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Washington Prowler
Pentagon Eats Crow
On September 18, 2009, The Prowler reported that a small Silicon Valley technology company, Adara Networks, had solved the long-standing problem of interoperability within the Department of Defense (DOD) and Veterans Administration electronic health records system.
In fact, one of the key planks to President Barack Obama's health care reform plan was the implementation of the long-gestating DOD Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Records System (JVLERS), which was envisioned to ensure that health-care records for military personnel would be available to health care professionals throughout patients' lifetimes in a secure and private database -- whether on the battlefield or in a VA or civilian hospital.
And long-gestating it was. The program to develop this interoperable system was funded by more than ten billion in taxpayer dollars over the past ten years. Most of those funds went through Northrop Grumman and SAIC, but the program had stalled out.
But, as we reported, Adara had solved the problem in about nine months at a cost of only $10 million. Adara was ready to perform the next phase of the work when allegations in an email written by a former Army nurse working in Military Health Systems were leaked to the media. In the email obtained by the online publication, Nextgov, Major Frank Tucker, the Army nurse, stated, "Adara's system 'was not as promised…. It was not ready for prime time and did not contain all the code…for the video displays.'"
That email and allegations of improper contracting caused an IG investigation that derailed the program, even though it appeared that DOD officials continued to endorse Adara’s design in its attempts to get the program back up and running, while blocking the firm from pursuing further business on the project. In reporting what appeared to be a sweetheart DOD deal for its longstanding contractors, like Northrop Grumman, among others, the Spectator took some heavy blowback from the Pentagon. In fact, the DoD spokesman for the project Director, Rear Admiral Gregory Timberlake informed us that Adara's system had not been endorsed.
Perhaps because enough time has elapsed that DOD officials think everyone will forget, it now appears that the JVLERS project has been unstalled and the Defense Department is looking for firms to bid on the contract. The Prowler has obtained the Military Health System’s Request for Proposal (RFP) for the project that was posted on Friday, January 15. And lo and behold, it has gone forward with the work Adara created. In fact the "Graphical User Interface" (GUI) that DOD is using to highlight the system is essentially Adara's down to the same chest x-ray.
Now Pentagon sources tell us that Adara -- the company that did at one percent of the cost of the large contractors -- is now being courted by those same firms (IBM, Nothrup Grumman, SAIC, etc.) to partner since Adara is the only firm that was able to crack the code for an interoperable, fully functional virtual health records system.
In fact, at the request of MHS, Adara presented at the MHS National Conference. Here's a link to Adara’s video presentation.
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Richard Baker| 1.29.10 @ 8:41AM
Good for Adara and Boo on DOD. When I was in the Army during the '70s, we called the Pentagon the "Puzzle Palace." Still is, it seems.
Richard Baker| 1.29.10 @ 8:44AM
Oh, these were the same people who gave us the M561 Gama Goat which was the worst road vehicle I've ever seen. Piece of junk and an accident waiting to happen. That is unless the engine report deafened you first.
Truth to Power| 1.29.10 @ 9:52AM
I have a lot of fond memories of being broken down in the field in "my" Gama Goat. It was supposed to be a very impressive off road vehicle and I took it into some difficult places but you never knew when you had a long walk ahead of you. You could take it for a swim in perfectly still conditions. You'd put it in third gear and put the peddle to the metal. The tires would spin like crazy and you might make a half mile an hour. When I was broke down in the field I never once thought that there was an idiot in the Pentagon responsible.
carnot| 1.30.10 @ 10:46AM
yea...the F-22, B-2, the F/A-18, Nimitz class CVNs - all pieces of junk! and what the H do DARPA, SANDIA, NRL, AFRL, etc., know/contribute?
we all know a constantly changing 5000 series and Congressional machinations couldn't possibly have any impact of acquisition efficiency/priorities.
Jabberwok| 1.29.10 @ 11:34AM
I am confused by this article. How was Adara vindicated, if in fact they were? Were these allegations leveled by this Army nurse legitimate, was he a plant? Is the tenor of this article that Adara had created a viable system but that the DoD/Pentagon put the kibosh on it as it was not from one of the defense industry's big boys? This is not well written. I give it a C.
carnot| 1.30.10 @ 10:49AM
bingo! I had the same reaction.
there is a lot that is wrong with DoD acquisition/procurement...not the least of which is...sorry to say....paucity of resources relative to programmatic demand. oh...and enough people who have the human capital that new technical challenges truly demand.
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.29.10 @ 11:51AM
I wanted you all to see this column...stunning!
http://townhall.com/columnists.....eftwingers
Pete| 1.29.10 @ 12:36PM
Hilarious. Unfortunately, these truths have a long uphill battle against revisionist history in liberal academia and MSM misinformation.
Margie| 1.29.10 @ 5:39PM
More proof~ that Liberalism (in its many, many forms) is a mental disorder.
Ray| 1.29.10 @ 12:14PM
Adara is being "courted" by the companies who are bidding on this. This means that those companies want to use Adara 's code, since it's the only code that works. Doesn't that tell you something? It tells me that the DoD was wrong about Adara but still won't admit it.
carnot| 1.30.10 @ 10:52AM
BS.....the "bigs" very often work with the "smalls" for two reasons:
- the smalls can get the contracts for SBA and minority directed funding lines
- the bigs can provide the people needed to scale to levels the smalls cannot possibly achieve
Mike| 1.29.10 @ 2:32PM
This reminds me of a joke.
The government agent needs a fence built so he asks for proposals. The first guys say I can do it for $1500. The next guy says it will cost $2500.
The third guy says it is a $7500 job. The government agent asks why he is so expensive compared to the others. Third guy explains. You give me the job and I will hire the second guy to do the job and split the difference with you.
Adara is not part of the club. They are the second guy.
Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)
carnot| 1.30.10 @ 10:55AM
maybe in days past. but not today. as one friend of mine puts it: DoD is the largest corporation in the world when it comes to one thing - paying people to think about things (vice produce).
Richard Baker| 1.29.10 @ 4:16PM
Truth to Power:
A buddy of mine in Germany in the early '70s told me that he was at a swim capability demonstration at Grafenwoehr for a bunch of senior NATO officers being pitched the Goat as the answer to their mobility problems. The driver went down into the water, got stable, put it into 6-wheel drive, and proceeded to sink to the bottom of the lake. A vehicle whose time never came.
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Stark Raving Zen: Off Road. | Car Classifications Automotive Wisdom links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : Pentagon Eats Crow [spectator.org] o links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Roy| 1.31.10 @ 10:49AM
When it comes to healthcare IT, the government has not yet begun to waste.
Billions of dollars for an EHR system? ROFL!!!!!!!!! We are doomed.
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