Specifications include, but are not limited to: The University of Maine System (UMS) sought proposals for consulting services to perform a study assessing the feasibility of the System establishing a public medical school within the state. UMS and its flagship institution, the University of Maine (UMaine), which in 2022 achieved R1 Carnegie Classification, is a trusted partner in addressing critical challenges facing the state of Maine, including through workforce development, research, and innovation. In recognition of UMS/UMaine statewide leadership in improving healthcare access and outcomes for Maine people, in July 2023 the Maine Legislature and Governor Janet Mills directed the System and provided public funding to undertake a study focused on the feasibility of establishing a public allopathic medical school in Penobscot County where the UMaine flagship campus is located, (Resolve 2023, Chapter 114). The UMS charter already provides that “The Board of Trustees of the University of Maine System is hereby authorized to locate, construct, equip, and operate a college of medicine and to set, establish and maintain standards of teaching and scholarship therefore; provided, nevertheless that the location, construction, and operation shall meet the approval of and that the standards of teaching and scholarship be at least equal to standards approved by the Council of Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association and of the Association of American Medical Colleges; and provided further, that the Board of Trustees shall be under no duty to perform any function under this section unless and until, in its opinion, the Board has received or is assured of sufficient funds either by gift from any source of by appropriation by the State of Maine to successfully construct and operate such college of medicine. The Board of Trustees is authorized to confer the degree of ‘Doctor of Medicine’ upon such students of the college of medicine, when so established, as complete the 4-year course of said college to the satisfaction of said Board of Trustees.” The Respondent will work with designated UMS and UMaine personnel to develop the Feasibility Study. It is the intention of UMS/UMaine that the Feasibility Study be undertaken in a transparent manner that is inclusive of statewide stakeholders including those that UMaine already has extensive education and research partnerships with, including, but not limited to, the following: 1. Northern Light Health (a tertiary care hospital medical education program located in Penobscot County); 2. Maine Health (a medical center in the state with an education and training partnership with a medical school located outside of the state); 3. Maine Center for Workforce Research and Information within the Department of Labor; 4. Maine Department of Health and Human Services; 5. Maine State Board of Education; 6. Veterans Affairs Maine Healthcare System; 7. Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness; 8. Maine Hospital Association; 9. Maine Medical Association; 10. Maine Primary Care Association
