Health IT Spending Expands under the Multiple Award Schedule Program

Published: August 12, 2020

Federal Market AnalysisCoronavirus (COVID-19) PandemicHealth ITInformation Technology

Contract spending under the Multiple Award Schedules program has significantly expanded since the inception of the Health IT SIN in 2016.

Key Takeaways:

  • Agencies continue to spend under the Health IT category within GSA’s MAS program to fulfill their healthcare technology needs, spending nearly $334M under the program since its inception in FY 2016.  
  • Small business awards under Health IT MAS represent nearly 30% of awarded contracts to date, with 79% of contractors under the category labeled as small business.
  • The top ten contractors by total under Health IT MAS make up nearly 80% of total obligations spent from FY 2016 – Q2 FY 2020.
  • Despite the lack of Q3 FY 2020 data, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to boost spending under the Health IT MAS category.

In July 2016, GSA incorporated Special Item Number #132-56 under Schedule 70 in response to a rapidly growing market in the health IT sector. In addition to SIN #132-56, two related Health IT SINs were added in July 2016: SIN# 132-56 RC - Health Information Technology Services for Disaster Recovery Purchasing, and SIN# 132-56 ST/LOC - Health Information Technology Services for State & Local Cooperative Purchasing. The three Health IT SIN are now 54151HEAL under GSA’s newly consolidated Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program.

Health IT under the MAS program, which I will refer to as Health IT MAS or 54151HEAL moving forward, provides a variety of health services, meeting needs from health analytics to emerging health IT research. Specifically, 54151HEAL offers agency buyers the following:

  • Connected health
  • Electronic health records
  • Emerging research
  • Health analytics
  • Health informatics
  • Health information exchanges
  • Innovative solutions
  • Personal health information management
  • Other health IT services

At its inception, spending under the Health IT MAS moved at a snail’s pace, with reported obligations only beginning to appear in Q3 FY 2017. Since then, however, Health IT MAS obligations have rapidly grown, proving its effectiveness in the federal health IT market:

Source: GSA SSQ+

 Observations:

  • Total spend from FY 2016 to Q2 FY 2020 under Health IT SIN/54151HEAL is $333.8M
  • Of that total, $300.5M was spent on health IT services, while the remaining $33.3M on health IT products
  • SIN # 132-56 represents 95% of total spend with $317.8M, followed by SIN# 132-56 ST/LOC with $15.5M, and SIN # 56RC with $558K
  • Average sales under 54151HEAL between 2016 and Q2 FY 2020 were $26K
  • Small business awards under Health IT MAS represent nearly 30% of total awarded contracts to date with $100.3M

Source: GSA SSQ+

Observations:

  • As of August 2020, 54151HEAL lists 507 qualified vendors, of which 404 companies are labeled as small business 
  • The top ten contractors make up 80% of total Health IT MAS obligations spent from FY 2016 – Q2 FY 2020, totaling $263.9M
  • In FY 2017, only 251 vendors were listed under 54151HEAL, marking a 102% increase in vendor participation to date

Although data for Q3 FY 2020 is unavailable as of this publish date, it is safe to assume the COVID-19 pandemic will further jolt spending under the Health IT MAS. Given the rapid response needed in the pandemic, along with the scale of services and solutions offered under 54151HEAL and the relatively low number of contractors under it, the Health IT MAS is certainly playing a role in this unprecedented health crisis.