Verizon nets Baltimore work

Verizon Communications Inc. has won the right to offer local voice and data communications services to federal agencies in Baltimore. The contract is a crossover modification of Verizon's Norfolk, Va., Metropolitan Area Acquisition contract with the General Services Administration.

Federal agencies in Baltimore are expected to spend more than $320 million on local communications services between 2000 and 2008.

The Baltimore MAA was awarded to Winstar Communications Inc. in March 2000. The company filed for bankruptcy in April 2001, clouding the fate of the contract.

Crossover provisions allow companies awarded an MAA contract in one city to submit a proposal to offer services in another MAA city.