Sprint Nextel, MCI win FTS contract extensions

The General Services Administration will extend the Federal Telecommunication System 2001 contracts for two years with incumbents Sprint Communications LP and MCI Worldcom Communications Inc. The move will prevent a break in service interruption to agencies before a new contract is in place.

GSA said it will negotiate sole-source contracts with the companies for continued services to ensure users of the governmentwide FTS2001 contracts can have uninterrupted operations until it awards the replacement Networx contract. The 10-year, $20 billion Networx telecom services and networks will be awarded later this year.

The contract for Sprint, now Sprint Nextel Corp. of Reston, Va., expires Dec. 17, while the contract for MCI, now MCI LLC of Ashburn, Va., expires Jan. 10, 2007.

The performance period for the contract extensions will run from Dec. 18, 2006, to Dec. 17, 2008, for Sprint, and from Jan. 11, 2007, to Jan. 10, 2009 for MCI. The contracts also have options for the two companies to provide services for three additional six-month periods for up to 42 months for the transition to the Networx contracts. The estimated values of the extensions are roughly $1.5 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively.

The sole-source contracts are necessary to allow time for a successful transition from FTS2001 to Networx, and to close down the FTS2001 contracts, GSA said.

GSA announced the move in a special notice published Tuesday on the FedBizOpps Web site.