* Carrier says it will not protest award
Sprint Nextel announced Monday that it will not protest the General Service Administration’s $20 billion Networx award that was announced last month.
Sprint Nextel announced last week that it will not protest the General Service Administration’s $20 billion Networx award that was announced last month.
Sprint was left out of the award, despite the fact it was one of the incumbent carriers serving the government through its FTS 2001 contract.
The carrier issued a statement on Monday that says it met with the GSA on April 4 for a debrief on the Networx Universal contract award. The statement goes on to say, “Sprint has decided to move forward and focus on the future and continue to aggressively pursue the forthcoming Networx Enterprise contract.”
On March 29, the GSA awarded its Networx Universal contract to AT&T, Verizon and Qwest Communications. The GSA unexpectedly left Sprint out of the award, which could prove to be financially troubling for the carrier.
For Sprint, there’s a lot of revenue at stake. According to FedSources’ data, Sprint took in $7.6 million in fiscal 2006 from the Defense Information Systems Agency, $1.9 million from the Department of the Interior, $1.8 million from the Executive Office of the President, and $700,000 from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Any of these departments can switch to AT&T, Verizon or Qwest. But it’s also possible these agencies will stick with Sprint taking advantage of the FTS 2001 bridge contract.
Sprint also may still be one of the companies awarded the Networx Enterprise contract, which is expected to be awarded in May. The enterprise contract covers secure IP and managed network services
