Accenture announced on Monday that its subsidiary Accenture Federal Services (AFS) was awarded a $453 million prime contract from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to improve and modernize the VA’s Digital GI Bill Delivery Program.
“Accenture is excited to support VA in transforming its Digital GI Bill program– from the time a Veteran, service member or their dependent applies for a Certificate of Eligibility to when they graduate and search for meaningful employment,” commented Shawn Roman, managing director at Accenture Federal Services and client account lead for the VA.
The contract will require AFS to improve the education claims processing and transform other management systems for the VA’s Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). The company will deliver on the contract by developing automation, user interface/user experience design, service transformation, analytics, and other modern IT services.
“Changing job markets, workforce trends, technologies and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated the need to provide GI Bill benefits to Veterans and their families,” VBA’s executive director Charmain Bogue added.
“These changes highlight the need for a benefits delivery system that is highly responsive and adaptive to Veterans and their families in a digital world so VA can implement GI Bill program changes faster and accurately.”
AFS will also configure the GI Bill Claims Processing and Management Service by administering updates required by the Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020 and providing information technology (IT) services.
The contract’s base period is seven months with nine one-year option periods. AFS will be the prime contractor while leading an integrated team of 12 subcontractors. The call for modernization of the VA’s systems comes from recent legislation that requires the Administration to update approximately 12 legacy IT systems.
“Through the Digital GI Bill Delivery Program, we will help VA reduce its claims processing times through increased automation, enabling VA administrators and employees to focus on serving Veterans and providing a more productive veteran experience,” Roman concluded.