The 10-year contract is the cornerstone of the FDA's Information Technology for the 21st Century bioinformatics initiative, an extensive IT modernization program 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 FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach. "We are creating a high-tech, efficient, data management system designed to meet the needs of those who must accomplish our mission …"

The contracts, with a minimum value of $25,000 in orders per contractor, were awarded to: Buccaneer Computer Systems Inc. of Warrenton, Va.; the Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE:SC) of Rockville, Md.; the Dynanet Corp. of Elkridge, Md.; the Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Herndon, Va.; the General Dynamics Corp. of Fairfax, Va.; Human Touch LLC of McLean, Va.; IDL-Pragmatic of Vienna, Va.; Interactive Technology Solutions of Silver Spring, Md.; the Telesis Corp. of Rockville, Md.; and the Unisys Corp. (NYSE:UIS) of Reston, Va.