HP nets multimillion VA services contract

Hewlett-Packard Co. has won a $784 million, 10-year contract from Veterans Affairs to provide engineering support services and maintenance for the VistaA Health Information System.

HP of Palo Alto, Calif., was the incumbent on the preceding contract. The new contract expands the engineering services the company will provide, said Bruce Klein, vice president of federal sales for HP.

The company will support about 170 medical centers in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. VistaA is used to manage patient records and administrative functions.

"About 4.5 million receive services from VA, so keeping the system running is critically important," Klein said.

Winning the contract reinforced HP's move toward providing more services to the government along with its products, he said. Services now account for about 26 percent of HP's government business.

The government is looking for more services to consolidate and streamline IT systems and reduce redundancies, Klein said.

"This contract fits right in with what the government is trying to accomplish," he said.