Issued by: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Issue Date: April 29, 2020

This content is for suppliers interested in bidding in the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program (CBP).

Requirements

To participate in the DMEPOS CBP:

1. Your enrollment records must be up-to-date and reflect applicable required licensing and accreditation for the products and services your locations provider (or will provider if awarded a contract) within a state.
2. You must maintain accurate information on your CMS-855S with your respective National Provider Enrollment (NPE) regional DMEPOS contractor (National Provider Enrollment Eastern Region DMEPOS Contractor (NPEAST) or National Provider Enrollment Western Region DMEPOS Contractor (NPEWEST)) and in the Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS), including:
   • Your contact information, like your name, Social Security Number, and date of birth, for authorized official(s) and correspondence address.
   • Products and services you provide at the enrolled locations.
   • Each state in which your enrolled locations provide items and services.
3. You must have applicable licenses. See “Necessary Licensing” below.

Necessary Licensing

We award contracts only if you have all required state licenses for the competitive bidding area (CBA) and product category. To be eligible for a contract, you must possess the applicable licenses by the close of the bid window.

Bidders must meet all DMEPOS state licensure requirements and other applicable state licensure requirements, if any, for the product categories they bid. Each physical location on a bid for the product category must be licensed by the state in which it provides items and services. As part of the bid evaluation, we’ll verify with the PECOS that each location listed on Form A of the online Durable Medical Equipment Bidding System (DBidS) for a particular CBA and product category has all required licenses for that CBA and product category.

Licensing for the National Mail-Order Recompete

If you bid in the national mail-order recompete, you must have the applicable licenses for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. Not all states require a license for mail-order diabetic supplies. You’ll confirm which states require a license to mail diabetic testing supplies, obtain those licenses, and submit them to the NSC. For the national mail-order recompete, each supplier location must be licensed as applicable for each state in which it provides services by the close of the bid window.

View the licensure guides for each state, the District of Columbia, and the territories. These guides provide general licensure requirements for each CBP product category and contact information for each state’s licensing board or agency. These are only guides. Licensing requirements change periodically, and it’s your responsibility to identify and obtain all required licenses. For more information about licensure requirements, contact the appropriate license issuing agency listed on the guides or call your respective NPE contractor: NPEAST or NPEWEST.

Accreditation Requirements

A CMS-approved accrediting organization must accredit each supplier location for the items in a product category. If you’re interested in bidding for a product category and don’t have your location currently accredited for that product category, take action to get accredited for that product category.

Accreditation organizations report any accreditation updates to the applicable NPE contractor, so it’s important you get accredited early so your information is up-to-date. We can’t contract with suppliers that aren’t accredited by a CMS-approved accreditation organization.

View more information on the DMEPOS accreditation requirements and see a list of the accreditation organizations and those professionals and other persons exempted from accreditation.

 

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DISCLAIMER: The contents of this database lack the force and effect of law, except as authorized by law (including Medicare Advantage Rate Announcements and Advance Notices) or as specifically incorporated into a contract. The Department may not cite, use, or rely on any guidance that is not posted on the guidance repository, except to establish historical facts.