SAIC wins $68 million contract to help CDC implement biosurveillance
CDC to rule out nationwide biosurveillance with the help of SAIC
San Diego, California-based SAIC won contracts worth nearly $68 million to help implement the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) biosurveillance program which watches for disease outbreaks and potential terrorist attacks. SAIC, one of the largest government contractors, will help the CDC roll out its BioSense system by providing software and technical support to the surveillance initiative. BioSense was created to identify disease outbreaks and public health incidents, including potential bioterror attacks, by collecting information from doctors’ offices, hospitals, pharmacies, and schools to look for signs of an outbreak within a specific population. The BioSense program is part of the biosurveillance initiative included in President Bush’s fiscal 2005 budget request. Congress approved about $80 million for biosurveillance in the fiscal 2005 omnibus spending package.
-read more in SAIC news release