In 2013, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs signed a $543 million IT contract with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services to provide a real-time locating system at VA hospitals across the country. The system, which department officials initially planned to deploy in June, will now be released in mid-2018, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Here are five things to know about the project.
1. The RTLS — an Internet of Things system which involves tagging medical equipment with tracking devices — aims to improve asset management and reduce the amount of lost or stolen medical devices. The system also tracks equipment during the sterilization process, which VA officials said would improve infection control.
2. The VA's RTLS contract has experienced a range of problems over the past four years — including a temporary stop work order — leading the project to stall for 18 months. VA officials in Austin, Texas, said the project is in danger of becoming a "catastrophic failure," according to the Austin American-Statesman, which filed Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain internal emails, reports and documents belonging to the VA.
3. Six months after signing the contract in 2013, the VA found the RTLS equipment tags were too wide for various pieces of equipment at select hospitals. The department said the issue made tracking unreliable, since a tag might fall off of its intended device.
The VA also found the RTLS failed operational readiness tests at a VA facility in March 2015. The system reportedly could only determine equipment location in 40 percent of cases, often misidentifying the floor on which devices were stored.
4. Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services disputed the 40 percent accuracy claim, alleging the VA's inadequate Wi-Fi infrastructure was not able to support the system. The company claimed 137 Wi-Fi access points at the VA were not operational, according to the report.
In a letter to the VA dated February 2016, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services officials wrote the issues were due to "performance errors ... it appears [the] VA has failed to take responsibility to correct," and emphasized the company "should not be held accountable for the VA's WiFi limitations."
5. VA officials said the issues have since been resolved, with the department planning to release the RTLS systemwide by June 2018. The department also noted the system has already been implemented in a dozen facilities. However, as recent as September 2016, an outside consultant noted the sterilization tests Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services conducted were allegedly less "rigorous" than what the VA had intended, according to the Austin American-Statesman.