Education Department re-ups Accenture for student aid system work

Accenture Ltd. received a three-year, $179 million contract extension from the Education Department to continue furnishing operation and maintenance services for the system that processes disbursements for federal student aid programs.

Accenture developed and implemented the Common Origination and Disbursement system for the department's Office of Federal Student Aid in 2002. The system consolidates and integrates the legacy systems that support the origination and disbursement of student financial aid funds governed under Title IV of the Higher Education Act.

Among these funds are federal Pell Grants, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Stafford and Perkins loans, and the federal work-study program.

The Common Origination and Disbursement system has distributed more than $93 billion in federal student aid since its implementation. Accenture's system support services enable the Education Department to disburse about $25 billion in Pell Grants and direct loans annually. Pell grants are awarded only to undergraduate students who have not yet received degrees.

Accenture of Hamilton, Bermuda, which has 123,000 employees and had annual revenue of $15.6 billion in fiscal 2005, ranks No. 25 on Washington Technology's 2005 Top 100 list of federal prime contractors.