Leidos has received a $4.3bn contract to modernise the US Department of Defense’s (DoD) healthcare management system.
Under the indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, the company, in collaboration with Cerner and Accenture, will provide an electronic health record off-the-shelf solution, integration activities, and deployment across the military health system.
The contract has a two-year initial ordering period, with two three-year option periods, and also features a potential two-year award term, which, if awarded, would bring the total ordering period to ten years.
US Defense Healthcare Management Systems programme executive officer Christopher Miller said the award of the new modernisation contract is a great opportunity to ‘save money, save time, and most importantly, save lives.’
Based on protocols established by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and the DoD / Veteran Affairs (VA) interagency programme office, the contract will improve current interoperability among the DoD, the VA and private sector health-care providers and enable each to access and update health records.
Specifically, the contract will cover more than 9.5 million current and retired military service members and more than 205,000 care providers that support them.
The team will initially deploy the new electronic health records system at eight locations in the Pacific Northwest covering each of the services in late 2016. The system will eventually be fielded at more than 1,000 locations worldwide.
According to the US Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Undersecretary of Defence Frank Kendall, the cost was placed at $11bn over 18 years, but could be reduced to less than $9bn.
US Health Affairs Assistant Secretary of Defence Dr Jonathan Woodson said the new system should be able to operate in remote places like Afghanistan, in addition to the DoD’s 55 hospitals and more than 600 clinics.
Woodson said: "Even apart from the wartime requirements, the patients we serve are frequently on the move, as are our caregivers, so it is very important to have a highly integrated system that is portable to serve the needs wherever they may be required."
Work will be performed at locations across the US and abroad, and is expected to be completed by September 2025, if all options are exercised.
