Summerized -- Bids in for Fed's $20B "Networx" Telecom Project

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

The cost will be an estimated $20 billion over the next decade, a  
figure that has drawn the country's leading telephone, defense and  
technology companies into a fierce competition for the General  
Services Administration's largest-ever telecommunications contract.

When the agency decides the winners of its "Networx" contract in  
coming months, it won't make or break any of the scores of companies  
involved -- a list that includes many of the most prominent  
Washington area firms.  But any company excluded from the work will  
spend a decade on the outside of a project designed to provide the  
federal bureaucracy with its next-generation suite of communications  
technology.

...After years of preparation and millions of dollars in investment,  
teams led by AT&T Corp., MCI Inc., Qwest and Sprint Nextel Corp.

...A more tailored piece of the project, called Networx Enterprise,  
is designed to allow smaller companies to compete for part of the work.

...Some government contracting and telecom analysts suggest that the  
GSA could award the contract to all four bidders if they meet its  
stringent requirements.

...Executives said AT&T spent two years and millions of dollars  
preparing its Networx proposal, with workers toiling in a windowless  
basement bunker in Northern Virginia stacked with papers and lined  
with boards charting the bid's progress.

Ashburn-based MCI emphasized its FTS 2001 experience and the strength  
it will draw from Verizon Communications Inc., the $70 billion  
telephone company that is in the process of buying MCI.

Sprint Nextel noted that it has served the federal government for the  
past 16 years on FTS 2001 and its predecessor contract.

...All four of the companies are also expected to bid on the Networx  
Enterprise contract, which involves a much more limited range of  
services in about 300 federal locations.

...The deals, which require regulatory approval, could give MCI and  
AT&T deeper pockets to fund their investments but could also slow  
decision-making as the companies complete the mergers, according to  
Warren Suss, president of Suss Consulting Inc., a federal  
telecommunications and information technology consultancy in  
Jenkintown, Pa.

Whichever companies win, they will have to help agencies make the  
transition from one provider to another, a process that was difficult  
when the government last bid its telecom work for FTS 2001.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/09/ 
AR2005100901074.html



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