Two announcements in as many days reflect the changes federal agencies like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must make as a reformed healthcare system takes shape.

Today, CGI Federal announced it has been awarded a five-year contract worth $73.2 million as it continues to modernize and maintain three CMS Web sites that 44 million beneficiaries use to keep themselves informed on the latest news about their healthcare coverage and the services CMS provides.

The three Web sites -- Medicare.gov, cms.hhs.gov, and MyMedicare.gov -- provide information on everything from Medicare eligibility to types of coverage and application forms as well as prescription drug coverage and claim information.

The sites help CMS align its goals with the Obama administration's open government initiative to provide transparency, public participation, and collaboration to CMS beneficiaries as well as healthcare providers and other stakeholders. The three sites receive more than 500 million page views each year and allow beneficiaries to conduct online transactions with CMS. The sites also assist the customer support specialists who run the 1-800 Medicare help lines.

"CGI is proud to be chosen again to support [CMS's] efforts which directly impact so many citizens," said George Schindler, president of CGI Federal, in a statement. "We will continue to bring both our healthcare knowledge and technical expertise to this proven partnership as we help CMS achieve its vision to deliver a transformed and modernized healthcare system."

In a separate announcement yesterday, Northrop Grumman said it has been awarded a task order worth approximately $34 million over one year with option periods of up to five-and-a-half years to accelerate the development of electronic health records for CMS.

Under the terms of the contract, Northrop Grumman will develop, design, and maintain a national data repository that will support the administration and incentive-payment disbursements of Medicare and Medicaid programs to medical professionals, hospitals, and other organization

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health, or HITECH, National Level Repository task order was awarded under the enterprise system development indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract that Northrop Grumman's information systems sector was awarded in 2007.

"As the United States undergoes a significant transformation of its healthcare system, the National Level Repository will meet a critical need by processing millions of transactions to provide correct and accurate payments to our countless professionals, institutions, and state agencies that are serving the medical needs of our citizens," Amy King, Northrop Grumman's VP of health IT programs, said in a statement.

Northrop Grumman's teammates include Companion Data Services of Columbia, S.C., and InnovTech of Ashburn, Va.