[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 148 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 148

   To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require State 
 licensure and bid surety bonds for entities submitting bids under the 
    Medicare durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and 
   supplies (DMEPOS) competitive acquisition program, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 12, 2015

 Mr. Portman (for himself, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. Casey, and Mr. 
    Bennet) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require State 
 licensure and bid surety bonds for entities submitting bids under the 
    Medicare durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and 
   supplies (DMEPOS) competitive acquisition program, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding 
Improvement Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING STATE LICENSURE AND BID SURETY BONDS FOR ENTITIES 
              SUBMITTING BIDS UNDER THE MEDICARE DMEPOS COMPETITIVE 
              ACQUISITION PROGRAM.

    Section 1847(a)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-
3(a)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraphs:
                    ``(G) Requiring state licensure and bid bonds for 
                bidding entities.--With respect to rounds of 
                competitions beginning under this subsection on or 
                after the date of enactment of this subparagraph, the 
                Secretary may not accept a bid from an entity for an 
                area unless, as of the deadline for bid submission--
                            ``(i) the entity meets applicable State 
                        licensure requirements for such area for all 
                        items in such bid for a product category; and
                            ``(ii) the entity has obtained (and 
                        provided the Secretary with proof of having 
                        obtained) a bid surety bond (in this paragraph 
                        referred to as a `bid bond') in a form 
                        specified by the Secretary consistent with 
                        subparagraph (H) and in an amount that is not 
                        less than $50,000 and not more than $100,000 
                        for each such area.
                    ``(H) Treatment of bid bonds submitted.--
                            ``(i) For successful bidders that do not 
                        accept the contract.--In the case of a bidding 
                        entity that is offered a contract for an area 
                        for a product category, if the entity's 
                        composite bid--
                                    ``(I) is at or below the product 
                                category's median composite bid rate 
                                for the area and the entity does not 
                                accept the contract offered for the 
                                product and area, the bid bond 
                                submitted shall be forfeited by the 
                                bidding entity and the Secretary shall 
                                collect on it; or
                                    ``(II) is above such median 
                                composite bid rate and the entity 
                                chooses not to accept a contract for 
                                the product category, the bid bond 
                                submitted shall be returned within 90 
                                days of the date of notice of 
                                nonacceptance.
                            ``(ii) For losing bidders.--If a bidding 
                        entity submits a bid that is not accepted for 
                        an area, the bid bond submitted for the entity 
                        for such area shall be returned within 90 days 
                        of the date of notice of nonacceptance.''.
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