Sprint makes GSA contract cut

Sprint Nextel executives are breathing a little easier today. The company--along with AT&T, Level 3, Qwest and Verizon--was awarded the right to compete for a multi-year $20 billion contract from the General Services Administration to provide telecom services for the GSA's Networx Enterprise project. Networx Enterprise will allow government agencies to unify the functions and applications of their desktop, voicemail and mobile devices.

The contract is the second from the GSA, which two months ago snubbed Sprint when it announced that only AT&T, Qwest and Verizon could bid on the GSA's $20 billion Networx Universal program. This snub came as a big surprise since Sprint has been providing telecom services to the federal government for nearly 20 years. The GSA could spend as much as $68.1 billion for the entire network upgrade.

For more on the GSA contract:
- see this article
- or read this press release from Sprint