Federal Government Information Technology

Interagency mix-up could delay $50b telecom contract, IG finds

Federal Times: A $50 billion federal telecom contract has been opened up to delays and wasteful spending because of the lack of uniform oversight, according to a recent GSA inspector general audit of the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract.

The EIS contract is designed to replace the expiring Networx telecommunications contract, which went nearly three years over its own transition timeline and lost the government approximately $400 million in savings. Now, because the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service failed to properly implement interagency agreements for the EIS transition task order, the Networx successor could experience its own management issues.

“FAS has not executed interagency agreements with transitioning agencies for the services being provided under the [Transition Ordering Assistance] task order. As a result, FAS is at risk for disputes over contract oversight responsibilities, which may lead to waste of taxpayer dollars and delays in the EIS transition,” Sonya D. Panzo, GSA’s associate deputy assistant inspector general, wrote in a letter to the FAS commissioner.

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