Google is the latest bargaining chip in the battle for the Defense Department's contract to modernize its electronic health records system.
PwC announced Thursday that the technology giant will join its bid, which could be worth as much as $11 billion through 2023.
"Google is known for its expertise in innovative, secure and open technologies, and the power of Internet scale," Scott McIntyre, PwC's Global and U.S. Public Sector Leader, said in the announcement. "Their capabilities can complement our proposed open-architecture solution and bring added value, agility and flexibility to the new Military Health System."
Google isn't the only entity helping PwC with its bid. MedicaSoft, General Dynamics Information Technology and EHR vendors DSS, Inc. and Medsphere Systems Corporation also are along for the ride.
Competition for the contract is fierce and growing.
Just last week, IBM and Epic announced the formation of an advisory group of industry experts to bolster their bid.
The advisory group members have volunteered to share their experience with governance, interoperability, analytics, research, population health, behavioral health, online patient self-service and more.
The other bidding teams include Computer Sciences Corp., which is partnering with HP and EHR developer Allscripts; and EHR vendor Cerner, joined by Leidos, Accenture Federal, and Intermountain Healthcare.
The EHR contract is expected to be awarded in June.
To learn more:
- read the announcement