Avineon assists Education with financial aid programs

Avineon Inc. will help the Education Department improve its financial aid systems under a 10-year, performance-based contract worth about $60 million.

The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity award calls for Avineon to provide long-term information technology assistance for the Office of Federal Student Aid's financial management system.

Avineon will be responsible for integrating current financial systems and providing new IT solutions, improving program integrity, and reducing federal student assistance programs' vulnerability to fraud, waste and abuse.

To accomplish those goals, the contractor will provide a range of IT services, including applications development and operations and maintenance support for financial systems using tools such as Oracle Financials. The activities support Education's strategic plan and the office's five-year plan.

The office's mission is to ensure that all eligible Americans have access to federal financial assistance for education beyond high school by offering grants, loans and a work-study program, Avineon officials said. In fiscal 2007, those programs provided about $83 billion in new aid to more than 10 million post-secondary students.

Avineon is based in Alexandria, Va., and has branch offices in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. The company specializes in Web-based architecture, systems engineering, application development, and network and security support for the government and private sector.