CMS Nixes Request for Bidder Names

WASHINGTON — CMS has declined a request from 136 members
of the House of Representatives calling for early release of the
winners in Round 1 of competitive bidding, AAHomecare
reported. The representatives had asked for the information,
including those bidders whose bids were used to calculate the
resulting bid
rates, by Aug. 20.

In an Aug. 30 letter addressed to Reps. Jason Altmire, D-Pa.,
and Ralph Hall, R-Texas, who spearheaded the request, CMS
Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick explained the decision:

“First and foremost, we believe that providing a series of
interim lists of suppliers would result in beneficiary confusion,
undermining the orderly and effective implementation of the
program. In addition, we have not yet notified the suppliers whose
bids were not among the winning bids and we believe that these
suppliers should be notified before the names of the suppliers with
winning bids are released to the public. Further, announcing a
subset of suppliers before the contracting process is complete
could be viewed as giving those suppliers an unfair competitive
advantage.

“In addition, the premature release of information may
jeopardize the procurement process itself. At the request of the
DMEPOS industry, the Request for Bids, which outlined the
requirements governing the bid submission and evaluation process,
indicated that bidder information could only be disclosed in an
anonymous or aggregate format and that proprietary information
would be protected from disclosure. Further, standard procurement
rules prohibit disclosing the identities of bidders until after
contracts are final.”

AAHomecare said the letter would also be sent to the other 134
House members who cosigned the Altmire-Hall request.

According to a Round 1 timeline, CMS is slated to release the
names of contract winners in September, and Berwick confirmed that
date in his response.

“Under the DMEPOS competitive bidding program, the contracting
process is not complete and contracts are not awarded until CMS
signs the contracts, and CMS does not sign the contracts until all
of the contract suppliers have signed,” Berwick wrote. “Although
this is a fairly time-consuming and labor-intensive process, we
anticipate that the contracts will be signed by all parties by the
end of September. CMS is committed to publicly sharing the list of
final contract suppliers at that time.”

However, AAHomecare pointed out, there is no statutory
requirement for the agency to do so.

While CMS released the Round 1 single payment amounts in July,
the timeframe for release of bid winners “will not allow sufficient
congressional review and time to educate beneficiaries,” the
association said in its report.

Read the letter from CMS on the AAHomecare website.

View more competitive bidding
stories.