In a notice posted this morning on the CBIC Web site, CMS opened the 60-day bid window for the Round 1 rebid of Medicare DMEPOS competitive bidding.

The notice is below in its entirety:

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Bidding is Now Open for the Round 1 Rebid of the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is now soliciting bids for the Round 1 Rebid of the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program. All bids must be submitted in DBidS, the online bidding system, by 9:00 p.m. prevailing Eastern Time on December 21, 2009. All required hardcopy documents that must be included as part of the bid package must be postmarked by 11:59 p.m. on December 21, 2009. The contract period for mail-order diabetic supplies is January 1, 2011 — December 31, 2012. The contract period for all other Round 1 Rebid product categories is January 1, 2011 — December 31, 2013.

All bidders must submit certain required hardcopy documents as specified in the Request for Bids (RFB) instructions. CMS urges all bidders to take advantage of the new covered document review process. Under this new process, we will notify suppliers that submit their hardcopy financial documents by the Covered Document Review Date (CDRD) of any missing financial documents. The CDRD for the Round 1 Rebid is November 21, 2009 — financial documents must be postmarked by 11:59 p.m. on November 21, 2009, to qualify for the covered document review process. This process only determines if there are any missing financial documents. It does not indicate if the documents are acceptable, accurate or meet applicable requirements. Suppliers that submit financial documents by the CDRD will be notified of any missing financial documents within 45 days of the CDRD. Suppliers will be required to submit the missing financial document(s) within 10 business days of the notification.

The Round 1 Rebid competitive bidding areas (CBAs), product categories, DBidS information, bidding information charts, educational materials, and complete RFB instructions can be found on this website. Suppliers should review this information prior to submitting their bid(s). CMS will send important bidding updates via e-mail, so all suppliers interested in bidding are urged to sign up for E-Mail Updates on the home page of this website. If you have any questions about the bidding process, please contact the CBIC Customer Service Center at 1-877-577-5331.

The target registration dates for Authorized Officials (AOs) and Backup Authorized Officials (BAOs) to register in CMS' Individuals Authorized Access to the CMS Computer Services (IACS) system have passed. End Users (EUs), as well as any AOs and BAOs who have not yet registered, should now be registering. Only suppliers that have registered and received a user ID and password will be able to access the online bidding system and submit bids. If the AO for your company has not already registered, we cannot guarantee that he or she will be able to complete the registration process before registration closes. If your AO does not register, you cannot bid and will not be eligible for a contract. In addition, suppliers whose AOs have not registered are at risk of experiencing delays in accessing the online bidding system to get a bidder number and thereby missing the opportunity to submit financial documents by the CDRD. Registration will close on November 4, 2009, at 9:00 p.m. EST — no AOs, BAOs, or EUs can register after registration closes. Suppliers that do not register cannot bid and are not eligible for contracts. To register, please go to the Registration section of this website.

Please note that the RFB instructions initially posted on this website contained target bid submission deadlines, including a target midnight bid deadline. CMS has updated the RFB instructions posted on this website to reflect the actual bid submission deadlines shown in this announcement.