EDS Corp. will provide returning war veterans with information about available health care and benefits programs under a $2.1 million contract from the Veterans Affairs Department.

The new Combat Veteran Call Center will handle incoming queries and alert veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan about their eligibility for extended health care and other benefits.

EDS is providing the necessary facilities, staff, equipment, supplies and services. Company employees will make initial calls to veterans, assess their needs and send them information on VA health care services and benefits. In addition, follow-up calls will ensure that veterans’ needs are being met.

Calls began May 1 with a goal of reaching nearly 570,000 recent wartime veterans in the next six months. The campaign initially will focus on about 17,000 veterans whose wartime injuries or illnesses make them candidates for care management, EDS said.

During the second phase, the center will contact about 550,000 veterans of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom who have not yet enrolled in VA health care services.

The task order is the first award under the General Services Administration’s $2.5 billion USA Contact program.

Earlier this month, EDS won a three-year, $14 million contract to modernize a critical VA recordkeeping system.

EDS, of Plano, Texas, ranks No. 10 on Washington Technology’s 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.