Army outsources HR services

Three contractors have won deals worth a total of $586 million to provide the Army with human resources, personnel and support functions.

Resource Consultants Inc. of Vienna, Va., SI International Inc. of Reston, Va., and Strategic Resources, Inc. of McLean, Va., will vie for work under the five-year HRsolutions program.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Manpower and Reserve Affairs, awarded the task order contracts. Each is for one year with four option years.

 

The president's proposed fiscal 2005 budget contains $3.98 billion in funding for first responders.

 

DOD certifies Cisco VoIP

The Defense Department's Joint Interoperability Test Command has certified Cisco Systems Inc.'s Internet protocol telephony solutions, opening the door for organizations across the department to deploy Cisco's voice over IP equipment.

The testing ensures the interoperability, reliability and security of equipment across the department's sprawling voice network.

Cisco achieved JITC PBX2 certification, making its gear usable for switched calls. Company officials said Cisco now is working with the command to earn PBX1 certification, which would mean the Cisco VoIP infrastructure could be used in command and control environments.

 

Health care IT gets $139 million

The Health and Human Services Department this month announced $139 million in grants and contracts to promote the use of health IT and take the department a step closer to electronic health records for all Americans.

HHS will make more than 100 grants to communities, hospitals, providers and health care systems to help improve patient safety by reducing medication errors and increasing use of shared patient health data, and cut duplicative and unnecessary testing.

The new National Health Information Technology Resource Center will design a repository for best practices and aid grantees with technical assistance and a focus for collaboration.

 

R&D tax credit enacted

President George Bush signed a tax bill, H.R. 1308, that includes an 18-month extension of a research and development tax credit that many industry executives say is essential for continued technological innovation.

The bill extended the research credit to qualified amounts paid or incurred before Jan. 1, 2006. Industry executives are still lobbying for a permanent tax credit, however.