Accenture Federal joins global AIDS fight with $190M State capture

Accenture's U.S. federal subsidiary will provide data and systems engineering support to a State Department program focused on combating AIDS and HIV under a $190 million contract.

U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program, commonly known as PEPFAR, is 20 years old and is credited with saving 25 million lives globally. PEPFAR State Department’s Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy but is implemented by seven departments and agencies, according to the State Department.

It is the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease. The State Department says the U.S. government has invested at least $110 billion in its global AIDS response.

“PEPFAR is a shining example of what can be achieved with a whole-of-government approach,” Anthony Pinheiro, Accenture Federal Services managing director and State Department client account lead, said in a release. “Accenture Federal Services is helping the organization secure health data collection and exchange to enable real-time analysis of programmatic performance.”

One piece of PEPFAR’s mission is training health care workers and to date it has trained 340,000 people, according to Accenture Federal. The infrastructure has been used to combat other health challenges.

“Policies and practices to combat global health threats work best when supported by detailed data to drive optimal decision-making,” said John Roche, an Accenture Federal managing director.

Under the contract, Accenture Federal will bring on new technologies and architecture for PEPAR’s data infrastructure to build on the base that already exists.

The goal is to evolve to “address new risk groups, confront future health threats, and eliminate HIV as a public health threat by 2030,” Roche said.

The new contract has a one-year base period and four option years.