Qwest won contract modification from General Services Administrat...
Qwest won contract modification from General Services Administration (GSA) to offer services to federal customers on $1.5 billion FTS 2001 long distance contract for first time. Last summer, Qwest had submitted proposal to GSA as part of crossover program…
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that allows Metropolitan Area Acquisition (MAA) contract holders for local telecom service and long distance FTS contract-holders to compete for each other’s business. WorldCom and Sprint hold FTS contracts and carriers such as AT&T, BellSouth, Qwest, Verizon, Winstar and others have won local MAA awards. Qwest said MAA contract modification that GSA has approved allows it to become first carrier to offer Web hosting services to all parts of federal govt. GSA said that contract change is first time that local telecom provider has crossed over under its new policy. Qwest won broader marketing capability with GSA approval of modification of its Boise, Ida., MAA contract. But any federal agency can order hosting services using option provided by Boise MAA contract change, Qwest said. “This contract award to Qwest promises to further the goals of the MAA program -- fostering greater competition in the telecommunications marketplace and accelerating the deployment of new telecommunications technologies,” said Rep. Davis (R-Va.), who chairs House Govt. Reform Subcommittee on Technology & Procurement Policy. GSA Federal Technology Service Comr. Sandra Bates called contract modification “important milestone” in federal govt.’s strategy for acquiring telecom services. “The availability of highly secure hosting services is timely in light of the recent national security initiatives emerging Sept. 11,” said James Payne, Qwest Govt. Systems Div. senior vp. Under program that GSA started in Aug., MAA contractors wanting to vie for part of FTS business can submit proposal to GSA that modifies existing MAA contract. FTS vendors also can submit similar proposals on their contracts to compete for local telecom business covered by MAA agreements. AT&T last year also had outlined plans for submitting MAA contract modification to GSA to also market national services. Spokesman said carrier was in “the final stages of negotiating a wide range of nationwide services,” but said he couldn’t elaborate until agreement was finalized.