GAO faults GSA for slow telecom transition

The General Accounting Office has found many federal agencies have lagged in switching over to local telecommunications providers in markets served by Metropolitan Area Acquisition contracts.


Agencies in 19 cities were to have moved to MAA services by March 2, but only five have done so, according to a GAO study released May 6. The MAA contracts are administered by the General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service.


In Albuquerque, N.M., for example, it has been 17 months since agencies could begin using the MAA contract, but only 12 percent of telecom services have moved to the contract, the GAO found.

In Boston, transition has been under way for 18 months but is only 8 percent complete; in Miami, only 4 percent of the services have been transferred in 20 months.


The GAO report, "Telecommunications: GSA Action Needed to Realize Benefits of Metropolitan Area Acquisition Programs," was provided in April to Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on technology and procurement policy.


Reasons for the delays include some beyond GSA's control, the study said, such as changes in local telecom markets resulting from deregulation and disputes over ownership and access to cables within buildings.


But the report also highlighted GSA's failure to revise its original goal of completing transition in each market nine months after contracts took affect. Nor has GSA constructed performance measures for measuring progress, the study found.


"Without realistic time goals and adequate performance measures, GSA is hampered in effectively managing implementation," the report said.