Verizon Business to manage Interior wireless usage

Verizon Business will help the Interior Department manage the expenses of more than 22,000 mobile devices used by its employees nationwide under a new five-year managed services contract worth up to $15 million.Verizon Business will provide expense-management services for mobile phones, personal digital assistants and other wireless devices used by Interior's National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Office of Surface Mining, Minerals Management Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.Verizon Business and the department will compile comprehensive inventories of wireless assets, including equipment and services. The company will manage the purchase of wireless services through a customer-established corporate catalog of approved services. It will also analyze wireless plans to identify unauthorized use and unused devices.The telecommunications company also will design a custom solution for ordering, billing, inventory management, invoice processing, payment auditing and claims recovery for wireless devices. The contract covers devices from any wireless provider, and includes around-the-clock Web portal and help-desk support.The telecommunications giant will provide the custom service with its strategic business partner ProfitLine Inc., a provider of outsourced telecommunications expense management and managed mobility solutions for large enterprises and government agencies. ProfitLine is based in San Diego.The contract ? which runs for two years with three one-year options ? is a department award and does not come under the Networx Universal contract vehicle, said Susan Zeleniak, group president of Verizon Federal.Verizon Business, of Vienna, Va., is a unit of Verizon Communications Inc., which ranks No. 18 on Washington Technology's 2008 of the largest federal government prime contractors.