Notice of Intent to Issue Sole Source Bridge Contract

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) intends to issue a Bridge Contract to HighPoint Digital, Inc. (HighPoint) for Training, Quality Assurance and Content Development (TQC) while CMS completes a competitive procurement for the continuation of these services.  An unsuccessful Offeror submitted a protest to the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) in October 2022.  The protest will not be resolved in time to allow for an adequate transition period prior to expiration of the existing TQC contract on January 31, 2023 (HHSM-500-2013-00099C).  CMS requires that these critical TQC support services continue during the time period January 31, 2022 (when the current contract expires) through the time the follow-on contract is awarded and fully transitioned.  Transition of a contract of this magnitude is extensive and is anticipated to take up to approximately six (6) months to complete.  This Bridge Contract is necessary because it will ensure continued and uninterrupted development and deployment of training and scripted content used to support customer service representatives (CSRs) until the new contract can be awarded and fully transitioned.Under this TQC contract, the contractor develops and maintains training and content solutions/materials used by customer service representatives (CSRs) to address Medicare and Marketplace inquiries in a manner that is complete, accurate and consistent.The proposed Bridge Contract will be awarded on or before January 31, 2023 for a six (6) month base period and two (2) option periods of four (4) months and two (2) months, respectively.  The purpose of this Bridge Contract is to acquire continued support of TQC operations with an objective of providing uninterrupted training and scripted content to CSRs for both the Medicare and Marketplace