Verizon wins $187M Networx deal at HHS

When you call the Health and Human Services Department for help, it’s Verizon Business technology that will effect your connection to that help.

Under the General Services Administration’s Networx Universal telecommunications acquisition, HHS will pay Verizon $187 million over seven years, if all options are exercised, for an integrated customer contact solution to route one million customer calls each week.

“Callers to Health and Human Services usually have a pressing need, and our contact center solution is making it easier for them get the information and assistance they need in the most timely way,” Susan Zeleniak, Verizon Federal group president, said in a statement. “This solution — coupled with the new collaboration services we're putting in place — helps position the agency to best meet the evolving needs of the U.S. population."

The Verizon solution combines interactive voice response and touch-tone commands to transfer callers to the appropriate agent for handling. It also provides for quickly adding call center agents when there’s a surge in calls.

The contract is a continuation of the business relationship between Verizon and HHS. The company provided voice and contact center services to HHS under GSA’s predecessor to Networx, FTS2001.

The Networx award follows by eight months another HHS telecom follow-on award to Verizon, which provided voice and data services to the agency under the WITS2001 contract, the WITS 3 predecessor.

Under that follow-on award, announced in July, Verizon won a $245 million contract to provide voice, data, collaboration and professional services, dedicated voice mail systems, and audio, video and Web conferencing. Verizon Business professional services also was to help HHS with conference room design and systems setup.

GSA’s WITS 3 runs through 2015 and covers local telecommunications and professional services and products for federal agencies in the National Capital Region.