VA IT contract worth triple price tag from other contractors?

VA AWARDS ASM RESEARCH A HEALTH IT CONTRACT TRIPLE THE PRICE OF COMPETITORS’ BIDS
Nextgov
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By Bob Brewin
November 5, 2013

The Veterans Affairs Department awarded ASM Research a $162.5 million contract to improve the user experience for VA’s electronic health record system, a price more than triple two competitive bids, Nextgov has learned. The Sept. 30 contract award is for improvements to the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture, known as VistA.

HP Enterprise Services and Triple-I of Overland Park, Kansas, each submitted bids under $50 million on the contract won by ASM, two independent sources told Nextgov. The companies competed for the VistA work through task orders issued under a $12 billion IT umbrella contract known as Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology, or T4. The T4 contract, awarded to 16 companies in June 2011, is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract that gives the department considerable flexibility in awarding technology deals.

The VistA enhancement contract calls for a new graphical user interface that will display a wide range of patient information. It also calls for other tasks one source described as so general it would allow the department to use ASM for a wide range of work without further competition.

On Oct. 28, a month after VA awarded the contract to ASM, David Waltman, a senior program officer within the Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Information and Analytics who had done preliminary work on that contract, sent an email to colleagues at VA and the Defense Department telling them he would leave government service Nov. 2 to take a job as chief strategy officer for ASM.

In his email, Waltman said, “At ASM, I will be able to help ensure that the government receives the highest quality product possible for the VistA 4 User Experience. Team ASM has incredible partners in this effort, including Agilex, Inc., who have a great track record of delivering quality software for VA. It will be a privilege to work with them.”
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Guess it wasn't such a privilege to work for the veterans in the VA