GSA Awards Local Telecommunications Services Contracts in Detroit Estimated Savings Exceed 19 Percent Over Current Rates

GSA #9907

November 19, 2001
Contact: Bill Bearden (202) 501-1231
bill.bearden@gsa.gov

Washington, DC -- The U.S. General Services Administration today awarded two contracts to provide local telecommunications services to federal government agencies in Detroit, Michigan, under its Metropolitan Area Acquisition (MAA) Program, with estimated savings exceeding 19% over current rates. The combined value for government business is estimated to be $60 million over 8 years -- 4 base years plus 4 one-year options.

GSA selected SBC Global Services, Inc. and Winstar Communications, Inc. to provide services in Detroit. The originating and terminating service area includes all of Wayne Co. and southern Oakland Co. including the townships of Walled Lake, Wixom, Northville, Farmington, Royal Oak, Troy and Birmingham, Michigan. The contracts provide for standard voice service as well as switched data service and dedicated transmission service offerings. The scope of the contracts allows for the addition of new and leading edge services as they become available in the commercial marketplace.

These Awards are the latest results of the MAA Program, which is managed by GSA's Federal Technology Service (FTS). The contracts in Detroit bring the total number of cities served by the program to 23.

The contracts in Detroit have new local service prices that will potentially save the government more than 19% over 8 years when compared to rates currently available to the government. For basic analog voice services, the offered prices will potentially save the government more than 47% over 8 years when compared to currently available prices.

"We are pleased to continue with Phase 3 of the MAA program so successfully," said FTS Commissioner Sandra Bates. "With MAA contracts now awarded in a total of 23 cities, GSA has the potential to reduce the cost of local telecommunications services to federal government users by more than 51% over the eight year terms of the contracts when compared to currently available prices. We look forward to extending similar savings to even more government users with the continuation of Phase 3 of the program."

The MAA Program was conceived shortly after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in order to bring the same benefits of competition to the local service environment that had been seen in the long distance market since 1984. As part of its program strategy, FTS has incorporated competition-enhancing terms into its MAA and FTS2001 (long distance) telecommunications contracts, including price management mechanisms and technology refreshment provisions. These are meant to ensure not only that the prices paid by federal government users remain current with the best available in the marketplace, but that the types of services offered remain current with industry trends as well. As Phase 3 of the MAA Program continues, future cities that are anticipated for awards are Norfolk, Virginia and Seattle, Washington.

For additional MAA program specific information, please refer to the GSA Web site at http://www.gsa.gov/maa, or call the MAA Program Director, Joseph Romanelli at (703) 306-6650.

BACKGROUND ON PREVIOUS MAA AWARDS

To date, MAA contracts have been awarded for the following cities.

New York: May 20,1999 to AT&T - $359 million maximum contract value - NY MAA service area includes the five boroughs of New York City; Lower Westchester county, NY; Nassau county, NY; Western Suffolk county, NY; Hudson county, NJ; Southern Bergen county, NJ; Eastern Essex county, NJ; Eastern Union county, NJ; Eastern Passaic county, NJ.

Chicago: May 20, 1999 to AT&T - $180 million maximum contract value - Chicago MAA service area includes all sites within the Chicago city limits.

San Francisco: May 20, 1999 to AT&T - $150 million maximum contract value - San Francisco MAA service area includes all sites in the city and county of San Francisco.

Buffalo: February 24, 2000 to Bell Atlantic and AT&T - $40 million maximum contract value - Buffalo MAA service area includes Erie county, New York.

Cincinnati: March 23, 2000 to Winstar Communications Inc.- $100 million maximum contract value - Cincinnati MAA service area includes Hamilton county, Ohio.

Cleveland: March 24, 2000 to Ameritech Corp. and AT&T - $150 million maximum contract value - Cleveland MAA service area includes Cuyahoga county, Ohio.

Los Angeles: March 24, 2000 to Winstar Communications, Inc. and Pacific Bell - $200 million maximum contract value - Los Angeles MAA service area includes the mainland Los Angeles county, California.

Baltimore: March 28, 2000 to Winstar Communications Inc.- $320 million maximum contract value - Baltimore MAA service area includes the city and county of Baltimore plus the area of Anne Arundel county (District 5) around the Baltimore Washington International Airport.

Atlanta: April 26, 2000 to Winstar Communications, Inc. and Bell South - $520 million maximum contract value - Atlanta MAA service area includes the six counties of Clayton, Cobb, Dekalb, Douglas, Fulton, and Gwinnett.

Miami: April 26, 2000 to Winstar Communications, Inc. and Bell South - $140 million maximum contract value - Miami MAA service area includes Dade and Broward counties.

Indianapolis: April 27, 2000 to Winstar Communications, Inc., SBC Global Services and AT&T - $240 million maximum contract value - Indianapolis MAA service area includes Marion County plus Clay Township in Hamilton County and Pleasant Township in Johnson County.

St. Louis: April 27, 2000 to Winstar Communications, Inc. and Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. - $140 million maximum contract value - St. Louis MAA service area includes the City and County of St. Louis in Missouri plus the Counties of Madison and St. Clair in Illinois.

Minneapolis: May 31, 2000 to USWest and Winstar Communications, Inc. - $60 million maximum contract value - Minneapolis MAA service area includes Hennepin and Ramsey Counties as well as the city of Columbia Heights in Anoka County and Eagan in Dakota County.

Dallas: June 30, 2000 to Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, Winstar Communications, Inc., and AT&T - $470 million maximum contract value - Dallas MAA service area includes Dallas and Tarrant counties, and encompasses the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth.

Denver: July 12, 2000 to AT&T, Qwest Corporation (formerly US West), and Winstar Communications, Inc. - $270 million maximum contract value - Denver MAA service area includes the entire county of Denver, the northern portion of Jefferson county to include the town of Golden (the Golden and Northeast Jefferson Minor Civil Divisions (MCDs)), the southeast portion of Adams county to include Commerce City (the West Adams, North Aurora, and Commerce City MCDs), and the western portion of Arapahoe county (to include the South Aurora and Southwest Arapahoe MCDs).

Boston: July 31, 2000 to AT&T, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, Winstar Communications, Inc. and Bell Atlantic - $270 million maximum contract value - Boston MAA service area includes the city of Boston, as well as the counties of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk.

Albuquerque: August 31, 2000 to Qwest Corporation (formerly US West -- $102 million maximum contract value - Albuquerque comprehensive service coverage area includes Bernadillo County with extended local alling capabilities into the localities of Belen, Estancia, Laguna Acoma, Los Lunas, Moriarty, Mountainair, Pena Blanca, and Tijeras.

Boise: August 31, 2000 to Qwest Corporation (formerly US West) -- $41 million maximum contract value -- Boise coverage service area includes Ada County.

New Orleans: October 16, 2000 to Bell South -- $75 million maximum contract value - New Orleans MAA originating and terminating service area includes the parishes of St. Charles, Jefferson, and Orleans, the town of Belle Chasse (located in the Plaquemines parish), and the towns of Chalmette, Arabi, Meraux, Violet, and Poydras (all located in St. Bernard parish).

Philadelphia: February 27, 2001 to AT&T and Winstar Communications, Inc. - $296 million maximum contract value - Philadelphia MAA originating and terminating service area includes the counties of Philadelphia and Delaware (located in Pennsylvania) and the cities of Camden and Trenton (located in New Jersey).

San Antonio: August 8, 2001 to SBC Global Services, Inc. and Winstar Communications, Inc. - $239 million maximum contract value - San Antonio MAA originating and terminating service area includes all of Bexar County, Texas.

To date awards have been made to a total number of 22 cities served by the program. Procurements for four additional cities are expected this year under Phase 3 of the program.

Additional Information on the Metropolitan Area Acquisition (MAA) Program
Program Level
Nationwide qualification process that certifies competitive local service providers at the program level to provide a set of standard local services.
Continuous competition introduced throughout the life of the contract with a price management mechanism to ensure timely and continued pricing.
One-stop-shopping local service contract with a broad scope for future local and long distance service integration and other new commercial services. Government customers on par with commercial customers-Government gets access to new services at same pace as commercial marketplace.
Four base years plus four one-year options indefinite delivery/indefinite quantify fixed price contract with flexible provision for agencies' specific requirements.
Significant price reduction due to competition.

Service Level
Comprehensive range of local service offerings including voice services with Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) capabilities, Circuit-Switched Data Services, and Dedicated Transmission Services. Additional advanced and emerging services such as Packet Switched, Internet Protocol (IP), Frame Relay (FR), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Switched Multi-megabit Data Service (SMDS), Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), Video Teleconferencing, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Services are in scope for addition when needed.
Feature-rich voice services with many features included as part of basic service package and as options.
Services also include provision for National Security/Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) capabilities.
No per-minute usage charge for Government-to-Government calls on the contractor's network.
Number portability supported when agencies move to a new service provider.
New services are compatible with existing ISDN equipment with no new equipment costs to agencies.
Detailed pricing by NPA-NXX.
Seven flexible service delivery point options that allow agencies to acquire partial or turnkey services.
Flexible solutions for ensuring quality inside wiring and achieving connectivity throughout a building.
Wide range of support services including responsive ordering, billing,
Network troubleshooting, repair capabilities, infrastructure inventory, etc.
Continuous competition designed to allow agencies to act as "smart shoppers" in a commercial-like marketplace.