GSA says the delays were caused by the complexity of Networx as well as two unanticipated Bush Administration networking initiatives. One was a , an upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol, on federal backbone networks by June 2008. The other was the (TIC) initiative, which requires agencies to reduce the number of Internet connections they operate and deploy managed security services on the remaining connections.

"There have been a number of diversions that have caused agencies to pause to determine the extent of the impact on their Networx transitions. These include the TIC initiative and IPv6. Some agencies felt they had to stop and re-architect their networks," Krumbholz says.

Another reason that Networx is off to a slow start is that agencies are being more careful about how they select a carrier through the fair opportunity process. This is due to recent changes in federal acquisition regulations.

"While fair opportunity was a requirement in FTS 2001, it wasn't done to quite a strict a standard as it's being done here," Krumbholz says.

Protests are an additional worry. GSA says at least five Networx awards were protested, and the agencies involved cancelled these large awards and started over. None of these protests have been made public, GSA said.