"If you get awarded a contract that's worth half-a-billion, chances are it will double or triple over the course of the Networx cycle because people will need to add services, and security will expand," says Susan Zeleniak, group president of Verizon Federal. "We're seeing a growing need for things like storage and data center hosting. Telecommuting...is an application of Networx that hasn't even begun to take hold yet but I'm certain it will...We just need to get through this transition phase."

Conceived by GSA in 2003, Networx is the latest in a series of umbrella contracts that have provided low-cost telecom services to 135 federal agencies domestically and abroad for the last two decades.

Networx replaces FTS 2001, which carries an estimated $1 billion a year in voice, data and video traffic. FTS 2001 contractors include Verizon Business, Sprint, AT&T and Qwest, and these carriers' FTS 2001 bridge contracts expire in May and June 2010.

Networx provides 50 telecommunications services, including long-distance and toll-free voice; frame-relay, ATM and IP data; cellular and satellite wireless; video and audio conferencing; call center, Web hosting and managed security services.