Accountable Care Organization Medicare Shared Savings Program (ACO MSSP)

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL or SOLICITATION AND DOES NOT COMMIT CMS TO AWARD A CONTRACT NOW OR IN THE FUTURE

Introduction:

This Sources Sought Notice (SSN) is being issued to obtain capability statements from Small Businesses (SB)s that are capable, available and qualified to support Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and specifically both the Center for Medicare (CM), Performance-based payment Policy Group (PPPG) and Office of Financial Management (OFM), Financial Services Group (FSG.)

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is hereby conducting market research to determine the availability and capability of potential small businesses (e.g., 8(a), service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, veteran-owned small business and woman-owned small business) that can provide the services identified in the attached Accountable Care Organization Medicare Shared Savings Program Financial Services (ACO MSSP) draft Statement of Work (SOW), see Attachment 1.

The purpose of this contract is to have a Contractor issue payments to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). The Contractor will perform financial services primarily to issue Electronic Funds Transfers to the ACOs, with additional support activities including validating payees, transaction monitoring and reconciliations and reporting.

Contractors must be free of conflicts of interest or be able to prepare an Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) mitigation plan to address any actual, potential, or apparent organizational conflicts of interest that could arise.

Contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database located at https://www.sam.gov/ prior to award, during performance, and through final payment of any contract resulting from this Notice. Contractors may obtain information on SAM registration by visiting: https://www.acquisition.gov.

This announcement is a Sources Sought Notice (SSN) for planning purposes only. This is not an invitation for bid, request for quote or other solicitation and in no way obligates the Government to award a contract. CMS will not entertain questions regarding this market research.

Background:

The MSSP is a voluntary program that encourages groups of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to come together as an ACO to give coordinated, high-quality care to their Medicare beneficiaries. When ACOs deliver on providing that care while improving patient health outcomes and reducing Medicare spending, they may be eligible to share in a portion of those savings. As of January 1, 2026, there are 511 ACOs participating in the MSSP servicing 12.6 million beneficiaries.

Within the MSSP, CMS enters into agreements with ACOs. Within each performance year of the agreement period, the ACOs share in a percentage of the savings they generate if the expenditures of the ACO's assigned beneficiaries falls below the benchmark by an amount that meets or exceeds a minimum savings rate threshold, and if they also meet the quality performance standard and otherwise maintain their eligibility to participate in the MSSP.

The MSSP also offers an Advance Investment Payment (AIP) option where eligible ACOs receive an upfront payment of $250,000 and two years of quarterly payments.

The Center for Medicare (program office) is always evaluating the program performance and updating payment options, impacting the volume and frequency of payments to be disbursed to the ACOs.

Instructions for Responding:

Responses to this notice shall demonstrate the respondent’s capability to perform the services outlined in the draft SOW. Responses based upon anticipated teaming arrangements and Joint Ventures are acceptable. The capability of each team member (prime contractor and subcontractors) shall be demonstrated relative to the anticipated functions/roles to be performed by each.

Contractors must give enough detail, so the response clearly indicates their knowledge, expertise and experience with the SOW requirements and all of the numbered points below:

1. Knowledge of and experience with validating, initiating and monitoring transactions for Electronic Funds Transfers.
2. Knowledge of and experience with financial management and funds control in accordance with government laws and regulations.
3. Knowledge of and experience with providing financial project reports and reconciliations, including issuing IRS 1099 forms.
4. Ability to establish and manage CMS approved bank account.

As part of the capability statement, please provide any questions you might have regarding the SOW. Though no responses will be provided, CMS may take these into consideration prior to issuing a Solicitation.

CAPABILITY STATEMENTS MUST DEMONSTRATE THE REQUIREMENTS OUTLINED ABOVE. Please address each capability in the order listed above, as applicable, and include the associated number and title. Reference the Draft SOW for definitions and clarification of terms.

Interested Small Business contractors having the capabilities necessary to perform the stated requirements may submit capability statements to the point of contact listed at the end of this document. CMS will take all information received under consideration when finalizing the strategy for procuring services for the Accountable Care Organization Medicare Shared Savings Program Contract.

Respondents shall also submit the following business information in their response:

1. Unique Entity Identifier Number
2. Company Name
3. Company Address
4. Company Point of Contact, phone number and email address
5. Type of company under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 541219- Other Accounting Services. Size Standard $25 million (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman-owned, veteran-owned, etc.) as validated via the System for Award Management (SAM). Additional information on NAICS codes can be found at www.sba.gov.
6. Point of Contact, phone number and email addresses of at least two individuals who can verify the demonstrated capabilities identified in the responses.

Teaming Arrangements: All teaming arrangements shall also include the above-cited information and certifications for each entity on the proposed team. Specifically, the capability statement must address how much effort would be performed by any proposed team member. Note that any resulting small business set-aside would require that at least 50% of the cost of contract performance for personnel be expended for employees of the concern (see FAR 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting).

Submission Requirements:

All capability statements shall be submitted via email to the point of contact listed below. The title of the email shall read “SB Response to Accountable Care Organization Medicare Shared Savings Program Financial Services SSN .” Responses must be submitted no later than 10:00am, local time, Baltimore, MD, 11/23/2026. Responses shall be limited to 5 single-sided pages, not including the required business information and cover page. Pages should be single-spaced, minimum 11-point Times New Roman font with a minimum of one-inch margins on all sides.

Responses should be sent electronically to April Moore, Contract Specialist, at April.Moore1@cms.hhs.gov with a courtesy copy to Jennifer Kuhn, Contracting Officer, at Jennifer.Kuhn@cms.hhs.gov.

Disclaimer and Important Notes:

This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this Notice. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this evaluation.

After a review of the responses received, a solicitation may follow. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to any solicitation CMS may choose to issue.

Confidentiality:

No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

Protection of Privileged or Confidential Commercial or Financial Information

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, provides individuals with a right to access certain records in the possession of the Federal government, subject to certain exemptions. Exemption 4 of the FOIA permits information to be withheld that is in the nature of "trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential." The term "person" refers to a wide range of entities, including corporations, banks, state governments, agencies of foreign governments, and Native American tribes or nations, who provide information to the government. Information that does not qualify withholding under the Exemption will be disclosed.

CMS may invoke Executive Order 12600 in accordance with FOIA Regulation 45 C.F.R. §5.42. Information provided by entities to CMS in response to this notice may be subject to FOIA disclosure requirements unless protected under Exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act. Should entities wish to protect any trade secret or confidential information under Exemption 4, they should mark their submission accordingly citing applicable redactions and non-disclosure rationale. Pre-disclosure redactions and non-disclosure rationale shall be sent via e-mail to the requesting contracting officer with a copy to the CMS FOIA Office at 12600@cms.hhs.gov.

If an entity’s submission is not marked and CMS receives a FOIA request related to this notice, the CMS Contracting Officer will notify the entity. The entity will have 10 working days to object to the release of any part of their information submitted to CMS citing relevant case law. Final determination on the applicability of Exemption 4 of the FOIA are made on a case-by-case basis by CMS.

The statutory language of the FOIA is codified at 5 U.S.C. § 552(b). Additional information and resources, including the 9 FOIA Exemptions and HHS FOIA Regulation, and examples, can be found on the HHS FOIA Website.

ATTACHMENTS

Attachment 1: Draft Statement of Work- Accountable Care Organization Medicare Shared Savings Program Financial Services