Having won a piece of Networx, goal now is to woo individual agencies
Verizon Business says it’s ready to take on as much of the federal government’s business as it can win.
Verizon Business says it’s ready to take on as much of the federal government’s business as it can win.
Verizon, AT&T and Qwest in March won the opportunity to bid on the federal government’s $20 billion, 10-year, Networx Universal contract. Two months later, Verizon says it’s eager to get on with the next phases of actually winning and delivering some of the 50 Networx services to the more than 135 agencies spanning 190 countries that will acquire telecommunications services via this contract.
“We will reply to every agency’s fair opportunity statement,” says Susan Zeleniak, vice president of Verizon Federal. The goal is to retain all of Verizon’s existing federal customers and win as many new agencies as possible, she says.
Every federal agency, even if happy with the agency’s current service provider, must bid out the new Networx services, which include domestic and international voice, data and wireless services. These bids are called orders of fair opportunity.
Since carriers aren’t permitted to offer “extras” or enhancements when they respond to the Networx contract, Zeleniak says Verizon will “emphasize ease of transition,” to each agency.
Verizon is the only incumbent carrier to win the General Services Administration’s (GSA) telecommunication contract, which is the largest in history. Networx replaces FTS 2001. Verizon says it has spent the last “18 months and several million to make the transition an easy process.”
This includes allowing customers to place bulk orders transitioning, for example, all domestic voice lines from FTS 2001 to Networx. Verizon has also updated its customer portal site to make monitoring the transition simple. The carrier also says it has set up transition teams that will include individuals that will manage each step of the transition process but work together so customers are not routed around to different parties that don’t know what the other is doing.
Sprint, the other carrier named on the FTS 2001 contract, was not as fortunate as Verizon. Sprint has been shut out of the Networx Universal contract.
But Sprint, along with the other Networx Universal contract winners, may be named as bidders for the GSA’s Networx Enterprise contract. That RFP includes advanced IP, managed and wireless services.
Qwest, the newcomer to the government’s monster telecom contracts, announced Wednesday that it’s showing off its Networx services to government agencies. Verizon says it’s doing the same on Thursday.
The carrier is also showing off its Qwest Control Networx Portal designed specifically for federal agencies. Networx customers will be able to place orders and request service through this portal.
But before new services are ordered and provisioned from any carrier, the government has a few insurance policies in place.
The GSA, the agency in charge of the Networx contract, will soon start testing each service the carriers promised they’d deliver in their responses to the Networx RFP.
The testing process will last an entire billing cycle and will not only look at how the service performs but also review how the carrier’s billing and provisioning systems are operating.
Verizon says that it has updated all of its OSS, billing and provisioning systems to adhere to Networx mandates and expects testing to begin later this month. “We will be testing our production systems,” Zeleniak says. “We expect testing to be completed by the end of July.”
After testing is done, Verizon, AT&T and Qwest will be permitted to respond to each agency’s fair opportunity statements. So far, no agency has issued this document, which will be similar to an RFP. The document will detail services and requirements for that agency.
The carriers will then be able to respond, but only if all of their GSA testing is complete.
Zeleniak says the carrier expects agencies will begin issuing their statements in earnest in the first quarter of the federal government’s fiscal year, which begins in October.
