Qwest to service Labor networks

Qwest Communications International Inc. has won a contract to provide the Labor Department with network services, the company announced Aug. 20.

The open-ended contract has no specific termination date, and should earn Denver-based Qwest about $200,000 a year, according to company spokeswoman Chris Valmassei.

Under this contract, Qwest will provide the agency's Employee Benefit Security Administration with frame, relay-based data networking services that can provide dedicated Internet access, private lines and virtual private networks.

The win is Qwest's first award under the Multi-Tiered Security Profile contract, which is part of General Services Administration Federal Technology Services' program.

The profile contract "brings much needed diversity and competition to the FTS program," said James Payne, senior vice president of Qwest's government services division. "It allows all federal organizations to ? quickly and easily upgrade their networks and beef up security at the same time."