Press Releases
Constella Health Sciences Partners with Pearson Government Solutions
to Win $73 Million CDC Contact Center Contract
DURHAM, N.C., Dec. 8, 2004—Constella Health Sciences, as part of a team
led by Pearson Government Solutions, has been awarded the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention's (CDC) Contact Center (1-800-CDC-INFO) contract. Constella
Health Sciences is a business unit of Constella Group, Inc.
"This is a strategic win for us because it positions us to continue serving CDC's critical health communications needs for years to come, which could create numerous new business growth opportunities for us," said Chris LeGrand, president of Constella Health Sciences. "It also continues to build our relationship with Pearson, an organization with an excellent reputation and global reach that has been, and will continue to be, one of our important business partners."
The new CDC Contact Center contract will marry technology, information and people as the CDC plans to begin integrating its call center and inquiry response operations for all of its programs into this contract. Through this contract, the Pearson team, which includes Health Sciences, will communicate public health information to a variety of audiences via telephone, facsimile, e-mail, postal mail and the Internet to help prevent and control diseases, injuries and disabilities. The CDC Contact Center contract includes three separate contracts-contact center operations, fulfillment and evaluation-and gives Health Sciences the opportunity to build upon its relationships at all levels and offices within the CDC. CDC is contracting the fulfillment and evaluation functions separately as small business set-aside contracts.
Pearson Government Solutions serves the federal government market and is the prime contractor. Pearson Government Solutions is a business of Pearson, a global company with market leading businesses in education, business information and publishing. Health Sciences will serve as one of the primary subcontractors on the contract.
"This is a tremendous win for Constella," said Donald A. Holzworth, Constella Group CEO. "With our in-depth health communications and knowledge management expertise, as well as our long history supporting CDC, Constella was perfectly suited to partner with Pearson on this critical program."
As part of its role, Health Sciences will develop content and outreach materials on critical public health topics, such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes and bioterrorism. In addition, the business unit will help develop the program's knowledge management system and play an integral role in fielding consumer inquiries that require deep health and clinical domain expertise.
CDC's National STD & AIDS Hotline will be one of four consumer response programs transferred to the new Contact Center contract during the first year of operations. CDC plans to bring more than two dozen hotlines or toll-free services into the contract over the next four years.
About Constella Health Sciences
Constella Health Sciences is the premier service provider in the public-sector health and biomedical research market. With more than 500 employees working across more than 20 disciplines, the business provides health-related technologies, services and research for public-sector clients such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.
About Constella Group
Constella Group is a leading provider of professional health services worldwide, celebrating 20 years of enhancing human health through innovative science, technology and knowledge solutions. Constella's two business units—Health Sciences and Clinical Informatics—create and provide health intelligence to help industry and government clients identify and address critical issues affecting human health. With Constella as the parent company, these business units comprise dynamic points of collaboration that build support, create momentum and add value from idea to impact across the full continuum of human health.
The company's 700 employees serve clients from company headquarters in Durham, N.C., and from offices in Atlanta; Morgantown, W.Va.; and Bethesda, Frederick and Silver Spring, Md.
