Unisys lands Bureau of Prisons inmate phone system deal

Unisys Corp. has won a three-year, $37 million contract from the Federal Bureau of Prisons for nationwide deployment and operation of the next-generation federal inmate telephone system, the company announced today.

The contract has three one-year options and may be worth as much as $96 million if all options are exercised. Income projections during the base and option periods include revenue generated by inmate calls.

Under the Inmate Telephone System-3 contract, Unisys of Blue Bell, Pa., will provide hardware, installation, maintenance and program management support to more than 100 federal correctional facilities in the United States and Puerto Rico.

The new system will save the Bureau of Prisons space, as the solution requires just one-eighth the hardware space of the current inmate telephone system. The system will allow inmates to make calls in three ways: direct debit from their prison commissary accounts, collect or prepaid collect.

Unisys has about 36,400 employees and annual sales of $5.8 billion, according to Hoover's Online of Austin, Texas. Unisys ranks No. 22 on Washington Technology's 2005 Top 100 list of federal prime contractors, which measures federal contracting revenue.