IBM’S Full-Court Press To Capture DOD Health Records Contract

It’s no secret the multibillion deal to overhaul the Defense Department’s electronic health records system will be one of the most significant government contracts awarded in 2015.  In the months leading up to the October 2014 bid deadline, DOD officials testified the contract could be worth as much as $11 billion through 2023. And after more than a year of procurement preparation by DOD, four powerhouse vendor teams submitted bids to build the Pentagon’s next-generation EHR system.

The bidding teams are:

• Computer Sciences Corp., partnered with HP and EHR developer Allscripts;
• Leidos and Accenture Federal;
• PricewaterhouseCoopers with General Dynamics Information Technology, DSS Inc. and Medsphere; and
• IBM and Epic Systems.

DOD is expected to award one of those teams – consisting of commercial vendors coupled with EHR developers – with the contract in June 2015.  While it’s too early to know whether there’s a frontrunner, IBM and Epic have arguably been the most proactive team. They were the first to announce their partnership in June 2014. Around the same time, IBM began hiring high-profile personnel to lead its health care efforts, including Dr. Keith Salzman, who spent 20 years with DOD’s military health system...