Accenture Awarded 5-Year Contract To Continue Managing HealthCare.gov
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
The $563 million contract assures continuity for HealthCare.gov
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded a $563 million five-year contract to Accenture Federal Services to continue Accenture’s successful work on the Federally Facilitated Marketplace (FFM) in support of the overall Health Insurance Marketplace website HealthCare.gov, according to a press release. Accenture was the only bidder for the contract.
The five-year contract includes a one-year base and four one-year extension options. The contract's total value is $563 million if all options are exercised for the entire five-year period. Under the contract, Accenture will provide HealthCare.gov with continual maintenance, technical support, and software development.
CMS had announced in January, 2014 it was awarding Accenture a one-year contract to oversee HealthCare.gov and prepare for the next open enrollment period. The government's three-year contract with CGI Federal – the previous lead contractor on the federal health insurance exchange website – was not renewed when it expired on Feb. 28.
In April, CMS posted a "sources sought" notice looking for other interested vendors, seeking information from small IT service vendors that might be interested in the work. In July, the White House began actively seeking a new contractor.
When Accenture took over its current contract, it dedicated more than 500 employees to HealthCare.gov. The website saw far better performance during the opening of the second open enrollment period than it had during the first problem-laden open enrollment period, according to Modern Healthcare.
“We appreciate CMS’ recognition of our hard work and solid results we delivered over the last year to improve HealthCare.gov. We see this new contract as a strong vote of confidence in Accenture’s ability to continue assisting CMS in building and maintaining the site that has allowed millions of Americans to gain access to healthcare insurance,” David Moskovitz, Chief Executive, Accenture Federal Services said in the release.
“Accenture has been an essential member of our team as we focused on delivering a positive consumer experience through HealthCare.gov. We are pleased that Accenture will continue to support HealthCare.gov, as we work together to help millions of Americans sign up for quality, affordable health insurance,” said Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.