Health Care Financing Administration, Acquisition and Grants Group, C2-21-15, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD., 21244-1850

U -- EDUCATION & TRAINING SERVICES -- ESTABLISH NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND CRITERIA FOR MEDICARE BENEFICIARY REPRESENTATIVE POSITIONS ON PEER REVIEW ORGANIZATION (PRO) BOARD OF DIRECTORS. SOL HCFA-CAC-BG POC Beverly Gillette 410-786-5142 The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) intends to award, on a sole source basis, a fixed-price contract to the Citizen Advocacy Center, 1400 16th Street, N.W., Suite 330, Washington, D.C. 20036 to establish national qualifications and criteria for Medicare beneficiary representative positions on Peer Review Organization (PRO) Board of Directors. The Office of Clinical Standards and Quality (OCSQ), within HCFA, is responsible for designing and implementing programs to promote improved health status of beneficiaries in assisting HCFA's mission to assure access to affordable and high quality health services for all beneficiaries. Section 9353(b)of OBRA 1986 amended Section 1152 of the Social Security Act to require that each PRO governing board include at least one Medicare eligible consumer representative. The goal of this contract is to ensure that beneficiary representatives will provide consistent representation nation-wide and will result in more active representation in defending beneficiary rights in HCFA's efforts to maintain quality. Technical assistance may need to be provided to PROs in assessing qualifications and conducting the selection process for beneficiary representatives. The qualifications developed in this project may also be used for other HCFA component beneficiary groups. This synopsis is for information purposes only, does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. Specific qualifications needed to perform this work are: 1) neither a PRO nor a PRO-like entity may be considered because of conflict of interest; 2) a minimum of five years' experience training PRO beneficiary representatives to be effective board members; 3) experience in training public members of health decision-making bodies such as state licensing boards, voluntary specialty credentialing bodies, etc.; 4) familiarity with strategies and tactics of effective representation of consumer interest on regulatory and governing boards; 5) demonstrated experience networking public members on health regulatory and overisght bodies, including PROs, which includes developing newsletters and other communication vehicles and operating an information clearinghouse for public representatives; and 6) familiarity with HCFAs PRO contracts, particularly those aspects of the Sixth Statement of Work which affect beneficiary rights and responsibilities and PRO quality improvement projects. Interested parties who believe they can meet these requirements should submit a written capability statement within fifteen (15) days of the publication date of this notice to: HCFA, Acquisition and Grants Group, Division of Quality Contracts, ATTN: Beverly Gillette, Mail Stop C2-21-15, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21244-1850. No telephone, facisimile or telegraphic requests will be accepted. The name of a point of contact should be specified, include a telephone number and indicate your organization size status per Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 19.102. It is anticipated that a Firm Fixed Price contract will be awarded (but HCFA reserves the right to award other types of contract arrangements) with a one year period of performance plus 2 one-year options to begin on or about June 1, 2000. Posted 03/16/00 (W-SN435226). (0076)

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