In February 2013, DOD and Department of Veterans Affairs officials announced plans to halt a joint integrated EHR, or iEHR system, and instead focus on making their current EHR systems more interoperable.
In August 2014, DOD issued a final solicitation for bids for the $11 billion Defense Healthcare Management Systems Modernization contract, with Oct. 31, 2014, as the final date to submit proposals. A team of DOD civilians, military personnel and subject matter and procurement experts are evaluating the proposals.
As part of the project, DOD will replace the:
- Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application, or AHLTA;
- Composite Health Care System; and
- Various EHR components, including AHLTA-Theater.
Groups competing for the contract had included:
- A team that includes Computer Sciences Corp., a defense contractor and systems integrator, Hewlett Packard, a computer services firm, and EHR developer Allscripts;
- A team that includes EHR vendor Cerner, Leidos — a government systems integrator — and Accenture Federal;
- A team that includes IBM and EHR vendor Epic, which recently unveiled a new advisory group; and
- A team that includes DSS, General Dynamics Information Technology, Google, MedSphere and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
DOD officials plan to make a decision on the contract by June (iHealthBeat, 1/15).
Elimination Details
According to NextGov, just three bidding teams remain in competition for the contract under the department’s new “competitive range” for the project.
Although DOD Healthcare Management System Modernization Contracting Officer Matt Hudson did not reveal which teams were still competing for the contract, sources with knowledge of the competitive range have said that the remaining bids are the:
- Computer Sciences Corp., Hewlett Packard and Allscripts team;
- Cerner, Leidos and Accenture Federal team; and
- IBM and Epic team (Konkel, NextGov, 2/23).
An IBM spokesperson confirmed that its team is still in the competition.
According to “Morning eHealth,” PwC officials confirmed that its bid for an open-source system was outside of the newly established competitive range.
PwC U.S. Public Sector Managing Partner Scott McIntyre said the company “remains committed to helping support the health and well-being of our troops and their families.” He added, “We will continue to work closely with [DOD] in any capacity that serves those goals.”
Observers also report that a fifth bidder, the company InterSystems Trak Care, failed to meet the competitive range standards (“Morning eHealth,” Politico, 2/24).
