Verizon Business on Monday announced it has signed a two-year agreement with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to provide services under the FTS2001 contract.
The agreement bridges the current FTS2001 agreement, which expires on Jan. 10, 2007, and the Networx contract, which is expected to be awarded by the GSA later this year or early next year. The new agreement will run from Jan. 11, 2007, through Jan. 10, 2009, with the option to extend it for three additional six-month periods. Verizon Business will continue to offer, at current rates, the telecommunications services it has been providing under the existing FTS2001 contract.
In addition, Verizon Business will offer new advanced services, including secure remote communications services for teleworkers, enhanced hosting services to support government content delivery, data protection and recovery services, and secure multimedia collaboration technologies.
The new contract will enable Verizon Business to provide service to federal customers during the conclusion of the GSA’s Networx evaluation and transition to the Networx contract. Networx will replace FTS2001 and several telecommunications agreements.
"We have watched the government’s communications demands develop over the years, and this contract allows for the continued evolution of those services before the move to Networx," said Jerry Edgerton, group president for Verizon Federal, a sales organization within Verizon Business dedicated to serving federal government customers.
FTS2001 provides voice, data, Internet, video conferencing and global communications services government-wide.
Verizon Business is one of the two U.S. telecommunications service providers initially awarded the FTS2001 contracts by the GSA. The company serves most federal agencies under the current contract, which was awarded in January 1999.
Verizon Business www.verizonbusiness.com
