OneNet replacement could come via EIS
An industry analysis suggests the Department of Homeland Security will likely tap the governmentwide telecom vehicle to update its current capability.
The Department of Homeland Security will likely use the General Services Administration’s $50 billion governmentwide telecommunications contract vehicle to update its own network backbone, according to a forecast from the Professional Services Council.
In an Oct. 30 presentation, PSC's industry experts said that a 15-year, $80 million follow-on to the OneNet contract was in the offing, with a solicitation expected in the second quarter of 2020.
The current OneNet contract with Verizon and AT&T was made through a task order to GSA's Networx Universal telecommunications contract. Experts agreed it made sense for OneNet's follow-on to come from the Networx successor contract, Enterprise Infrastructure Services.
Along with the OneNet successor, the forecast predicted that DHS would issue a successor to the DHS EAGLE II contract in the fourth quarter of 2019.
DHS Chief Procurement Officer Soraya Correa has said the agency is looking to incorporate federal category management and "best-in-class" contracting activities in the EAGLE II replacement, but also wants contracting vehicles with agile attitudes.
Earlier in October, DHS CIO John Zangardi said the agency had brought in two vendors over the summer to help it work on requirements for the transition to the EIS contract.
He said that with input from those vendors, DHS selected two options for the transition. The first is a straightforward "like-for-like" option to upgrade telecom circuits, and the second is focused on modernizing end points in the agency's networks using virtualization.
Zangardi is working with the agency's Deputy's Management Action Group, which is composed of deputies from across the agency's components on EIS implementation plans.