The Pentagon announced 86 separate contract awards on Thursday worth a combined $7.55 billion. In addition to the usual purchases of bombs, bullets, and ballistic missiles, the Pentagon also found a few dollars to spend on the healing arts. Companies winning contracts for medical supplies and services included:
- Cardinal Health (CAH -0.50%), recipient of a fourth option year (out of a potential seven) on a contract to supply the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies with "various medical and surgical products." This contract will now run through Sept. 29, 2014, and is worth a maximum of $40.1 million;
- Henry Schein (HSIC 0.59%), recipient of a fourth option year period on a similar one-year base contract with seven optionable years. Schein's contract, too, calls for the supply of unspecified "various medical and surgical products" to the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies, and like Cardinal's runs through Sept. 29, 2014. It is worth a maximum of $13 million; and finally
- Science Applications International Corp., better known as SAIC (NYSE: SAI), which won a $29.9 million contract to set up a nationwide nurse advice line service for members of the uniformed services, their retirees, and family members under the Department of Defense's TRICARE program. The contract is firm-fixed price and includes a transition-in and a subsequent base period,
