SAP protests HHS Oracle plan

SAP Public Services Inc. is protesting a plan by the Department of Health and Human Services to use Oracle Corp.'s Oracle Federal Financials across the agency.

SAP filed its protest Sept. 4 with the General Accounting Office, which is expected to issue a decision by Dec. 13.

SAP complained that HHS is moving rapidly to lock itself into a departmentwide Oracle solution without competition or any consideration of competing products.

"The protested procurements are part of a pattern of questionable acquisitions that have steadily increased Oracle's dominance at HHS," SAP's lawyers said in the protest.

They also said that HHS has not justified the purchase of Oracle software and is "attempting to lock in the award." And they asked that the current order be canceled.

HHS is planning to use Oracle for two financial management systems -- one for its Medicare contractors and one for the rest of HHS.

The Medicare contract, known as the Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System (HIGLAS), was awarded to PricewaterhouseCoopers Sept. 27. Oracle is one of the subcontractors on the project.

The departmentwide system is being implemented beginning at the National Institutes of Health, where it is the foundation of the NIH business system. NIH has estimated that it will take more than three years and $102 million to implement Oracle Federal Financials at NIH alone.

Oracle and HHS representatives had no immediate comment on the protest.