Notice of Intent to Award Without Engaging in a Standard Procurement Process - Pharmacy Benefit Manager Services

Project Description: Issuing and Conducting Procurement Unit: Granite School District
In accordance with Utah Code Part 63G-6a Part 8 and Utah Administrative Code R33-108, this is a notice of intent to award without engaging in a standard procurement process. It is not a request for quotes, bids or proposals. DO NOT submit questions, bids, no-bids or other information in this system.
NO ACTION IS REQUIRED IF YOU AGREE WITH THIS NOTICE.
If there are any other qualified vendors that meet the specifications of this notice, any such vendor must submit the following information via email only to Jared Gardner (jbgardner@graniteschools.org) prior to the event close date.
The name of the contesting vendor and contact person; and a detailed explanation of the challenge, including documentation showing that there are other competing sources for the procurement item.
In addition, a vendor must include: Documentation that the vendor can provide a comparable or better procurement item that meets or exceeds the specifications; documentation that the vendor can also provide the same proprietary procurement item or an equivalent procurement item; and if transitional costs are identified as the justification for this notice, submit a cost comparison of the identified transitional costs with the vendor's anticipated transitional costs.
NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD WITHOUT ENGAGING IN A STANDARD PROCUREMENT PROCESS
The Utah Procurement Code provides that a purchase may be made without engaging in a standard procurement process if it can be determined in writing that: there is only one source for the procurement item;
transitional costs are a significant consideration in selecting a procurement item; or
the award of a contract is under circumstances, described in rules adopted by the applicable rule making authority, that make awarding the contract through a standard procurement process impractical and not in the best interest of the procurement unit.
Granite School District Purchasing Department has received a request to make the following award without engaging in a standard procurement process:
Requesting School/Department: Human Resources / Benefits Office
Product and/or service to be purchased: Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) Services
Earliest date purchase may occur: January 1, 2026
Proposed Supplier: Express Scripts / Keenan & Associates
Justification:
Utah Administrative Rule R33-108-101d. The award of a contract is under circumstances, described in rules adopted by the applicable rule making authority, that make awarding the contract through a standard procurement process impractical and not in the best interest of the procurement unit.
GSD engaged in a lengthy process to select Keenan/ESI as the District’s PBM. Moving pharmacy from existing medical carriers to a stand alone Collective/PBM, is a lengthy and technical endeavor that impacts the 11,000+ lives on the medical plan.
It took Granite 4 years to phase in Rx programs to help keep the plan financially healthy. The following Rx program information is below.
• 2021 – Implemented new PBM – There was a lot of disruption for members, as Granite had always used medical carrier Rx. Granite worked to implement the KPPC program. This program is a provider outreach program, intended to educate doctors about lower cost drugs and facilitate as many script switches as possible, saving money for the plan and members.
• 2022 – Granite continued with KPPC implementation and employee education.
• 2023 – Granite added the SaveOn program. This program is for name brand specialty medications and works not only to reduce costs to the district but also the member.
• 2024 – Granite added FastMed program through Keenan. This program uses a specialty pharmacy for generic drugs. Again, this saves money for the district and the members.
• 2025 – Granite implemented a Tier 4 Rx cost for members.
GSD carved out pharmacy for the fist time in 2021. When the first RFP was conducted, GSD benefits staff didn’t realize the length of time it would take to implement the necessary Rx programs to keep the plan financially healthy. To limit member disruption and keep the plan financially viable, Granite elected to price check Rx; Conducted a review of large employer PBM contracts in the Utah market to benchmark pricing discount/rebates and fees vs. the currently in place agreement for Granite School District. Further, GBS ran a market check to apply other competitive national collective pricing arrangements to the GSD claims to compare the value against the actually incurred costs for the product mix experienced. The decision was made to extend the current PBM contract.
Length of notice: Granite School District intends to purchase these products for the next five years, thus this notification will be considered official notification for the subsequent five years through December 31, 2030.
Anticipated expenditure: Administrative fees are estimated at $1,820,000 for a 5-year total ($364,000 annually).