Ten companies were announced Tuesday as prime contractors for a massive 15-year, $50 billion contract from the General Services Administration (GSA) to provide comprehensive support for government-wide telecommunications systems and secure infrastructure services.
The GSA selected AT&T [T], BT Federal Inc., Centurylink [CTL], Core Technologies Inc., Granite Telecommunications, Harris Corporation [HRS], Level 3 Communications [LVLT], Manhattan Telecommunications, MicroTech and Verizon [VZ] to execute the Enterprise Solutions Infrastructure (EIS) contract to provide federal agencies with mission-critical telecommunications solutions.
“The award of EIS is a major milestone that demonstrates GSA’s continuing commitment to giving federal agencies forward-leaning and flexible contract solutions that are designed in collaboration with our industry partners and provide streamlined access to mission-essential, cutting-edge services,” GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Commissioner Alan Thomas said in a statement. “I applaud the great work the EIS team did to get us to the finish line. This contract is essential to our customer agencies as they improve operations and citizen services into the future”
The contract was intended to simplify the telecommunications acquisition process, provide cost savings through aggregated volume buying, enable procurement of integrated solutions.
EIS is the fourth generation in GSA contracts to address government-wide telecommunications, and represents the next phase after the current Networx contract. The two contracts will overlap to provide a transition period, with GSA extending Network contracts through 2020.
“EIS will help agencies establish a solid foundation to modernize the government’s IT infrastructure, implement advanced cyber security solutions, and improve service to the public,” Acting FAS Deputy Commissioner Mary Davie said in a statement. “Today’s awards will make it much easier and more affordable for the government to make needed improvements to its telecom and IT systems, today and in the future.”
The GSA first put out calls for EIS contractors in October 2015, and is meant to consolidate the 93 contracts under Networx into one single deal.