New contracts create tech jobs

CLEARWATER — Health care tech firm Systems Made Simple, Inc. (SMS) has awarded new contracts that will bring more than a dozen IT jobs to the Tampa Bay area. The contracts are part of an effort to improve the delivery of benefits to veterans and to more quickly process their claims.

Based in Syracuse, N.Y., SMS provides IT systems and services to support the health care industry. The firm recently awarded four contracts that will be managed from its software development center in Clearwater.

The projects include a two-year contract with the Veterans Benefit Administration to provide program management, software development, design analysis and other services to upgrade the delivery of benefits. A second contract targets improvement in delivering educational benefits to veterans and their families, while a third agreement aims to improve the exchange of health care information between the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The fourth contract supports a paperless claims processing system to more efficiently handle veterans' benefit claims. Software upgrades and custom services are designed to more quickly move the claims and related correspondence through the government system.

The Clearwater projects are part of a recent growth spurt at SMS, says Tony Vallin, the firm's deputy director, in a statement.

SMS has been cited as one of the Inc. 500 fastest-growing, privately held companies in the U.S. Its clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as federal agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency.