SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- A-123 Review of Internal Controls
- Notice Date
- 4/12/2012
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541211
— Offices of Certified Public Accountants
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of Acquisition and Grants Management, 7500 Security Blvd., C2-21-15, Baltimore, Maryland, 21244-1850
- ZIP Code
- 21244-1850
- Solicitation Number
- RFQ-CMS-2012-130066
- Archive Date
- 5/9/2012
- Point of Contact
- Justin M. Menefee, Phone: 4436234476, Edward M. Rutherford, Phone: 4107866648
- E-Mail Address
-
Justin.menefee@cms.hhs.gov, edward.rutherford@cms.hhs.gov
(Justin.menefee@cms.hhs.gov, edward.rutherford@cms.hhs.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The contractor shall provide services in support of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) revised Circular No. A-123, Appendix A (A-123) review of internal controls over financial reporting within CMS. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) AND DOES NOT COMMIT THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES (CMS) TO AWARD A CONTRACT NOW OR IN THE FUTURE This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE to determine the availability of potential small businesses on the GSA Schedule 520-13, FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS SOLUTIONS (FABS), (e.g., 8(a), service-disabled veteran owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, veteran-owned small business, and women-owned small business) that can provide assistance in the assessment of CMS' Internal Controls in compliance with OMB Circular A-123, Appendix A, and provide support for CMS' annual Assurance Statement on Internal Controls to the DHHS. History: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) management is responsible for developing and maintaining effective internal control to achieve effectiveness and efficiency of operations, reliability of financial reporting, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The CMS is the nation's largest health insurer and has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that each dollar spent for benefits and/or administration of its programs is spent in the best interest of beneficiaries and the American taxpayers. The OMB issued a revised Circular No. A-123, Management's Responsibility for Internal Control, dated December 21, 2004, which was effective beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2006. Appendix A of the revised A-123 requires the heads of certain federal agencies to annually document and assess internal controls over financial reporting (ICOFR) and report the results in a management assurance statement similar to that required of publicly-traded companies by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Appendix A provides a framework for management's use to document, assess, and report on conclusions reached in evaluating an agency's ICOFR. Given the magnitude of the CMS outlays (approximately $767.4 billion in FY 2011); it is imperative for management to have effective internal controls over financial reporting. Purpose: The purpose of this potential action is to perform an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-123 review of CMS' (Central and Regional Offices, Data Centers, Shared System Maintainers, and Medicare contractors) internal controls over financial reporting following the guidance set forth by OMB and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Task Descriptions: The contractor shall: • Prepare and/or enhance the documentation of the CMS (including CMS contractors, and other CMS contractors such as Retiree Drug Subsidy, and the Medicare Secondary Payer Recovery Contractor (MSPRC)) internal control processes used in financial reporting, including documentation of the financial reporting process and process level controls over financial reporting. • Identify the key controls at CMS, CMS contractors, Shared System Maintainers, and data centers that need to be evaluated and develop detailed review protocols for each area. • Perform testing of the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting at CMS, CMS contractors, Shared System Maintainer, and data centers, and identify any deficiencies in accordance with Appendix A of OMB Circular A-123. • Develop Control Deficiency Logs (CDLs) and Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) for all identified issues. • Develop electronic work papers that shall provide sufficient detail to enable an experienced reviewer having no previous connection to the review to understand from the review documentation the nature, timing, extent, and results of the review procedures performed; the review evidence obtained; and its source and the conclusions. • Provide support to the CMS financial statement audit in order to minimize duplication of efforts, and create a more efficient review and audit process. Activities will include, but not be limited to, coordinating on-site activities to include CFO auditor participation/observation (i.e. activities such as planning, scoping, testing approach, walkthroughs of processes, documentation, and testing), making A-123 work papers and copies available, responding to audit questions, and attending meetings to discuss A-123 and CFO topics. Contractor Requirements: In order to respond to this notice, contractors must be able to indicate experience and/or the ability to provide all of the bulleted points below. Please provide enough detail so your response clearly indicates that you can provide the following: 1. Specified knowledge and experience/ability working with and understanding of OMB Circular A-123, Management's Responsibility for Internal Control, Appendix A. Prior Experience/Past Performance in performing OMB Revised Circular A-123 assessments and Medicare and Medicaid/CHIP audit experience. 2. Ability to evaluate an organization's internal control structure to achieve effective and efficiency of operations, reliability of financial reporting, and compliance with laws and applicable regulations. 3. Identify staff you will propose to perform the tasks under the previous section, Task Descriptions, with applicable experience, and if so, at what educational level and experience. 4. Provide references for examples related to past performance/experience. It is essential that the offeror be free of all perceived, potential or actual conflicts. Specifically, the offeror must not have any relationships or arrangements through its business operations or its employees that could be considered as possibly lessening the company's objectivity concerning any aspect of this action. If such relationships or arrangements exist, offerors would be required, during the potential procurement process, to identify potential conflicts of interest and discuss how the conflicts will be addressed and mitigated. Anticipated Contract Type: CMS anticipates issuance of a Firm-Fixed-Price type contract under the forthcoming solicitation. However, CMS does reserve the option to use any other procurement instrument as deemed appropriate at the time of the official solicitation Capability Submission: This is not an invitation for bid, request for proposal or other solicitation and in no way obligates CMS to award a contract. The sole intent of this Sources Sought Notice is to obtain capabilities for set-aside and procurement planning purposes. The capability statement shall be limited to 10 pages and include the following information: 1. Business Information and Identification 2. DUNS No. 3. Company Name & Address 4. Company Point of Contact, phone number and email address. 5. Type of company under 520 - FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS SOLUTIONS (FABS) - 520 13 Complementary Financial Management Services Assess and improve financial management systems, financial reporting and analysis, strategic financial planning, financial policy formulation and development. Devise and implement performance measures, conduct special cost studies, perform actuarial services, perform economic and regulatory analysis, assist with financial quality assurance efforts, perform benchmarking. 6. Type of company under NAICS 541211, as validated via the Central Contractor Registration (CCR). Additional information on NAICS codes can be found at www.sba.gov. All offerors must be registered on the Central Contractor Registration system, located at http://www.ccr.gov. 7. Corporate structure (corporation, LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability partnership, professional corporate, etc.); 8. Current GSA Schedule(s) appropriate to this Sources Sought 9. Point of Contact, names, phone numbers, and emails of references who can verify the capabilities/experience identified in the responses. Teaming Arrangements: All teaming arrangements should also include the above-cited information and certifications for each entity on the proposed team. Teaming arrangements are encouraged. The synopsis is for information and planning purposes and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. This is not a solicitation announcement for proposals and no contract will be awarded from this announcement. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement and any follow-up information requests. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation. All information submitted in response to this announcement must arrive on or before the closing date. All capability statements can be submitted via e-mail in MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf) to justin.menefee@cms.hhs.gov or regular mail to the point of contact listed below. Responses must be submitted no later than April 24, 2012. Responses shall be limited to 10 pages. Resumes of key people and references are limited to 2 pages and may be submitted as attachments, which will not count towards the page limit. They should clearly reflect the respondent's ability to meet the requirements included in this notice. Capability statements will not be returned and will not be accepted after the due date. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the review of their submissions. Information received will be considered solely to make informed decisions regarding a potential small business set-aside. CMS will not answer questions nor respond to those companies that submit a response to this sources sought notice. ANY RESPONSES RECEIVED AFTER THAT DATE AND TIME WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. 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. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. 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). Documentation should be sent to: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services OAGM/ASG/DPIFMC Justin Menefee Contracting Specialist M/S B3-30-03 7111 Security Boulevard Baltimore, MD 21244-1850
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/HCFA/AGG/RFQ-CMS-2012-130066/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Contractor's location, United States
- Record
- SN02721107-W 20120414/120413000020-26191ea50161d606d10dbe1290980e78 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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