Buzz of the week: Networxzzzzzzzzzzzz….

Normally we do a 'buzz of the week,' which appears on page three of each issue, but we are in an unusual period right now where we do not have another issue until 13 February. That issue have a ton o' budget stuff, given that the President's fiscal 2007 budget proposal comes out on 6 February. (We'll have some other good stuff too!)

If there was an issue this week, we wouldn't have been any trouble determining what the buzz has been – oh, just a little telecom and networking contract that got delayed by just a wee bit.

Yes, the behemoth Networx contract has been delayed until next year, the General Services Administration acknowledged. GSA originally planned to award Networx this summer. Now, under the current timetable, GSA now plans to award Networx Universal in March 2007 and Networx Enterprise in May 2007.

The obvious question: Why? GSA says that the contract is so complex. OK, yes, but there is all sorts of speculation out there that there is more to the story, yet nobody really knows what it is, so they are… er, speculating. Are there other reasons? Is the contract just become too complex for its own good – so complex that it can only lead to problems down the road? Why were GSA officials in Las Vegas earlier this month talking about a schedule only to have the contract get delayed just days later?

And then there is the whole Tom Davis angle of the story. Rep. Davis, of course, has been threatening the Treasury Department for creating its own telecom contract because he said that the agency should use the Networx contract. In fact, Davis even went so far as to say that he would seek to remove funding for the Treasury Communications Enterprise contract. This week, however, the Treasury folks are looking mighty sharp.

But it raises the question – what about the other agencies? What about the money in the budgets set aside for Networx transition?

Yes, the task of determining the buzz is easy on weeks like this.