Networx | The Contracting Education Academy

March 13, 2020 By cs

Risk is high that GSA’s latest telecom contract suffers same fate as last two

The General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) program is facing the same fate as its predecessor — delays in transition will cost the government millions of dollars and push IT modernization further back on the priority list.

The difference between the failure of Networx and the potential problems EIS is facing, however, is the recognition by some lawmakers that it’s not entirely GSA’s fault.

The House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations wants to hold agency chief information officers and other leadership accountable for not moving fast enough to take advantage of the new contract.

“We learned a tremendous amount of lessons and, in fact, I credit GSA for incorporating those lessons learned from the Networx transition into their guidance and disseminating those lessons to the agencies,” said Carol Harris, director of IT acquisition management issues at the Government Accountability Office, during a subcommittee hearing on March 4. “Now the onus is on the agencies to get their house in order and move quickly to ensure that they are moving onto EIS as quickly as possible.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/hearings-oversight/2020/03/risk-is-high-that-gsas-latest-telecom-contract-suffers-same-fate-as-last-two/

January 26, 2018 By AMK

Watchdog: GSA assuming ‘unnecessary’ risk in telecom transition

The General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service is engaging in risky business by providing $9 million in contract support services to agencies without securing interagency agreements that ultimately ensure payment.

Such interagency agreements are required by Federal Acquisition Regulation, but FAS provided services anyway in a rush to meet deadlines imposed by the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions transition, according to an audit by the General Services Administration inspector general. Due to expiring contracts, all agencies must start buying telecommunications and network infrastructure from the EIS contract by 2020.

GSA awarded the $50 billion EIS telecommunications contract last year, and through the Transition Ordering Assistance task order, GSA is also responsible for helping agencies transition from the Networx contract to EIS. However, FAS “has not executed interagency agreements with transitioning agencies for services being provided under the TOA task order.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/01/watchdog-gsa-assuming-unnecessary-risk-telecom-transition/145201/

March 31, 2014 By AMK

What went wrong with GSA’s Networx transition?

A pair of internal analyses by the General Services Administration finds much to criticize in the structure of federal telecommunications contract Networx, portraying it as too complex, inflexible and mismatched to the way agencies buy telecom services.

The Government Accountability Office has estimated that a protracted agency transition to Networx from the predecessor governmentwide telecommunications contract caused agencies to miss out on $329 million worth of savings and GSA to spend an extra $66.4 million on supporting it. In the end, the transition took three years longer than anticipated.

GSA provided the two reports – one from July 2012, another from September 2012 – after FierceGovernmentIT submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for them. Agency officials decided to release the documents independently of FOIA, and we withdrew the request after being promised the reports.

Among the observations the analyses make is that while GSA initially defined more than 50 telecom services for Networx, only six services account for more than 80 percent of business volume.

“Networx has thousands of contract line items and millions of service permutations,” the July 2012 report says. “It is no surprise that agencies indicate the Networx program is too complex.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/what-went-wrong-networx-transition/2014-03-10

January 15, 2014 By AMK

GSA’s Networx contracts not as effective as they might have been

Although GSA officials say the agency’s Networx contracting vehicles have put significant dents in the federal government’s telecommunications bills, a GAO study says the road to those savings wasn’t nearly as smooth as it could have been.

The Government Accountability Office said complex acquisition processes and weaknesses in project planning contributed to delays transitioning to Networx from the GSA’s old FTS2001 contracts, resulting in cost increases and missed savings for federal users.

According to the GAO study, under Networx, federal agencies tended to transition easier items first to demonstrate progress, before they turned to work on items such as data networks and international services that needed longer lead times. As a result of the delays, it said, GSA’s estimated cost to complete the transition increased by $66.4 million, 44 percent over the baseline estimate.

Keep reading this article at: http://fcw.com/articles/2014/01/07/gao-networx-study.aspx

The General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) program is facing the same fate as its predecessor — delays in transition will cost the government millions of dollars and push IT modernization further back on the priority list.

The General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service is engaging in risky business by providing $9 million in contract support services to agencies without securing interagency agreements that ultimately ensure payment.

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