VA Kicks Off Wi-Fi Buy, Plans National Rollout

The Veterans Affairs Department kicked off a procurement to install a patient Wi-Fi system in its Augusta, Ga., hospital and eventually plans to install patient wireless systems in all 152 hospitals nationwide, a regional VA information technology official told Nextgov.

Michael Lay, director of service delivery and engineering for VA hospitals in the South and parts of the Midwest, said the department plans to release a request for proposals for a national patient Wi-Fi system later this year, but the Augusta hospital did not want to wait and put out its solicitation Jan. 5, with responses from vendors due Feb. 17. The Augusta hospital wants its Wi-Fi system turned on 90 days after contract award.

Roger Baker, VA's chief information officer, said in a June 2010 interview with Nextgov that he considered various business models to pay for Wi-Fi systems, including advertising-funded installation and operation or pay-as-you-go plans. Lay said VA now considers patient Wi-Fi service on a par with the telephone and television service the department provides patients, a point reinforced in the language of the Augusta contract documents...