EDS to manage CMS data center operations

EDS Corp. will operate data centers for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under a six-year task order with a ceiling value of $19.8 million.

The award calls for EDS to consolidate and host the agency’s data center operations at CMS’ nine common working file (CWF) host sites. The company will operate all CWF host site applications from its data center, which is capable of processing eligibility inquiries for all CMS beneficiaries.

The regional CWF host sites store Medicare Part A and Part B eligibility information for about 45 million beneficiaries in the United States. The CWF application allows Medicare administrative contractors, fiscal intermediaries and carriers to verify beneficiary eligibility, receive prepayment reviews and obtain approval of Medicare insurance claims, EDS officials said today.

This consolidation effort will enable CMS to streamline its data center operations, improve hosting reliability and reduce costs, they said.

To support the consolidation, EDS will make data center host implementations and corrections. The contractor also will provide Web hosting, data storage, mainframe and transition services, shared infrastructure services, enterprise data center program management and general support.

The task order was awarded under the CMS Enterprise Data Center Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract.

EDS has been a Medicare partner since 1965, said Dennis Stolkey, senior vice president of U.S. Public Sector at EDS.

EDS, of Plano Texas, ranks No. 10 on Washington Technology’s 2008 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors. EDS’ parent company, Hewlett Packard Co., ranks No. 39 on the list.