outside of the regular Medicare payment system and to ensure proper ARRA funds control and accountability.