AT&T wins GSA Web hosting contract

The General Services Administration Aug. 20 announced it had awarded a one-year, $1.9 million contract to AT&T Corp.'s Government Solutions division to provide Web hosting and security services for FirstGov.gov. FirstGov is the federal government's Internet gateway to online government transactions, services and information.


Under the contract, AT&T of Basking Ridge, N.J., will provide hardware and software to support the Web hosting requirements for GSA's Office of Citizen Services and Communications, which manages FirstGov.


The contract, which has three one-year options, went into effect Aug. 14, GSA said. AT&T's work will serve as an interim solution as GSA enhances its Web offerings, according to the agency.


"The federal government's e-gov initiatives will be able to use the new OCSC/AT&T contract to design, test and deploy a wide range of new services to better serve the citizen," said Casey Coleman, chief technology officer for OCSC.


The contract award was the result of open competition among holders of GSA Federal Supply Schedule contracts. A cross-agency team including GSA, the departments of Labor and Commerce and an independent third party conducted the proposal evaluation, GSA said.


OCSC is a new department within GSA that provides access to transactions, services and information contained on federal and state government Web sites. OCSC staff members also provide infrastructure and expertise to support other e-government initiatives.


Earlier this year, AT&T won a contract worth $2 million annually to replace the search engine for FirstGov.gov. The one-year contract has four one-year options.

AT&T said it would use search technology from Fast Search and Transfer Inc. of Foster City, Calif., to replace the Inktomi Inc. engine that had powered FirstGov since it went online in August 2000.