Department of Health and Human Services · Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services · OFC OF ACQUISITION AND GRANTS MGMT
Account requiredWhy it scored this way
Every reason behind the verdict rather than the headline one — which of your certifications match, how much runway is left, whether the work is your size, and what we would need to know to sharpen it.
The requirements that decide a bid — bonding, clearances, experience minimums, page limits — live in the attachments, not in the notice above. Start a free trial to upload them and have them read.
Draft the paperwork
Written against this notice and what you have told us about your company. Anything we do not know is marked [NEEDS INPUT] in the draft rather than guessed at — read it before you send it. Federal notices routinely put the real requirement in an attachment; adding the documents above makes every one of these materially better.
Start a free trial to draft these. Nothing is sent to an agency on your behalf, ever — you get a document to review, edit and submit yourself.
What would disqualify you
Read straight from the solicitation documents: the bonding, clearances, insurance minimums, experience thresholds and deadlines that decide whether you can bid at all — before you write a word.
Compliance matrix
Every stated and implied requirement, its source section, whether it is mandatory, and where your response will address it.
Proposal outline
A submission skeleton where every required element is a heading with its source requirement quoted beneath it. You write the substance; nothing gets forgotten.
Questions to submit
Genuine ambiguities and requirements that disadvantage a smaller bidder, drafted as questions you can submit before the Q&A deadline.
Past performance write-ups
Which of your prior awards best match this requirement, and draft write-ups in the format the agency asked for.
Solicitation details
Solicitation number
75FCMC27R0001
Notice type
Presolicitation
NAICS
524114
Product service code
G007
Set-aside
Unrestricted
Posted
2026-09-22
Response deadline
Nov 2, 2026, 4:00 PM UTC
Place of performance
Baltimore, MD
Contracting contact
alyssa.jones@cms.hhs.gov
Market intelligence
Account requiredWho wins this work, and what it pays
Comparable awards under NAICS 524114 at this agency — the incumbent, what they were paid, when their period of performance ends, and the real pricing distribution rather than the headline number. From public federal award records.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) intends to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to obtain a Medicare Administrative Contractor (hereinafter referred to as “the contractor”) to provide specified health insurance benefit administration services, including Medicare claims processing and payment services, in support of the Medicare Program (also known as the Medicare Fee-For-Service or FFS) for Jurisdiction 8. Jurisdiction 8 encompasses the following states: Indiana and Michigan. Prior to issuing the final solicitation, with this synopsis CMS is issuing a draft RFP (inclusive of the RFP and attachments) to allow potential offerors an opportunity to review the requirements and submit questions. Consistent with the statement of work, the contractor shall perform numerous functions to support healthcare services for Medicare beneficiaries, which include performing claims-related activities and establishing relationships with providers of Medicare services, both institutional and professional, both in-patient (Part A) and out-patient (Part B). The contractor will perform the requirements of this contract in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, Medicare manuals, as well as CMS requirements to ensure the financial integrity of the Medicare FFS Program. Pursuant to the authority of FAR Part 15, Contracting by Negotiation, CMS intends to conduct a full and open procurement to fulfill this need. Accordingly, the Contracting Officer will seek to award to the vendor whose proposal represents the best solution to CMS’ requirements at a fair and reasonable price. Award will be made to the Offeror whose proposal offers the best overall value to the Government using FAR 15.103-1 Trade-off approach, which “…is appropriate when it may be in the Government’s best interest to consider award to other than the lowest priced offeror or other than the highest technically rated offeror …”; affording the Government the most advantageous balance of cost and technical factors as defined in the upcoming solicitation. The resulting contract is anticipated to include a base year plus eight (8) one-year options. The NAICS code applicable to this procurement is 524114, Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers, with a small business size standard of $47.0 million. All questions concerning the procurement must be submitted electronically in response to this Draft RFP via email in Microsoft Excel format to the following address: MAC_Procurement@cms.hhs.gov by 10:00 AM EST, August 17, 2026. Technical questions submitted by telephone or verbally will not be honored. The offeror shall group questions together, i.e., by relevant solicitation section or attachment. Submission of questions shall include at a minimum, company name, address, point of contact, email address and phone number. Offerors shall submit questions in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, as set forth in Attachment J.29. Answers to questions CMS determines to be necessary for proposal preparation will be conveyed in the Final solicitation. CMS anticipates releasing the Final solicitation for Jurisdiction 8 on or about October 1, 2026, with proposals due approximately November 2, 2026. Award is anticipated to be approximately September 2027. It will be the offeror’s responsibility to check the same site where the Draft solicitation is posted for the Final solicitation and closing date. This solicitation is expected to be issued pending availability of funds. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Update on 9/9/26 The J8 MAC draft solicitation notice is being updated to post the Questions and Answers from the draft solicitation so potential offerors have additional time to review them ahead of the final solicitation being released. Additionally, several redlined solicitation attachments that were updated as a result of the Questions and Answers are being posted as well. The redlined documents are as follows: J.01 Statement of Work_Redline J.21 Proposal Self-Check Tool_Redline J.22 Basis of Estimate - Updated 9_3_2026 (Redline Item Number 338) J.23 Government Provided Proposal Assumptions (GPPA)_Redline J.23.A Audit & Reimbursement Tables - Updated 9_3_2026 (Redline) J.23.B CSR-Handled Telephone Inquiries Table_Redline J8 Sections B-M Q&A revised The final solicitation will be released in the next two to three weeks, before the end of September 2026, and the due date of proposals will remain at November 2, 2026 11:00 am EST. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Update on 9/22/2026 CMS has received 10 additional questions on the J8 MAC draft RFP (highlighted in yellow at the bottom of the document entitled “Draft RFP 75FCMC27R0001 QAs - additional QAs.”) and provided answers to them. The following documents have been attached to this updated Draft Solicitation Posting: 1. Draft RFP 75FCMC27R0001 QAs - additional QAs 2. Word document version of the Subcontracting Plan entitled “HHS Subcontract Plan Template” – please note that CMS will not accept a Word Version submission of the subcontracting plan for J8. The subcontracting plan must be submitted through SBCX link. 3. J.23 Government Provided Proposal Assumptions (GPPA)(002) Redline. The update to this document notes the following: for proposal purposes, Offerors shall expect the TCEDI Gateway to be implemented prior to the start of the contract and propose accordingly. 4. J.22 Basis of Estimate - Updated 9_18_2026 (Redline) CMS anticipates releasing the final J8 MAC proposal early next week (week of September 28th).
Contact
Point of contact
Alyssa Jones
Role
not stated on this notice — SAM publishes a role for only about 5% of them, so this may be a contract specialist rather than the contracting officer
Email
alyssa.jones@cms.hhs.gov
Secondary
mark.smolenski@cms.hhs.gov
Submit questions
Ambiguities and requirements worth clarifying, written as questions you can send before the deadline.
Opens in your own mail client, addressed and with a subject line — you write the message. GovSprint never sends anything on your behalf.
Emails open in your mail client and are sent from your address, so the reply comes back to you and the exchange stays yours. Confirm the correct channel and any question deadline on the notice before sending — many solicitations require questions in a specific way.
