MetTel nabs $253M EIS task order

NOTE: This story first appeared on FCW.com.

MetTel, one of three small businesses on the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract, has won a $253 million task order from the Social Security Administration.

The award was made by the SSA on Feb. 4, according to contracting documents, and runs until July 2032. MetTel, tagged under its old name Manhattan Telecommunications Corp. on the order, beat out three other vendors, according to the filing.

According to industry sources, the order covers SSA's "Grand SLLAM" unified local, long distance and access management services. The order combined three previous separate Networx contracts, with an eye to move away from aging and expensive services, towards more efficient IP-based voice services.

The agency is splitting up its telecommunications services and management among a number of EIS carriers, leveraging the GSA contract with a number of task orders in the last seven months.

Last September, SSA issued two large EIS task orders to CenturyLink and Verizon. CenturyLink received a $470 million order for data network services, while it awarded Verizon’s Business Network Services operations a $544 million order to continue its enterprise network of toll free services.

"MetTel is delighted with our first win on the GSA Enterprise Infrastructure Solution contract,” Diana Gowen, general manager and senior vice president at MetTel's Federal Program said in a statement emailed to FCW on Feb. 27.

The award looks to be the first to one to tap one of EIS three small business contractors: MetTel, Core Technologies and Microtech.