GSA and FAA Sign Telecommunications Infrastructure Partnership Agreement
GSA #9471
March 27, 1998
Contact: Bill Bearden or Eleni Martin
(202) 501-1231
WASHINGTON, DC�The U.S. General Services Administration recently signed a partnership agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to develop, implement and manage the FAA's new telecommunications infrastructure program.
"This partnership will not only benefit the FAA," said Commissioner Dennis Fischer, of GSA's Federal Technology Service (FTS), "but it will also provide synergistic benefits to other users of FTS programs in addition to increasing the cost effectiveness of these programs."
The agreement between FTS and FAA includes cooperation in the definition and development of telecommunications requirements; the assessment of acquisition strategies; the potential for implementation of service provisioning and delivery systems; the potential for management and control of integrated telecommunications services; and continuous quality improvements and improved customer satisfaction.
The FAA Integrated Communications System for the 21st Century (FICS-21) is the largest single telecommunications program ever proposed by the FAA and has an estimated value of $2.9 billion for the Interfacility segment. This comprehensive program includes ground-to-ground transmission, switching and network management for voice, data and video requirements and replaces nine current FAA telecommunications programs. A major goal of the FICS-21 program is to achieve significant cost savings by integrating the various FAA ground communications requirements under one umbrella.
"Cooperation on the development of the FICS-21 program is the first step in this partnership between the FTS and the FAA," said Greg Davis GSA's Project Manager. "This agreement will benefit both the FTS and the FAA." Davis said that FTS will also explore the use of new contract vehicles to meet FAA's telecommunications needs.
The two agencies will explore the use of existing and planned FTS telecommunications programs including the FTS2001 acquisition, Metropolitan Area Acquisition, Technical and Management Support System contracts, Wire and Cable contracts, Technical Services Contract II, Fed Wireless contracts, and other active contracts and procurements.
For more information, contact GSA's Greg Davis at (703) 760-7501, or FAA's Dick Powell at (202) 863-7340.