PR - The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has awarded a fixed-price services contract to Penobscot Bay Media (PenBay) for geographic information systems (GIS) and web portal development to support veterans’ health care planning. The contract has a value of $2.1 million, with options for additional support in years 2009 through 2012 based on available funding.  

PenBay will provide VHA with IT engineering and technical services to integrate advanced spatial and geographic analysis with population-based health care resource planning, especially as it relates to rural veteran’s health care and related initiatives.  The VHA administers and operates the nation’s largest integrated health care system, and this project will greatly increase the ability of the agency to identify resource requirements and allocate resources to better meet local health care needs and provide timely access to care for veterans across the country.

The work will be done in cooperation with the Enrollment and Forecasting Office of the VHA Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health (ADUSH) for Policy and Planning, Planning System Support Group (PSSG). The goals of the ADUSH and PSSG are to support the decision-making process for improving health care to the veteran community through timely, relevant and thorough information analysis.  

Team PenBay, which includes support from subcontractors ESRI Inc., Mannion Geosystems LLC and Grant Thornton LLP, will bring to bear the resources and experience required to support VHA’s vision of employing geospatial tools for planning and decision support, including expertise in GIS systems engineering, spatial application and database development, systems integration, user training and technical support services.   

For information: www.penbaymedia.com