The US Food and Drug Administration announced the selection of ten contractors to receive up to a total of $2.5 billion for information technology (IT) and data centre management services over the next ten years. The contract is the cornerstone of the FDA's Information Technology for the 21st Century (ICT21) bioinformatics initiative, an extensive IT modernization programme encompassing data management, data warehousing, IT infrastructure and IT security.

"This contract sets the stage for the FDA to have IT to acquire, analyze and act on data critical for import protection, food protection and medical product safety plans," said Andrew C von Eschenbach, commissioner of Food and Drugs. "We are creating a high-tech, efficient, data management system designed to meet the needs of those who must accomplish our mission -- protecting and promoting the health of the American public."

The contracts, with a minimum value of $25,000 in orders per contractor, were awarded to: Buccaneer, of Warrenton, Va.; Computer Sciences Corporation, Rockville, Maryland; Dynanet, of Elkridge, Maryland; Electronic Data Systems, Herndon, Virginia; General Dynamics, Fairfax, Virginia; Human Touch, McLean, Virginia; IDL-Pragmatics, Vienna, Virginia; Interactive Technology Solutions, Silver Spring, Maryland; Telesis, Rockville, Maryland; and Unisys, Reston, Virginia.

The ten contractors will compete for data information technology task orders through this contract. The FDA has awarded three task orders under the ICT 21 contract for the design and migration of all systems applications to two new data centers, which will be the cornerstone of the FDA IT infrastructure and bioinformatics modernization for the next decade.

All FDA software applications and hosting operations will transition to the new data centers over a two-year period. The resulting enhanced computing power and greater responsiveness will provide the FDA with the tools it needs to ensure that all products reaching the American public are safer and more effective.