Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is the Health FFRDC?

A. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Alliance to Modernize Healthcare is the first federally funded research and development center (Health FFRDC) dedicated to strengthening our nation’s healthcare system. The Health FFRDC provides unique access to unbiased strategic insights, analyses, and best practices from FFRDCs, strategic partners, and small businesses to accelerate and optimize healthcare system transformation.

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Q. What is an FFRDC?

A. Formally established under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 35.017, FFRDCs meet special, long-term research and development needs integral to the mission of the sponsoring agency—work that existing in-house or commercial contractor resources cannot fulfill as effectively. FFRDCs operate in the public interest, free from conflicts of interest, and are managed and/or administered by not-for-profit organizations, universities, or industrial firms as separate operating units.

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Q. Who may use the Health FFRDC contract?

A. All HHS Staff and Operating Divisions, including CMS, are potential sponsors and can initiate a request for services at anytime.  While the Health FFRDC is focused on supporting achievement of the mission of CMS and HHS, they may also accept work from non-sponsoring agencies (i.e. other than CMS and HHS sponsors) including other Federal agencies, state and municipal governments, and public charities, when such work is determined by CMS executive sponsor (Deputy COO) to be acceptable and in the best interest of the Federal Government and consistent with the FFRDC mission, purpose and core statement. 

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Q. What type of tasks are supported by this contract vehicle?

A. The Health FFRDC is able to provide strategic, technical, health domain and program management assistance to deliver the necessary products and services in the following seven broad task areas:

1. Strategic and Tactical Planning and Analysis
2. Conceptual Planning and Proof-of-Concept
3. Acquisition Assistance
4. Organizational Planning and Relationship Management
5. Continuous Process Improvement
6. Strategic Technology Evaluation
7. Feasibility Analysis and Design

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Q. What type of work is appropriate for the Health FFRDC use?

A. The work that can be supported by the Health FFRDC is required to align with your strategic goals and objectives as well as be outcome based.  The Health FFRDC work is intended to support the agency's core mission to enable providers to deliver better health care to beneficiaries at a lower cost, and the broader HHS mission to strengthen health care, advance scientific knowledge and innovation, advance the health, safety and wellbeing of the American people, and ensure efficiency, transparency, accountability and effectiveness of HHS programs.  

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Q. How can CMS request the Health FFRDC Operator services?

A. To request the Health FFRDC Operator services, CMS employees can send inquiries to the following mailbox at HealthFFRDC@cms.hhs.gov or they can contact the CMS IDIQ CO, CMS PM, or the Health FFRDC Operator, directly using the information on the Contact Us page.

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Q. How can HHS OpDivs and other federal agencies request the Health FFRDC Operator services?

A. To request the Health FFRDC Operator services, requesting agencies can send inquiries to the following mailbox at HealthFFRDC@cms.hhs.gov or they can contact the CMS IDIQ CO, CMS PM, or the Health FFRDC Operator, directly using the information on the Contact Us page.

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Q. What type of contract is the Health FFRDC?

A. The Health FFRDC is a single-award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. Specific tasks and/or work to be performed, is detailed in, and solicited by, individual task orders issued under this IDIQ contract. The IDIQ permits the use of any type of pricing arrangement. Each Task Order Request for Proposal (TORP) should state the pricing mechanism deemed appropriate by the cognizant Contracting Officer.

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Q. Who is responsible for awarding and administering Task Orders?

A. The ordering agency is responsible for issuing and administering its own task orders.  This includes but is not limited to: developing task requirements; establishing performance measures; providing certified funds; paying invoices; assessing and reporting on contractor performance upon completion of the task order; and, closing out the task order.

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Q. Is there a fee to use the Health FFRDC?

A. CMS is announcing the implementation of an administrative user fee per task order beginning on August 31, 2023 that marks the beginning of our new 5-year period of performance for the Health FFRDC contract vehicle[1]. This administrative fee will be applied to all new task orders issued under the new contract; new task orders are expected to be awarded under the new contract beginning in October 2023. See attachment (PDF) that has information regarding the new administrative fee.