DHS awards networking contract, worth up to $1 billion

The Homeland Security Department awarded the OneNet telecommunication contract, worth up to $1 billion, to Verizon and AT&T this week, DHS confirmed.The contract, which was awarded under the General Services Administration's Networx program, will consolidate seven legacy networks to establish an intranet for sensitive, but unclassified information.

Comment on this article in The Forum.DHS issued a task order under the Networx Universal telecommunications contract in August 2007 for OneNet. Customs and Border Protection leads the effort, with Sprint and Verizon already providing infrastructure support under the FTS 2001 contract.

Details of the contract have yet to be released officially, but a DHS spokesman confirmed that Verizon Business Services won the primary awards for both the East and West regions of the country, worth up to $678.5 million. AT&T won the secondary awards, worth up to $292.1 million, which is projected to focus on operation of regional service centers. Neither company responded to requests for comment.

Verizon and AT&T beat out the third Networx contractor eligible to bid, Qwest Government Services. Under the contract, they will provide the Internet protocol infrastructure, including network operations and security centers, dedicated and metropolitan area access to the agencywide network, emergency communication services and connectivity for remote users. OneNet likely will provide additional capabilities over time, including Voice over IP, and videoconferencing and surveillance.

"It's a huge contract, including not only the basic IP infrastructure and [wide -area network], but also service level agreements that go above and beyond the standard, and options for emergency communication [capabilities] anywhere in the world in 48 hours," said Warren Suss, a federal telecom analyst and founder of Suss Consulting. "To some degree it pushed the envelope, with more custom elements. Networx allows for a great deal of tailoring."

OneNet also could have a positive impact on Networx, which experienced a fair number of false starts and has yet to earn a full endorsement from federal agencies, said Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer for McLean, Va., consulting firm FedSources.

"This reaffirms that Networx is a viable vehicle for buying these kinds of services," Bjorklund said. "Networx provides a wide range of services -- soup to nuts -- with true voice and data convergence. Agencies should be using it, and maybe this will give it some traction."