TCS in a race to win $50 bn US health contract

Hyderabad Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Indian multinational IT services and consulting company, along with Capgemini are vying for a share of contracts worth a whopping $50 billion from the US Government's National Institute of Health (NIH).

Official documents show that the company is bidding for a share in the 75 to 125 contracts through its US subsidiary Tata America International Ltd. These contracts, collectively called CIO-SP4 (Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 4), represent one of the largest technology procurement vehicles to be launched in recent years. It is aimed at meeting the general IT, biomedical and health IT needs of US government agencies across areas such as IT services, outsourcing, cybersecurity, cloud services and software development.

The bid is so significant for the company that, even a partial win by TCS of the contract will enable the software exporter to compete in a massive market for US federal reserve technology procurement.

NIH's NITAAC is the agency tasked to acquire IT services, solutions, and commodities from pre-qualified vendors at lower than open-market prices in less time than going the traditional full and open route. "TCS certainly has the scale and capability to compete and deliver on this and other bids of this magnitude," said Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of Everest Group, a US-based IT advisory and research firm.