Health care reform law drives new $169M Verizon award

Verizon Business will help the Health and Human Services Department implement the new health care reform law by providing a variety of IT services under a new $169 million Networx Universal contract.

Verizon Business will manage and secure the department’s IP and data networks, which provide an essential and reliable platform for day-to-day operations, whether it's processing Medicare claims or providing health care on tribal lands via telemedicine, the telecommunications company said in a statement today.

The telecommunications company also will provide an array of security capabilities, including managed firewalls and intrusion detection, as well as a virtual private network that enables HHS employees to gain remote access securely to information and to collaborate more effectively via voice over IP, Web and videoconferencing.

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications Inc., had been providing telecommunications services under GSA’s Federal Telecommunications Service 2001 contract, the predecessor to the Networx program.

Verizon Communications, of New York, ranks No. 19 on Washington Technology’s 2010 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.