Army Awards $5 Billion

WASHINGTON - With no fanfare, the Army last week awarded a sweeping contract to 23 vendors to provide a wide range of services to TriCare, the health care organization for uniformed services, retirees and their families.

The TriCare Evaluation, Analysis, and Management Support (or TEAMS) contract vehicle awarded Feb. 1 will provide support to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and to the TriCare Management Activity.

The $5 billion, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract is for 10 years - one base year and nine one-year options. The awardees will compete for task orders to carry out specific projects in such areas as policy development, decision-making, management and administration, and program and project management.

"The original [Request for Proposals] was released in 2004; then there were questions and clarifications, and the final due date for proposals was February of 2006," said Gerald Yantis, vice president and both U.S. public healthcare sector lead and global healthcare lead for Capgemini Government Solutions in Herndon, Va., one of the corporate awardees. "They asked for clarifications of pricing last summer."

The awardees will compete for orders to carry out specific projects in such task areas as policy development, decision-making, management and administration, and program and project management. No task orders have yet been released for the companies to bid on, he said.

Yantis said the TEAMS contract vehicle will be available to the Defense Department, DOD Health Affairs, and other agencies with healthcare responsibilities. While most of the work is likely to be within the United States, he said, it is a worldwide vehicle and can be used by U.S. military healthcare operations located in other countries. Eight 8(a) small businesses were included among the recipients.

The list of vendors includes: AlfoTech Solutions; Altarum Institute; Axiom Resource Management Inc.; Bearing Point Inc.; Booz Allen Hamilton; Capgemini Government Solutions LLC; Computer Technology Associates; Deloitte Consulting LLP; Dynamics Research Corp.; Edmonds Computer International; General Dynamics; IMS Government Solutions; Interactive Technology Solutions; Irving Burton Associates Inc.; Jacer LLC; KSJ & Associates; Lockheed Martin Corp.; Perot Systems Government Services Inc.; Research Triangle Institute; Netstar 1; Technology Automaton & Management Inc.; The Informatics Application Group; and VECNA Inc.

-----
On the Web:

TriCare - homepage

(Copyright 2008 by FederalNewsRadio.com. All Rights Reserved.)