General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) has secured a $450m contract from the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to upgrade and continue running its Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System (HIGLAS).

HIGLAS is a comprehensive accounting system that centralises federal financial accounting for CMS programmes, including Medicare and Medicaid.

It processes approximately 4.5 million Medicare claims daily and more than $2.0tn in payments annually for over 147 million beneficiaries.

Under the contract, GDIT will modernise the HIGLAS system, manage daily operations, and use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to detect accounting anomalies.

In addition, it will host primary data processing and disaster recovery systems to ensure system reliability around the clock.

According to a press statement, GDIT has a long-standing relationship with CMS, spanning over 40 years.

It supports various healthcare-related initiatives, including hosting a large cloud for health insurance marketplace websites and leveraging machine learning to detect fraudulent Medicare claims.

GDIT federal health vice-president and general manager Kamal Narang said: “Our continued support of HIGLAS enables us to further advance CMS’s commitment to improve the quality, efficiency and fiscal soundness of its most mission-critical systems.

“We look forward to continuing our partnership with CMS and reimagining ways to deliver agile, innovative, and secure solutions that enable millions to access healthcare services.”

GDIT is an aerospace and defence company employing more than 100,000 people.

Its offerings include business aviation, ship construction and repair, land combat vehicles, weapons systems, munitions, and various technology-related products and services.

The company reported $39.4bn in revenues last year.