The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report entitled “Medicare: CMS Working to Address Problems from Round 1 of the Durable Medical Equipment Competitive Bidding Program.” In this report, the GAO notes that while the first round of the durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS) competitive bidding program (CBP) in 2007-2008 could have resulted in substantial savings if it had not been halted by Congress, there were significant problems with the bidding process. For instance, GAO noted that CMS repeatedly clarified its policies during the bidding window, and the information CMS provided to suppliers about bidding requirements was sometimes unclear and inconsistent, particularly regarding financial documentation. CMS also did not effectively notify suppliers that losing bids could be reviewed, so some suppliers missed this opportunity to address bids that had been incorrectly disqualified. The GAO also found several problems with the electronic bid submission system, including data losses from automated logouts and unscheduled downtimes, which made it difficult for some suppliers to submit bids. CMS has taken steps to improve the bidding process for the current round 1 rebid, according to the GAO, including certain safeguards that were mandated by Congress and a new electronic bidding submission system. The GAO’s only recommendation is that if CMS decides to conduct reviews of disqualified bids, it should notify all suppliers of this process; CMS agreed.