The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that the 60-day bid window for the rebid of round one of competitive bidding will start October 21 of this year, and has released a complete timeline for competitive bidding.

Key competitive bidding dates:

8/17/2009 (target date)
Registration for user IDs and passwords begins.

9/30/2009
Last day for DMEPOS suppliers to get accredited

10/2/2009
DMEPOS supplier surety bond deadline

10/21/2009  (target date)
CMS opens 60-day bid window for Round 1 Rebid

11/21/2009  (target date)
Covered Document Review Date for bidders to submit financial documents

12/21/2009  (target date)
60-day bid window closes

June 2010
CMS announces single payment amounts, begins contracting process

September 2010
CMS announces contract suppliers, begins contract supplier education campaign

Early Fall 2010
CMS begins supplier, referral agent, and beneficiary education campaign

1/1/2011
New program begins.

The actual dates for all the target dates will be announced via email notices from CMS. To keep informed, providers can sign up for email updates on the home page of the Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor (CBIC) website at www.dmecompetitivebid.com.