How to Engage the Health FFRDC

Requiring offices should complete and submit a Contract Use Request Form (CURF) along with a Statement of Work (SOW) or Statement of Objectives (SOO) and Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE), also called the CURF package, to the PO mailbox at: HealthFFRDC@CMS.HHS.GOV. The Health FFRDC Operator is available to help shape requirements and estimate the rough order of magnitude cost of a project, as needed, before the requiring office submits its CURF package to the PO. The PO reviews the request and provides any necessary feedback and works with the CMS Contracting Officer (CO) to determine appropriateness.  Once approval is granted, the contracting officer for the requiring office negotiates and executes the task order with the Health FFRDC Operator.

Apply the 3-Part Test

Before the requiring office (RO) can access the Health FFRDC services, they should ensure that the proposed work is appropriate and aligns with the strategic goals of their organization. These requirements must be outcome-based and adequately differentiated from ordinary commercial contractor support.  The PO reviews all CURFs for appropriateness based on the ROs answers to the following questions:

1. Is the request consistent with the mission, purpose, and scope of the Alliance?
2. Does the work require the special FFRDC relationship and attributes of objectivity, trusted access to sensitive or confidential information, and healthcare expertise and research?
3. Does the work align strategically with the requiring office’s goals, mission and objectives?

How to request services

For HHS and Non CMS Users

Below are the six steps HHS and Non CMS users should follow for requesting the Health FFRDC support.  (If additional information on the ordering process is needed, please refer to the CMS' Alliance to Modernize Healthcare (PDF) Ordering Guide for more detailed step-by-step ordering process.) For post-award modifications, use the Modification Memo (DOCX) template.

1. Complete Contract Use Request Form (CURF) (DOCX) - Includes determining which of the 7 areas tasks (can be several) you need, providing a SOW/SOO (with justification for using the Health FFRDC) and attaching an IGCE.  Note that if you are Non-HHS OpDiv, a Non-Sponsor Request Letter is required.
2. Submit CURF package to the PO at HealthFFRDC@CMS.HHS.GOV
3. The PO will review and submit to the Executive Steering Committee (ESC) Chair for acceptance
4. Once the ESC Chair approval is granted, the CMS IDIQ CO authorizes requesting agency's use of the Health FFRDC
5. The requesting agency works with their Contracts Office to ensure funding and complete procurement package 
6. The Requesting Agency issues a Task Order Request for Proposal (TORP) (DOCX).

For CMS Users

Below are the six steps CMS users should follow for requesting the Health FFRDC support.  (If additional information on the ordering process is needed, please refer to the CMS' Alliance to Modernize Healthcare (PDF) Ordering Guide for the more detailed step-by-step ordering process.)

1. Complete Contract Use Request Form (CURF) (DOCX) (PDF) - Includes determining which of the 7 areas tasks (can be several) you need, providing a SOW/SOO (with justification for using the Health FFRDC) and attaching an IGCE.
2. Submit CURF package to the PO at HealthFFRDC@CMS.HHS.GOV
3. The PO will review and submit to the Executive Steering Committee for acceptance
4. Once the ESC approval is granted, the requesting component works with Task Order CO/CS to complete the Task Order Request for Proposal (DOCX) package and submits to the Health FFRDC Operator.
5. The Health FFRDC Operator prepare and submits a technical proposal to Task Order CO/CS
6. Task Order CO/CS conducts an evaluation of the proposal and, once acceptable, issues a task order.

To provide more detailed guidelines, please access the documentation provided in the download section.  If you still require additional information on how to use the Alliance to Modernize Healthcare FFRDC, you can also directly send your questions here: