Harris to assist VA with providing health care

Harris Corp. will provide systems and software development services to the Veterans Affairs Department under a two-year blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with a ceiling of $199.6 million.

The work will support the VA’s Enhance the Veteran Experience and Access to Healthcare plan, known as EVEAH. It is part of the VA's global effort to ensure all veterans receive the health care they have earned through their service, the Oct. 19 Harris announcement explained.

The VA is working to identify and communicate with eligible veterans who are unaware of their benefits, do not know how to enroll, or have mobility limitations that make it difficult to receive inpatient care.

EVEAH focuses on access and quality of care within the VA health care system.

Under the BPA, Harris will provide the systems software development and ongoing support to meet the EVEAH’s strategic goals, which include the modernization of existing IT systems, and the ability to interface with the various information systems within the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture, known as VistA.

Harris’ initial four projects include specific tasks that are defined in individual call orders under the BPA:

• The VA Point of Service Kiosk project will provide a convenient, easy to use, and effective method for veterans to access and manage their personal health experience as well as provide access to providers and system administration.
• The Public Quality and Safety Website project will redesign the existing Quality of Care website (www.qualityofcare.va.gov ) to make it more useful to users.
• Under the National Utilization Management Integration project, Harris will provide continued support and ongoing maintenance, perform application updates, and enhance the project with business functionality.
• The Bed Management System project will develop a replacement IT solution needed to manage beds at VA medical centers.

Harris Corp., of Melbourne, Fla., ranks No. 13 on Washington Technology’s 2011 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.