United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Health, Education, and Human Services Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1995-08-03 monographic deposited born digital 40 p. GA 1.13:HEHS-95-142 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-142 P0b002ee1803765d1 f:he95142 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-142 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-142 HEHS-95-142 Defense procurement Service contracts Health care services Contract award protests Contract negotiations Procurement practices Health services administration Military personnel Beneficiaries Health care cost control Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services CHAMPUS DOD TRICARE Program Medicaid Program CHAMPUS Reform Initiative California Hawaii Letter Report HEHS

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed defense health care, focusing on: (1) procurement process problems identified by the bid protest experiences; (2) the Department of Defense's (DOD) actions to improve and help ensure the fairness of the procurement process; and (3) what problems and concerns remain and whether further actions are needed.<p/>GAO found that: (1) DOD has changed its managed care procurement process to address such past problems as its failure to evaluate bidders' proposed prices according to solicitation criteria, the lack of communication between technical and price evaluators, and its failure to properly evaluate bidders' cost containment approaches; (2) although DOD has revised its evaluation methodology and has added new discussion requirements to improve future procurements and ensure better treatment of bidders, protests are likely to continue, given the vast sums of money at stake and the relatively small expense of protesting; (3) DOD may have difficulty meeting the congressional deadline for awarding all contracts by September 1996, since procurements have been taking twice as long as planned; (4) DOD has tried to make up for procurement delays by reducing its transition period after contract award for contractors to deliver health care, but this action has created major risks; and (5) DOD must establish required qualifications for evaluation board members, since their tasks have become so specialized. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-142/html/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-142.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-142/pdf/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-142.pdf GAO/HEHS-95-142 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-HEHS-95-142 Letter Report GAO/HEHS-95-142; Defense Health Care: Despite TRICARE Procurement Improvements, Problems Remain; Defense procurement Service contracts Health care services Contract award protests Contract negotiations Procurement practices Health services administration Military personnel Beneficiaries Health care cost control Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services CHAMPUS DOD TRICARE Program Medicaid Program CHAMPUS Reform Initiative California Hawaii Title 31 Section 3551-56 31 U.S.C. 3551-56 Public Law 84-569 Public Law 89-614