State Dept. awards Verizon $1.6B contract to modernize network infrastructure at U.S. embassies
The State Department has awarded Verizon a $1.6 billion task order to upgrade technology and network infrastructure at about 260 embassies, consulates and other diplomatic facilities around the globe.
The contract is worth $1.6 billion over a 10-year period, and includes implementation and management of network solutions for the department’s overseas footprint, including across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America.
State has made the task order award through the $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract.
It is the latest IT services win for Verizon, and comes after the telecom giant in July won a $400 million task order to support the FBI’s network modernization program.
That task order was a re-award of work previously awarded to Verizon by the law enforcement agency, but subsequently disputed by AT&T.
Commenting on the award, Verizon Public Sector Senior Vice President Maggie Hallbach, said: “We are uniquely qualified to provide the Department of State with powerful solutions to their global network consolidation and management needs.”
She added: “We have supported the Department of Defense and other national security and civilian customers with global critical infrastructure and communications for more than three decades.”
The $50 billion EIS contract is a governmentwide vehicle meant to help agencies jumpstart the modernization of their aging IT and network infrastructures.
However, the transition to the contract has been a slog for many agencies, with deadlines looming for them to have their telecom portfolios transitioned off of legacy contracts by the end of this fiscal year.
Last month, this publication reported that the D.C. government had yet to tell the General Services Administration whether it intends to continue using expiring network and telecom services as it transitions to the contract.
