Federal Health IT Resources

ASD(HA)

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. The top civilian health policy official in the Pentagon.

ATO

Authority to Operate. The security approval a system needs before it can go live on a government network. Getting an ATO can take months.

COTS

Commercial Off-the-Shelf. Software or hardware bought as-is from a vendor rather than custom-built. The theory is faster, cheaper. The reality is more complicated.

CRS

Congressional Research Service. Nonpartisan policy research arm of Congress. Their reports are among the most reliable sources on defense health.

DHA

Defense Health Agency. Runs military healthcare operations, TRICARE, pharmacy, and health IT. Stood up in 2013 to unify care across the Services.

DHP

Defense Health Program. The $40+ billion annual budget line that funds military healthcare. When people say "defense health spending," this is what they mean.

EHR

Electronic Health Record. The digital medical record system. DoD uses MHS GENESIS (Oracle Health). VA is deploying the same platform.

FHIR

Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (pronounced "fire"). The modern data standard for exchanging health information between systems. Mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act.

FedRAMP

Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program. The government's security certification for cloud services. Required before any cloud product can serve federal agencies.

FY

Fiscal Year. The federal fiscal year runs October 1 to September 30. FY2026 started October 1, 2025.

GAO

Government Accountability Office. Congress's investigative arm. Their audits of defense health IT programs carry significant weight.

GovCon

Government Contracting. The industry of selling products and services to federal agencies. Its own culture, rules, and vocabulary.

IDIQ

Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity. A contract vehicle that sets terms and ceiling but lets the government order as needed via task orders. The bread and butter of federal IT procurement.

JOMIS

Joint Operational Medicine Information Systems. Medical IT for deployed and combat environments. The systems a medic uses in theater.

MHS

Military Health System. The entire enterprise: DHA, Service medical commands, MTFs, TRICARE, and the health IT infrastructure that connects them.

MHS GENESIS

The DoD's electronic health record, built on Oracle Health (formerly Cerner). Deployed across military hospitals and clinics. The single largest health IT deployment in federal history.

MTF

Military Treatment Facility. A military hospital or clinic. There are roughly 700 worldwide, from Walter Reed to battalion aid stations.

NDAA

National Defense Authorization Act. Annual legislation that sets defense policy and spending priorities. Health IT provisions are typically in Title VII.

OTA

Other Transaction Authority. A faster procurement path that bypasses traditional FAR contracting rules. Used for prototyping and innovation programs.

PEO DHMS

Program Executive Office, Defense Healthcare Management Systems. Manages MHS GENESIS and related health IT deployments. The office that owns EHR modernization.

PWS

Performance Work Statement. Tells the contractor what outcomes to deliver (vs. SOW which tells them how). Government prefers PWS for services contracts.

pWin

Probability of Win. A capture management metric estimating the likelihood of winning a contract. Typically expressed as a percentage, reassessed at each gate review.

RFI

Request for Information. The government asking industry "what can you do?" before writing a formal solicitation. Not a contract, but a signal of intent.

RFP

Request for Proposal. The formal solicitation. This is the government saying "submit your proposal by this date." The starting gun for capture teams.

Role 1 / 2 / 3

Echelons of military medical care. Role 1: buddy aid and medic. Role 2: forward surgical. Role 3: combat support hospital. The further from the front, the higher the role number.

SAM.gov

System for Award Management. Where federal contracts and solicitations are posted. If you're in GovCon, you live here.

SOW

Statement of Work. The contract document that specifies exactly what the contractor must do, how, and when. Drives scoring in ProposalPulse when uploaded.

T4NG

Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation. VA's primary IT services contract vehicle. $22.3B ceiling. If you sell IT to VA, you probably use T4NG.

TRICARE

The healthcare program for military members, retirees, and families. Covers 9.6M beneficiaries. Managed by DHA through regional contractors.

USCDI

United States Core Data for Interoperability. The standardized set of health data classes that systems must be able to exchange. Updated annually by ONC.

VHA

Veterans Health Administration. The healthcare delivery arm of the VA. Operates the hospitals, clinics, and care networks. The largest integrated health system in the country.

VistA

Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture. VA's legacy EHR, built in-house starting in the 1970s. Being replaced by Oracle Health, but still running at most sites.