Verizon hits EIS milestone

Verizon is the first of 10 prime contractors on the government's $50 billion communications contract to report success on back office requirements, according to data released by the General Services Administration June 6.

The yearlong testing procedure looks at vendors' back-office systems to support service billing and reporting capabilities on the multiyear Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract.

Other vendors are closing in on the testing finish line, as well.

Core Technologies is at 83 percent completion, compared to the 26 percent tallied in the GSA’s March report. AT&T’s BSST is 82 percent complete and MetTel is not far behind, with 72.5 percent.

Verizon, AT&T and others may have a leg up on compliance, one industry executive told FCW, because they are incumbents on GSA's Networx telecommunications contract, which gives the carriers familiarity with the agency’s testing and compliance processes.

EIS contractor and Networx incumbent CenturyLink, however, remained at seven percent BSST completion in the May report, the same level as in the March report, which GSA released in early April.

CenturyLink, which closed its acquisition with Level 3 (another EIS prime) last November, is in the midst of "consolidating our assets and contracts," the telecom told FCW in a statement.

Industry sources said the seven percent completion figure could be misleading, since CenturyLink is not using its own back-office portal for the tests, but relying on Level 3's systems. The next step after completing the testing is obtaining Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) moderate compliance and then an Authority to Operate.