EPA awards telecom contract -- again

The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded STG Inc. a recompeted five-year contract worth at least $50 million to provide telecommunications support services nationwide.

STG, a Small Business Administration-designated 8(a) company, will provide voice, video, data, wireless and combined telecommunications support services at the EPA's Washington, D.C., headquarters, its Research Triangle Park, N.C., location, and at 11 field offices across the country.

The National Telecommunications Support contract's first year is valued at $10.1 million. That figure likely will increase each additional year, said Dwight Rodgers, telecommunications specialist and project officer for the EPA's Office of Technology Operations and Planning.

The EPA originally awarded this contract to RS Information Systems Inc. in June. However, after the award was made, the EPA's acquisition office said it had mishandled cost analysis during the competition and that a recompete was necessary, Rodgers said. STG won, and it is expected to take over the contract from RSIS on Feb. 28, he said.

In Washington, STG's responsibilities will include operating the EPA's headquarters directory assistance number and maintaining its locator database, which is used to publish the agency's headquarters directory. In Research Triangle Park, STG will operate the EPA's FTS 2001 business center and its Voice/Video Technology and Engineering Center.

Before RSIS, the contract was held by DynCorp, which was not able to compete this time around because the government decided to make the contract an 8(a) set-aside.