AT&T wins chance to sell more services to feds

AT&T Corp. announced April 12 that the General Services Administration has modified one of the company's Metropolitan Area Acquisition contracts to allow the company to make available a portfolio of long-term, commercially available voice and data communications products for its government customers.

MAA contracts, awarded by the GSA's Federal Technology Service, are designed for companies to provide local telecommunications products and services in specific metropolitan areas.

After coming under congressional scrutiny last year for dragging its heels, GSA agreed to implement procedures to allow MAA contract holders to expand into additional geographic markets and add more services.

Under the modifications approved so far, New York-based AT&T is offering six out of the 10 services originally provided under GSA's FTS2001 contract, the vehicle used by federal agencies to purchase long-distance telecom services. Sprint

Communications Corp. of Westwood, Kan., and WorldCom Inc., Clinton, Miss., are the two awardees on the FTS2001 contract.

"GSA's modifications to AT&T's MAA contract is a win for taxpayers and a win for government agency users," said Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on technology and procurement policy. "The contract modification will, in a nutshell, further the goals of the MAA program by fostering greater competition in the telecommunications marketplace and speeding the development and deployment of cutting-edge telecom technologies."