The U.S. Department of State has awarded Accenture Federal Services a five-year, $118 million contract calling for data management assistance.
Under the contract, Accenture Federal Services will be expected to aid the branch’s passport and visa system as well as their homeland security database hub, the Arlington, Virginia-based company said Monday.
John Goodman, Accenture Federal Services CEO, commented on the integral nature of embracing updated technology in order to gain more insights from data at a faster rate.
“AFS is thrilled to support the State Department with automating and standardizing the way data is shared to enhance operational speed and quality for the agency,” Goodman, who is a five-time recipient of the Wash100 Award, continued.
The State Department is looking at cloud, artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies for Accenture’s data replication duties with passports and visas. The department hopes these upgrades will mitigate fraud.
Additionally, they are considering implementing said technologies for the company’s data engineering efforts with the homeland security database. The latter is an architecture network through which information travels to other branches of the U.S. government.
Accenture Federal has fostered a longtime working relationship with the State Department. According to Susie Rainey, client account lead at AFS, the collaboration is in the interest of strengthening foreign policy and serving the collective good of the country.
The new contract, especially the homeland security database improvement, is not unlike the assignment AFS received from the Transportation Security Administration earlier this month to streamline their credential system. The TSA award is $199 million over seven years.
