DEFENSE HEALTH AGENCY (DHA)

Request for Information (RFI) HT9402-22-RFI-0122

TITLE: Government’s Notice of Two-Month Extension of Performance by the Express Scripts, Inc. (ESI) to provide pharmacy management services for the Department of Defense (DoD) TRICARE Pharmacy Benefit Program, Fourth Generation (TPharm4) contract.

INTRODUCTION: The Government intends to issue a sole-source bridge contract to extend the TRICARE Pharmacy Benefit Program, HT9402-14-D-0002, to Express Scripts Inc. (ESI), in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. The contract period of performance will be from November 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022 with two (2) 1-month options. The contract to extend performance is necessary to ensure continued support to the Defense Health Agency (DHA) by continuing to meet critical requirements, to prevent a gap in service of pharmacy benefits to all eligible beneficiaries from the end of the current TPharm4 contract on October 31, 2022 until the competitively awarded follow-on contract (TPharm5) full performance begins on January 1, 2023 and to ensure full performance of the new National Prime Vendor Pharmaceutical contract, awarded by the Defenses Logistics Agency (DLA), has begun.

Background:  TRICARE is the DoD health care program administered by the DHA by means of the Military Health System (MHS) for approximately 9.5 million active duty and retired members of the Uniformed Services, and their spouses and children, including TRICARE for Life beneficiaries. The TRICARE Pharmacy program is authorized under 10 U.S.C. 1074g and 32 C.F.R. 199.21.

The TRICARE Pharmacy Benefits Program provides a pharmacy benefit to all eligible beneficiaries by providing state of the art technologies to enhance patient safety, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. This program offers pharmacy services through direct care pharmacy at Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) located at various military bases, retail network pharmacies, authorized retail non-networks pharmacies, or delivery through the TRICARE Home Delivery/Mail Order Pharmacy (TMOP).

AUTHORITY: The DHA Deputy Assistant Director Acquisition (DAD-A) is issuing this Special Notice Request for Information for the purpose of Market Research as required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201 and FAR Part 10.

DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES: THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. Any proposals submitted will not receive a response. This notice solely constitutes a market research effort, for informational purposes only, as described under FAR 10.002. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a potential contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government reserves the right to use results of the communications with industry for any purpose consistent with, and not otherwise prohibited by FAR Part 10.

NEXT STEPS: Interested parties with information to share must make their submittals to the Government via email to the Primary Point of Contact (below) not later than 2pm Mountain Standard Time (MST) on 7 December, 2021. 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.

PRIMARY POINT OF CONTACT: Please respond or submit inquiries (via email) to the Defense Health Agency, Managed Care - Contracting Division, TRICARE Support Branch, through Ms. Viktoria Reed at [email protected]. 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.

CONFIDENTIALITY: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. Industry responses will be shared with DHA staff for the purpose of market research. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

ADMINISTRATIVE:

Classification Code: Q201 – Medical – General Health Care

NAICS Code: 524114 – Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers