Verizon’s $46.6 Million DREN Consolation Prize
By
Bob Brewin
This post has been modified for clarity.
Though Verizon lost and then protested the $750 million Defense Research and Engineering Network (DREN) III contract to CenturyLink, it did win a $46.3 million sole-source bridge contract to keep the old network going until June 18, 2014, if the government exercises all options.
This above info, alas, is not readily apparent in the DREN bridge contract notice the Defense Information Systems Agency posted last Friday on the FedBizOpps website.
To find out the value of the bridge contract and the awardee, you have to click on the justification and approval notice, which among other things includes a truly fascinating discussion of relevant parts of the U.S. Code.
I have a simple request for DISA: Please includes the value and name of contractor up front on all such sole-source contract notices.
Otherwise, in journalism terms, you are burying the lead. But that may be the purpose of the exercise.