Friday, December 15, 2000

U.S. Army Chooses PricewaterhouseCoopers to Run Big Distance-Education Project By SARAH CARR Washington After several months of angling among distance-education providers, the U.S. Army announced Thursday that the consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers will coordinate a $453-million project to deliver distance-learning courses to soldiers all over the world. The secretary of the Army, Louis Caldera, made the announcement at a press conference here. PricewaterhouseCoopers will serve as the "integrator" for the project, managing the technology and recruiting colleges to offer courses. PricewaterhouseCoopers has formed a team of 10 companies and 29 colleges to work together on the initial offering. Through the project, called Army University Access Online, the Army hopes to offer distance-education courses to all interested soldiers at little or no charge. The first courses will be offered at three Army bases next month, with Army officials estimating that 15,000 students will take courses next year. "We are essentially establishing a virtual institution for 15,000 students, and we need to open our doors in the next 30 days," says Jill J. Kidwell, the program manager for the project at PricewaterhouseCoopers. "We will definitely be ready to go, but we also have our work cut out for us." The companies on PricewaterhouseCoopers's team include Blackboard, which will provide the courseware, and PeopleSoft, which will coordinate the administrative system. Participating institutions include Florida State University, Northern Virginia Community College, Pennsylvania State University, and Regents College. The contract with PricewaterhouseCoopers calls for the government to pay significantly less than the $600-million the Army had originally estimated the project would cost. Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman, says PricewaterhouseCoopers's bid came in below the Army's projections. "It was a very competitive process," he says. "We had a number of quality bids and proposals, and that particular bid was obviously a good value as well as of high quality. When you make an initial estimate, you expect that through the competitive process there will be a good deal of innovation and an efficient price will emerge." A handful of teams, each with a different integrator, vied aggressively for the contract, hoping to gain both income and prestige within the distance-learning industry. Other companies that had been in the running include International Business Machines, NCS Pearson (a division of the giant publishing company), and the consulting and technology-outsourcing companies Arthur Andersen, Computer Sciences Corporation, Electronic Data Systems, and Science Applications International Corporation. Most of the colleges and companies interested in working on the Army project signed on with several of the integrators, hoping not to be shut out when the final decision was made. "We did not have exclusive arrangements, nor did we demand exclusive arrangements," says Ms. Kidwell of PricewaterhouseCoopers. She adds that the 29 academic institutions were selected primarily for their experience in working with the military, as well as with the goal of creating a diverse mixture of institutions. "We have a process in place to begin expanding the pool of academic institutions," she adds. "I don't think that institutions should feel left out because they are not part of the initial set." Another PricewaterhouseCoopers spokesman says the company is currently finalizing deals with other institutions, including the University of Massachusetts. Trace Urdan, an equity analyst at the investment firm of W.R. Hambrecht & Company, says he thinks the project should be particularly advantageous for some of the smaller companies working with PricewaterhouseCoopers, like Smarthinking, which offers tutoring online. Such companies, he says, will have special access not only to the Army's pool of students, but also to the 29 colleges. He adds that many industry analysts will be watching the Army's project closely in the coming months. "People will be paying attention to see how well it works, and to see if the Army likes it and renews it," he says. "It is not like it is a slam dunk. I think the program will have to continue to improve and expand." Academic partners: Anne Arundel Community College, in Arnold, Md. Baker College, in Flint, Mich. Central Texas College, in Killeen Charter Oak State College, in New Britain, Conn. Cochise College, in Douglas, Ariz. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, in Daytona Beach, Fla. Fayetteville Technical Community College, in North Carolina Florida State University, in Tallahassee Franklin University, in Columbus, Ohio Indiana University at Bloomington Kansas State University, in Manhattan Lansing Community College, in Michigan North Carolina A&T State University, in Greensboro Northern Virginia Community College Northwest Missouri State University, in Maryville Nova Southeastern University, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Pennsylvania State University's World Campus, in Philadelphia Regents College, in Albany, N.Y. Rio Salado College, in Tempe, Ariz. Saint Joseph's College of Maine, in Standish Saint Leo University, in Florida State University of New York Empire State College, in Saratoga Springs Thomas Edison State College, in Trenton, N.J. Troy State University, in Alabama University of Alabama at Birmingham University of Texas at Arlington University of the Incarnate Word, in San Antonio, Tex. University of Washington at Seattle Utah State University, in Logan Corporate partners: Blackboard Compaq Fiberlink Intel Online Services LESCO PeopleSoft Precision Response Corporation Saba Smarthinking TurboTec Background articles from The Chronicle: The Army's Big Push in Distance Education (transcript of online chat with Louis Caldera, the secretary of the Army) (8/29/2000) Army Bombshell Rocks Distance Education (8/18/2000) Army Plans to Offer Laptops and Distance Education to All Soldiers (7/14/2000) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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