GSA Awards Networx Enterprise Contracts

The U.S. General Services Administration awarded its highly anticipated Networx Enterprise contracts to AT&T Corp; Level 3 Communications, LLC; MCI Communications Services, Inc.; Qwest Government Services, Inc. and Sprint Solutions, Inc.

Networx Enterprise, the second of two acquisitions that comprise the Networx Program, is available to provide voice, IP, wireless, satellite and IP-centric services to 135 federal agencies. Together with its companion Networx Universal, Networx Enterprise will transform the current federal telecommunications system to a modern, secure, worldwide IP and MPLS-based network compliant with Internet Protocol version 6 and other major technological advances anticipated throughout its contract life. The Networx program has a potential value of $20 billion.

"We at GSA are committed to our customers, and award of the Networx Enterprise contracts today provides them superior telecommunications services from the best American companies at the best prices available in the marketplace," said GSA Administrator Lurita Doan.

"With this award and other recent awards, we're bringing our customers the full range of options for telecommunication services available," said GSA's Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Jim Williams. "GSA's on time and on target again with another major acquisition, and our focus is now on helping our customers transition. The FAS Networx team, including its customer agency team members, have done a super job in delivering these transformational capabilities."

Networx Enterprise, in comparison with Networx Universal, lowered the number of required services and reduced the geographic requirement to allow Enterprise offerors to provide their best prices for a secure, managed, IP network nationwide. While Enterprise will therefore not meet the global requirements for certain agencies, it can provide lower prices for others, allowing GSA to provide the choice and flexibility demanded by customers and incorporated in the Networx program goals.

GSA constructed the Networx program around a core set of forward-looking, IP-based telecommunications and networking services, supplemented by a wide range of additional contractor offerings that add overall value to Federal government operations. The core services provided by all Networx contracts include the IP, security and management services necessary to design and deploy advanced IP networks. One example of the advanced IP capabilities available from Networx contractors is MPLS (multi protocol label switching), which provides more flexibility to divert and route high priority traffic around link failures, congestion, and bottlenecks. This allows agencies to ensure the highest quality and availability of the most critical government communications at all times. Networx also incorporates requirements for IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) to ensure that GSA customers can comply with OMBÕs direction to move to this new standard by June 2008, which makes available many more network addresses in anticipation of continued explosive growth of the Internet worldwide.

Networx represents the most robust suite of telecommunication services offered within the federal marketplace. For more information, go to Networx Overview.