About 174,700 uniformed services beneficiaries enrolled in the Uniformed Services Family Health Plan will keep the same six nonprofit health systems managing their care through September 2027, after the Defense Health Agency exercised another year of options worth $1.85 billion without opening the work to competition. The Pentagon's Oct. 28 contract announcement lists six modifications, one for each plan, that activate the third option period of contracts that started in October 2023.
The six awards total $1,851,957,400, by GovConFeed's arithmetic. Each modification is dated Sept. 30, 2026, and each runs the same 12 months: Option Period Three covers Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027. The DHA Managed Care Contracting Division in Aurora, Colorado, is the contracting activity on all six.
Six USFHP Plans, Six Option Exercises
The announcement breaks the money out by plan, along with the approximate number of beneficiaries each one serves:
- Johns Hopkins Medical Services Corp., Baltimore: $575,069,699 (P00025) on contract HT9402-23-C-0006, about 53,025 beneficiaries.
- Martin's Point Health Care Inc., Portland, Maine: $515,517,036 (P00026) on HT9402-23-C-0007, about 48,638 beneficiaries.
- PACMED Clinics, Seattle: $233,661,505 (P00026) on HT9402-23-C-0008, about 25,449 beneficiaries.
- Christus Health, Irving, Texas: $212,378,426 (P00027) on HT9402-23-C-0005, about 19,618 beneficiaries.
- Brighton Marine Inc., Brighton, Massachusetts: $178,590,091 (P00026) on HT9402-23-C-0004, about 13,530 beneficiaries.
- SVCMC Inc., New York City: $136,740,643 (P00026) on HT9402-23-C-0009, about 14,445 beneficiaries.
Johns Hopkins and Martin's Point together account for about $1.09 billion of the total, or nearly 59%, and roughly 101,700 of the covered beneficiaries. The four smaller plans split the remaining $761 million.
The per-member figures differ only modestly across plans. Dividing each modification by its stated beneficiary count gives a range of about $9,200 per beneficiary for PACMED to about $13,200 for Brighton Marine, with Johns Hopkins near $10,800 and Martin's Point near $10,600. Those numbers are our rough arithmetic on the announcement's approximate enrollment counts, not rates the government published, and they cover administration as well as care.
The announcement describes the scope in the same words for every plan: comprehensive health care services through "a managed care plan serving approximately" the stated number of "eligible uniformed services beneficiaries within designated geographic areas." Services include "healthcare provider network management, medical management, enrollment, customer services, and related administrative requirements."
What the Contracts Were Worth Before This Option
All six are fixed-price commercial contracts. The announcement gives each one a face value alongside the new modification: $2,128,056,635 for Johns Hopkins, $1,862,406,243 for Martin's Point, $815,833,897 for PACMED, $709,265,196 for Christus, $666,010,857 for Brighton Marine and $537,779,493 for SVCMC. Those six figures add up to about $6.72 billion.
The structure gives the government a long runway. The base period ran from Oct. 1, 2023, through Sept. 30, 2024, followed by nine one-year options. With the third option now exercised, six option years remain on each contract, which would carry the current arrangement into the 2030s if DHA keeps renewing.
Why the $1.85 Billion Never Went to Competition
The plans did not win this work through an open solicitation. Each entry ends with the same line: "The contract was awarded noncompetitively pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 1073, Section 722(b)(2)."
The citation points to a statutory authority rather than to one of the usual FAR exceptions to competition, and the same justification appears on all six entries. In practice, DHA is renewing the same six incumbents it has worked with since the base period began, not choosing among offerors.
The funding mechanics follow the timing of the federal fiscal year. "No funds were obligated at time of award; however, fiscal 2027 operations and maintenance and Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund funds were subsequently obligated on Oct. 6, 2026," the announcement states. The modifications were awarded Sept. 30, the last day of fiscal 2026, and the money was obligated six days into fiscal 2027.
The pairing of two funding sources means the cost of these plans is split between the department's operations and maintenance accounts and the Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care Fund.
How USFHP Fits Inside TRICARE
For beneficiaries, USFHP looks like another flavor of the military's managed care benefit. "The Uniformed Services Family Health Plan is a TRICARE Prime option administered by participating nonprofit plans in six service areas in the U.S.," according to TRICARE's USFHP page.
The difference lies in who runs the network. TRICARE says USFHPs "cover care through their own provider and pharmacy networks," and enrollees get most of their care through a primary care provider in that network. Costs match the standard benefit: TRICARE states that "USFHP has the same out-of-pocket costs as TRICARE Prime." Some plans also offer discounts on services TRICARE does not cover, with chiropractic care, eyeglasses and hearing aids listed as examples.
That arrangement explains why the money flows to six separate contracts. Each plan carries the administrative load for its area, from network management and enrollment to medical management and customer service.
What It Means for Contractors
The direct opportunity here is closed. With the work awarded noncompetitively under a statutory authority, an outside health services company has no open solicitation to bid on, and DHA has six option years left to exercise on each vehicle.
The indirect opportunity is larger. Each plan runs its own provider network, pharmacy network, enrollment operation and customer service function, so subcontracting and vendor work sits with the plans themselves rather than with DHA. Firms selling care management platforms, claims and enrollment systems, pharmacy benefit services or call center support should approach the six organizations directly. Because the contracts are fixed-price, the plans likely bear much of the cost risk on each option year, which gives them reason to buy tools that reduce administrative expense.
Companies tracking DHA's broader managed care spending should also note the calendar. These option exercises were awarded at the end of September, with funding following in early October, so a fourth option period would be expected on the same cycle in 2027. Six option years remain on contracts whose stated values already total about $6.72 billion.
Finally, the beneficiary counts offer a rough sizing tool. With roughly 174,700 enrollees across six plans, the program is concentrated: the plans based in Baltimore and Portland, Maine, serve well over half the enrolled population, and they receive the largest share of the spending.
