More telecom vendors tipped for EIS authority

All three companies have all topped 90 percent completion of GSA's testing of their back office support systems for the $50 billion, 15-year Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract. Completing the test leads to an Authority to Operate (ATO) and the ability to cut service contracts with federal agencies.

Currently, only the three largest of the nine EIS vendors, AT&T, CenturyLink and Verizon, have ATOs and have been fulfilling agency solicitations. NASA awarded CenturyLink the first EIS contract in April, while AT&T recently announced a $1 billion contract with the Justice Department.

At an ACT IAC event in late July, Alan Thomas, commissioner of the agency's Federal Acquisition Service, said he expected the remaining six vendors to receive ATOs by the end of the year, with three likely awarded by the end of the fiscal year in October. The remaining three would come by the end of the calendar year, he said. He didn't put any names to the order however.

GSA's latest EIS Business Support System report released on Aug. 8 lays out that order in completion numbers.

The report shows BT Federal, Core Technologies and Harris Corp. all at 91.3 percent complete.

Microtech is at 88.4 percent; Granite Telecommunications has completed 83.5 percent of the testing, while MetTel has completed 78.7 percent, according to the report.