Veterans Affairs starts to preview intake services recompete

The Veterans Affairs Department is starting to give industry a glimpse at its plans to conduct the recompete of a potential $900 million intake and managed services contract awarded in 2019.

Now dubbed VA Processing and Automation Services, this upcoming vehicle is a continuation of the department's efforts at moving toward a fully paperless claims processing environment and reduce the backlog of benefit claims.

A virtual industry day to discuss the new VPAS contract is scheduled for 2 p.m. Eastern time on Feb. 21, VA said in a Friday Sam.gov notice.

VPAS will be the successor to the current contract that is slated to expire in September of this year and is known as VICCS -- Veterans Intake, Conversation and Communication Services.

Examples of work areas include mail processing, data conversion, data reconciliation, data transfer, new business rule creation and change management.

VA still receives mail into its evidence intake center from veterans or their representatives to start the process of fulfilling claims for benefits and services. The mail is then tracked and converted into searchable PDF formats, which are later added to a body of evidence supporting both the claim and claimant.

The department has obligated approximately 98% of the $900 million ceiling for VICCS, according to GovTribe data. General Dynamics, IBM and GovCIO are respectively the three largest recipients of the task order volume and together have booked $865.8 million in work.