US gov't agency telecom contract plans questioned

12.01.2006
After arguing unsuccessfully for months that the U.S. Treasury Department is wrong to pursue a separate 10-year, US$1 billion telecommunications contract, the chairman of the House Government Reform Committee is threatening to cut funding for the deal in Congress.

Instead, U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, (R-Va.) wants the Treasury Department to join other government agencies in another telecom package being bid on now. By piggybacking onto that contract, the government would save money, streamline the number of vendors used and avoid a duplication of efforts.

'[Davis] is always against agencies stovepiping their own solutions when the whole point of IT is to make things smoother, especially interagency' processes, said Robert White, a spokesman for the congressman.

Specifically, Davis wants the Treasury Department to give up on its own Treasury Communications Enterprise (TCE) department-wide contract and join in on the larger-scale Networx package. Networx is the new governmental telecommunications package being assembled to replace the existing FTS2001 telecom contract. Among the federal agencies now using FTS2001 are the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Agriculture and Health and Human Services; NASA; and the Social Security Administration. Those agencies will move to the new Networx contract when it is completed.

If the Treasury won't give up on its TCE, Davis could mount an effort to cut funding for the deal, White said. 'That is an option he would pursue,' White said. 'There's some feeling that Treasury should be a part of Networx.'

A spokesman for the Treasury Department declined to comment on the dispute.