BV Upgrades Disease Surveillance and Pathogen Control Systems for the Country of Georgia

As part of its Biological Threat Reduction Program, the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) works closely with partner nations to provide programs that help ensure safety from biological threats. Vital programs include the Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System (EIDSS) and the Pathogen Asset Control System (PACS). DTRA partner nations use EIDSS software to identify, track and mitigate the outbreak of infectious disease, while using PACS software to securely digitize lab inventory of pathogen samples.

Primary program objectives include implementing cybersecurity enhancements such as data encryption and multi-factor authentication at partner nation labs that use EIDSS software. Black & Veatch currently develops, implements and sustains EIDSS and PACS software applications with partner nations.

BV significantly contributed to the country of Georgia by addressing and fixing unexpected issues in the EIDSS software, originally developed by another party. Despite these challenges, BV stayed within the original budget and delivered four timely releases, all of which passed User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with Georgia.

Successful execution of this project will enable DTRA to honor an obligation to partner nations to deliver a fully functional and updated EIDSS for use in their health systems and labs. This EIDSS release shores up baseline functionality, improves business processes and ensures software safety in Georgia.

Tangible Benefits

• Cybersecurity: Ensured top-notch security by installing software with the latest cybersecurity measures, fully compliant with ISO standards.

• Protecting Allies: Enhanced the safety of Georgian citizens by bolstering defenses against the ongoing threat of biological warfare.

• Reliability: Successful partnership delivering software development projects on time and on budget, as demonstrated with Georgia and other partner nations.