WASHINGTON--A telecommunications company has the potential
to make billions of dollars when signing a government agency
as a customer--assuming it doesn't get bogged down in
bureaucracy and intra-company sniping during the
implementation of the deal.
The federal government's Social Security Administration (SSA)
and a coalition of information technology companies such as
Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Sybase and Unisys will unveil
Thursday a pilot project on how advanced IT can be used at a
government agency to better serve taxpayer needs.
The SSA will be used as a model, the companies say, for how a
government agency can use Internet-based systems to streamline
how citizens interact with the federal bureaucracy.
However, the unveiling follows by one day the failure of
the federal government yet again to transition its phone and
data services to new multibillion-dollar
contracts signed with WorldCom and Sprint.
The difficulty the federal government's General Services
Administration (GSA) has had in getting federal agencies to
transfer their telecom accounts serves as a warning for any IT
company seeking government business--even if there are
billions of dollars, in this case as much as $5 billion, at
stake.
In an age when telecom companies are reporting
lower-than-expected earnings in part because their customers
are going bankrupt, a federal government contract provides an
enviable level of revenue stability, usually over multiple
quarters. But the logistics of dealing with a federal
bureaucracy can come as quite a surprise to a carrier or IT
provider unfamiliar with the government's myriad rules and
procedures.
CommerceNet, a nonprofit consortium of IT companies, worked
with the SSA to develop a model of how telecom businesses can
work with federal agencies more effectively.
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"The way people interact with government will
fundamentally change as customer service options increase as a
result of implementing systems with advanced technology
capabilities," CommerceNet president Mark Resch said
before the pilot program's debut.
In a controlled trial over a six-week period with SSA
personnel, the companies above were joined by BroadVision,
CosmoCom, Microlog, Nortel Networks, Oracle, Quintus, Sideware,
Siebel Systems and Vignette in testing Internet-based
technologies that will let individuals interact with the SSA.
Included in the project were technologies that stored a
person's history, which is useful for repeat visitors but also
something privacy advocates will keep a close eye on. In
addition, the trial included voice-over-Internet capability,
something not found on many commercial Web sites.
Those involved in the project said the SSA was the perfect
agency to test because as baby boomers retire, the number of
Americans receiving Social Security will double. Already the
SSA receives more than 60 million calls annually on its 800
number and receives more than 26 million visits to its field
offices.
CommerceNet and representatives of many of the
participating companies planned a day-long demonstration of
the technology Thursday at GSA headquarters in Washington.
Where to assign the blame?
The GSA's efforts to transition the federal government to a
new eight-year telecom contract has not been met with the same
level of cooperation between telecom companies and government
agencies.
Wednesday marked the final day before every federal agency
was to have transitioned to a new contract with either
WorldCom or Sprint under what's known as the Federal
Technology Service (FTS) 2001 contract.
"Of about 50,000 sites, we're lacking about 10,000,
with orders being developed for 7,000 of those," said GSA
spokesman Bill Bearden.
FTS 2001 includes not only local and long-distance phone
service, but also high-speed data services, switched 800
service, frame relay and ATM technology, video
teleconferencing, and security services. FTS 2001 was outlined
as a $1.5 billion contract, but GSA officials have said from
the beginning that it could easily grow to $5 billion or more.
Bearden said the delay in transitioning agencies to the new
contracts is complicated mostly because of complex database
systems in remote field offices.
Dan Smith, WorldCom's director of government network
solutions, said a multitude of factors have led to delays,
including size issues in some of the larger federal agencies
and some difficult database changes.
Smith added that several agencies submitted their orders
only recently, although in some cases delays were due to
agencies needing to get past Year 2000 concerns.
At a ceremony last month recognizing 89 federal agencies
that successfully transitioned to FTS 2001, GSA administrator
David Barram said the federal government had learned how to
play the telecom market.
"The market power of federal agencies working together
has set a new standard for competition and prices in
telecommunications markets," he said, "that will
ultimately be reflected in the commercial and residential
sectors."
