The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is now soliciting bids for the Round 2 and national mail-order competitions of the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies Competitive Bidding Program.
All bids must be submitted in DBidS, the online bidding system, by 8:59:59 p.m. EST on March 30. All required hardcopy documents that must be included as part of the bid package must be received by the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) on or before March 30.
The contract period for the Round 2 and national mail-order competitions is July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2016.
All bidders must submit certain required hardcopy documents as specified in the Request for Bids (RFB) Instructions. Under the covered document review process, CMS will notify suppliers that submit their hardcopy financial documents by the covered document review date (CDRD) of any missing financial documents. The CDRD for the Round 2 and national mail-order competitions is February 29; financial documents must be received on or before February 29 to qualify for the covered document review process.
Suppliers that submit financial documents by the CDRD will be notified of any missing financial documents within 90 days of the CDRD. Suppliers then have 10 business days after notification to submit missing financial documents.
Competitive bidding areas and product categories for the Round 2 and national mail order competitions, DBidS information, bid preparation worksheets, educational materials, email updates and complete RFB instructions can be found on the CBIC website (www.DMECompetitiveBid.com).
End users, as well as any Authorized Officials (AOs) and Backup Authorized Officials (BAOs) should now register for a user ID and password in CMS’ Individuals Authorized Access to the CMS Computer Services (IACS) system. Only suppliers that have registered in IACS and received a user ID and password will be able to access the online bidding system and submit bids. Suppliers whose AOs have not registered may experience delays in accessing the online bidding system to get a bidder number and thereby miss the opportunity to submit financial documents by the CDRD.
ID and password registration will close on February 9, 2012 at 9 p.m. EST. Suppliers that do not register cannot bid and are not eligible for contracts.
