It was a pleasure to work with you, as you and your team made this process a more pleasant experience for our team and the participants.
Karen Perry
CMS is soliciting information from small IT service vendors that might be interested in taking over the operation of HealthCare.gov after the agency's one-year contract with Accenture expires, according to documents released Thursday, FCW reports.
In January, CMS announced that it was awarding Accenture a one-year contract to oversee HealthCare.gov and prepare for next year's open enrollment period.
The announcement came one day after CGI Federal -- the previous lead contractor on the federal health insurance exchange website -- said its three-year contract would not be renewed when it expired on Feb. 28 (iHealthBeat, 1/13).
The "sources sought" notice, published on the Federal Business Opportunities website, outlines qualities CMS will be looking for when it begins reviewing candidates to fill the contracting slot (Mazmanian, FCW, 4/21).
see https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=cb602ee639f1545f87acf2ce...
According to Modern Healthcare, Accenture would not qualify if it sought to continue its working relationship with CMS because the company earned $7.13 billion in 2013.
In the notice, CMS asks interested and eligible small vendors -- defined as those with annual revenues under $25 million -- to submit their information by May 2.
A small vendor could potentially be allowed to team up with a larger company for the available contract, but the larger company would be regarded as a subcontractor and will be permitted to work on no more than 49% of the work.
If the response rate from small vendors falls below expectations, CMS could issue a general request for formal proposals, which would permit contract bids from any company, including Accenture.
According to Modern Healthcare, Accenture would train any replacement during a 60-day transition period before handing over operational control.
Some industry experts note that CMS' solicitation for information does not necessarily signify that the agency is dissatisfied with Accenture's work.
Kev Coleman, head of data and research at HealthPocket, said the two entities' relationship would only be determined by examining the exchange's security and performance in November, when the second open enrollment period begins (Dickson, Modern Healthcare, 4/21).
It was a pleasure to work with you, as you and your team made this process a more pleasant experience for our team and the participants.
I just want to tell you that I value people relations more than money. I remember how you were friendly and helpful not going against policies and contractual obligations at the same time, not using your power to make us feel stupid and small. It was a very rare and big experience for me. Really. I will always remember this.
The Usability People are all individuals that you can become friends with very easily. They have a lot of different interests and are a pleasure to work with. I was writing a PRD/MRD for a billing solution and worked with The Usability People in defining the user interface. They are receptive to ideas and are able to mold the user interface from an end-user's perspective. I really liked the idea of putting end-user photograph & short biography around the office to help understand the users