WinStar Chalks Up 7th MAA with Minneapolis-St. Paul Deal

By Jennifer Freer, Staff Writer


JUNE 1 ? The General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service awarded more Metropolitan Area Acquisition contracts May 31 to US West, Inc., Denver, and WinStar Communications Inc., New York, for the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.


This is the seventh MAA award to WinStar. The company is the sole winner of the contracts for Baltimore and Cincinnati, and shares the prize with other companies for Atlanta, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami and St. Louis.


An MAA is the GSA's local telecommunications contract program, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul contract is estimated to be worth about $60 million in government business.


The contract spans over eight years: four base years plus four one-year options. The MAA will provide local telecommunications, voice, data and dedicated transmission services to federal government agencies.


The GSA said it hopes to continue to enhance competition with the MAA contracts so the federal government receives prices that are current with the marketplace and provides services that are current within the industry as well.


Thirteen MAA cities now have been awarded for contracts totaling more than $2.5 billion. The initial MAA awards were made in May 1999 to AT&T for Chicago, New York and San Francisco. There are seven cities left to receive MAA awards in the next few months: Albuquerque, N.M.; Boise, Idaho; Boston; Dallas; Denver; New Orleans; and Philadelphia.