All Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, & Supplies (DMEPOS) competitive bidding contracts expired on December 31, 2018. As of January 1, 2019, there is a temporary gap in the DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program (CBP) that will end on December 31, 2020. For additional information on the gap period, please see the Temporary Gap Period (PDF) fact sheet.
Round 2021 of the DMEPOS CBP will begin on January 1, 2021, and extend through December 31, 2023. For more information on Round 2021, please visit the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) website.
For all suppliers interested in bidding in the Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program.
In order to participate in the Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Program, the enrollment records for suppliers must be up to date and reflect applicable required licensing and accreditation for the products and services its location(s) furnish (or will furnish if awarded a contract) within a state.
ENROLLMENT: Suppliers must maintain accurate information on its CMS-855S with the National Supplier Clearinghouse (NSC) and in the Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS).
- Contact information (name, Social Security number, and date of birth) for authorized official(s) and correspondence address.
- Products and service furnished by the enrolled location(s).
- Each state in which the enrolled location(s) provides items and services.
LICENSING: Contracts are only awarded to suppliers that have all required state licenses for the competitive bidding area (CBA) and product category. In order to be eligible to be awarded a contract, a bidder must possess the applicable license(s) 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 category(s) 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 will 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.
Suppliers bidding in the national mail-order recompete must have the applicable licenses for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. Please note that not all states require a license for mail-order diabetic supplies. It is up to each supplier to confirm which states do require a license to mail diabetic testing supplies, obtain those licenses, and submit them to the NSC. For the national mail-order recompete, every supplier location must be licensed as applicable for each state in which it provides services by the close of the bid window.
A licensure guide for each state, the District of Columbia, and the territories may be found on the NSC website (see link below under “Related Links”). These guides provide general licensure requirements for each product category included in the Competitive Bidding Program and contact information for each state’s licensing board or agency. These are only guides. Licensing requirements change periodically, and it remains the responsibility of the bidding supplier to identify and obtain all required licenses. For more information about licensure requirements, please consult the appropriate license issuing agency listed on the guides or call the NSC at 866-238-9652.
ACCREDITATION: Each supplier location must be accredited by a CMS approved accrediting organization for the items in a product category. Suppliers who are interested in bidding for a product category and who do not have its location(s) currently accredited for that product category, must take action NOW to get accredited for that product category. Accreditation organizations report any accreditation updates to the NSC, so it is important that you get accredited early so your information will be up-to-date. CMS cannot contract with suppliers that are not accredited by a CMS-approved accreditation organization.
Further information on the DMEPOS accreditation requirements along with a list of the accreditation organizations and those professionals and other persons exempted from accreditation may be found at the CMS website: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/Become-a-Medicare-Provider-or-Supplier.