AT&T pushes back after SSA contract goes to rival

AT&T has gone to the Government Accountability Office with objections to Verizon's win of a $525 million Social Security Administration contract.

This contract known as Next Generation Telephony was awarded outside of the massive Enterprise Infrastructure Services vehicle and is now in a second round of post-award protests.

Verizon first was awarded the contract in July 2019, then Tyto Athene and General Dynamics IT protested. SSA pulled back the award to re-examine proposals, and awarded the contract again to Verizon earlier this month.

Next Generation Telephony consolidates three other contracts that support the SSA Field Office Telephone, the Call Service Center, and the headquarters voice system.

AT&T is the incumbent on the CARE 2020 contract that provides call center services. That contract was awarded in 2010 at a value of $286 million. 

In their protest, AT&T is arguing that it would have won had SSA conducted a proper evaluation

AT&T filed its protest March 25 and a decision is expected by July 6.

SSA sought a variety of unified communications services including voice over Internet Protocol, teleworking, integrated multimedia conferencing, chat and instant messaging, and contact center integration.