DCH Addresses SHBP Award Process

DCH had announced an intent to award the State Health Benefit Contract to BCBSGA

After DCH’s announcement, United Healthcare had indicated that a separate, non-inclusive bid process had occurred for the SHBP contract and that they had been excluded from bidding. UHC was planning on contesting the contract award to BCBSGA.　 Late last night, DCH acknowledged that there had been two separate SHBP contracts out for bid:

The first contract was for a statewide SHBP vendor; this contract was open to all bidders, including United Healthcare.　 According to DCH, this process to award the SHBP statewide contract was run according to state regulations and will continue along the normal path. 　It therefore appears that following the appropriate 10-day window, there will be am announcement that DCH will be awarding the SHBP statewide contract to BCBSGA.

The second contract was for a regional SHBP vendor; this contract was not open to all bidders. Therefore, DCH announced its intention to revise the bidding process for the regional SHBP vendor and will be announcing additional timelines and processes for this contract. Also, it is important to note that DCH made no indication of what regions in the State they were planning to cover with this second regional vendor.

United Healthcare continues to protest the awarding of both contracts for the State Health Benefit Plan and wants the bidding process to be re-opened for both.

Additional details can be viewed in the article below:

http://www.georgiahealthnews.com/2013/07/bidding-rules-change-benefits-contract/

SHP will keep tracking the SHBP contract process.