GSA to hold Networx transition summit

Although the contracts will not be awarded until next spring and summer, the General Services Administration is planning a conference later this year to explore how agencies will transition to GSA's $20 billion Networx telecommunications vehicles, according to a key agency official.

John Johnson, assistant commissioner for service development and delivery within GSA's Federal Technology Service, said yesterday that the September "summit" in the Washington area will initiate the dialog between agencies and industry on how to transition from the existing Federal Telecommunications Systems 2001 to the 10-year Networx contracts.

GSA wants to "make sure we conduct as smooth a transition as possible" to Networx, Johnson said at a speech sponsored by the Industry Advisory Council, a public-private interest group of Fairfax, Va. "You're going to see us address that more and more as time progresses."

Johnson reiterated that the agency is still on schedule to award the two-pronged Networx contracts next year?Networx Universal, a telecom services vehicle, by March and Networx Enterprise, which will offer a range of Internet Protocol services, by May.

And because of the growth seen under the existing FTS 2001 contracts and the vast number of services expected to be available under Networx, Johnson said the agency is "preparing for an extremely large transition" to the Networx environment.

"The focus [of the conference] will be on preparing everyone for the transition to Networx?industry, government, GSA, and any other constituency," Johnson said after his speech.

Rob Thormeyer is a staff writer for Washington Technology's sister publication, Government Computer News.