Page 5 - FCW, August 2017

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GSA names 10 primes for $50B EIS contract
$53B
could be the cost of a major global attack on cloud computing services, a Lloyd’s of London report warns
worx to EIS by 2020. The transition from Networx’s predecessor — FTS 2001 — took three years, which signifi- cantly blunted its effectiveness.
Successful EIS bidders are confident that they can help agencies transition smoothly to EIS.
“This is different from Networx,” said Diana Gowen, federal practice leader at MetTel, in an interview with FCW. GSA’s
approach to EIS
was effective, she
said, although the
geographic ser-
vice requirements
called Core-Based
Statistical Areas
were among the
more complicated issues in the contract.
Experts say that even though GSA’s EIS team worked hard during the contract’s development to avoid post-award protests, they might be inevitable given the scope of the vehicle and the long, expensive process for bidders. As FCW went to press, however, no protests had been filed.
— Mark Rockwell
Ten firms are winners under the gov- ernment’s $50 billion next-generation telecommunications contract.
AT&T, BT Federal, CenturyLink, Core Technologies, Granite Telecom- munications, Harris Corp., Level 3 Communications, Manhattan Tele- communications (MetTel), MicroTech and Verizon will all be vendors for the 15-year Enterprise Infrastructure Solu- tions contract.
EIS is the foundational contract for the General Services Administration’s overarching acquisition strategy for future federal IT and telecom needs. “EIS will help agencies...modernize the government’s IT infrastructure, implement advanced cybersecurity solutions and improve service to the public,” said Mary Davie, acting deputy commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acqui- sition Service.
The complex contract vehicle has been a long time in the making. GSA issued a request for information in April 2014 and the final request for proposals in October 2016.
John Okay, executive consultant at Topside Consulting Group, told FCW that “EIS is important to GSA because
it provides continuity to their current agency customers with the telecommu- nications services that are essential to the day-to-day government operations. It allows GSA to retain its place as the federal government’s premier source for telecommunications services.”
On the industry side, he said the acquisition strategy that the contract embodies will reduce the number of mandatory services and the geographic coverage required by Networx, which will open the door to more competitors. Networx has only four providers.
Throughout the process, GSA officials said they were looking for transformational communications services from a mix of traditional and nontraditional providers.
At an industry conference in July, Bill Zielinski, deputy assistant commissioner for category manage- ment at GSA, said the EIS contract will help agencies deal with the “digitally converged world” that has evolved since Networx was conceived.
For the past year or so, GSA has been working with agencies on the complex transition plans that are essential for their move from Net-
Mary Davie
FCW CALENDAR
8/23 Cloud
8/28-30 Defense
9/13 Digital services
VA’s chief veterans experience officer, Lynda Davis, is among the speakers at FCW’s
event on strategies for digital transformation.
Washington, D.C. fcw.com/digitalservices
Executives from GSA, HHS, SBA, the Marine
The commanders of Air Forces Cyber and Air Force
Corps, the Navy and the National Archives will speak at FCW’s Cloud Summit.
Washington, D.C.
fcw.com/cloud
Space Command are among the speakers at the service’s IT and Cyberpower Conference. Montgomery, Ala. afitc-event.com
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