Networx Enterprise proposals get new extension

The General Services Administration has extended to Oct. 24 the due date for contractors to submit proposals for the Enterprise part of the agency's $20 billion Networx procurement.

GSA issued an amendment to the 10-year telecommunications and networks contract solicitation Friday. Some companies planning to bid on Networx requested an extension, industry members said. The previous due date for Enterprise proposals was Oct. 7. GSA extended the deadline to give contractors more time to submit proposals for Enterprise, said Mary Alice Johnson, a GSA spokeswoman.

"For the past several months we have focused on preparing for the anticipated workload and the process we will undertake to evaluate Networx proposals," she said. "Given those considerations, we felt we could offer Enterprise respondees a few more weeks to submit their proposals without jeopardizing the anticipated Networx award dates."

GSA has twice pushed ahead the due dates for contractors to submit their Enterprise proposals. The proposal deadline for the Universal part of the procurement is Oct. 5.

Enterprise will offer a mix of specialized Internet protocol or wireless services in specific geographical areas. The Universal part of the procurement will provide government locations with a broad range of telecom services nationwide.

Three telecom carriers have publicly announced they will bid on both the Universal and Enterprise portions of Networx. AT&T Government Solutions Inc., MCI Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. have formed teams comprising other telecoms, systems integrators and small IT companies.

Qwest Communications International Inc. has said it will bid on both parts of Networx, but the company has not yet issued any public statements about its strategy or team members.

Awards for the Universal part will be issued in July 2006, and awards for the Enterprise part will be issued in September 2006.

The Sept. 23 amendment is available on the FedBizOpps.gov Web site.