Round 2: CMS makes 20 awards for $5B research support contract
By
Ross Wilkers
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services makes a second try at awarding a $5 billion data and research support contract that could be protested again.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has made its second attempt at awarding a six-year, $5 billion contract for data and research services to support federal health care programs.
CMS reassessed proposals for its Research, Measurement, Assessment, Design and Analysis 2 contract after it pulled back the initial batch of awards in November. Four companies filed protests in September after they missed out, then CMS apparently found problems in the procurement and decided to pull back the original awards.
Three of those protestors appear to have won a place on this second version of the contract, according to an award notice posted Wednesday. One incumbent in Acumen, plus a pair of newcomers in Customer Value Partners and Westat saw their proposals selected.
The 17 companies originally selected in September kept their places after CMS re-evaluated proposals, which brings the total number of awardees to 20.
A fourth protestor in FEI Systems was not selected for RMADA 2 and could still file a protest after a debrief, as could five other incumbents who were still not selected.
So too could those companies whose bids remain unselected after two attempts at an award. CMS received 45 proposals for RMADA 2, according to Federal Procurement Data System information.