The three largest U.S. telcos--AT&T (NYSE: T), CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL), and Verizon (NYSE: VZ)--have secured seats on the General Services Administration's (GSA) CONNECTIONS II IT services contract.
Valued at $5 billion, CONNECTIONS II is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) vehicle that can serve an agency's domestic and international needs.
Participating service providers and other technology integrators and vendors will provide a suite of managed services and networking products at various federal government agency buildings.
Among the services that prime contractors will provide are traditional communications network equipment gear, professional services, consulting and support services, customer services, technical support and custom solutions that deal with an agency's network connection down to the desktop.
The CONNECTIONS II vehicle is a companion to the GSA's multibillion-dollar Networx telecom services contract and other local telecom contracts, including the Washington Interagency Telecommunications Services-3 (WITS-3), which Verizon serves as a prime contractor.
Both AT&T Government Solutions and Verizon Federal previously served as prime contractors under the predecessor CONNECTIONS contract.
Joining the telecom provider trio is a host of traditional government systems integrators--including BAE Systems, General Dynamics SAIC, and Harris--traditional telecom vendors including Avaya, and small privately-held small businesses like Concert Technologies.
For more:
- see the Verizon release
- here's the GSA's official release
- here's FierceEnterpriseCommunications' take
Special Report: 2010's rising government communications stars
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