U.S. General Services Administration’s Wireless Blanket Purchase Agreement to Help Federal Agencies Optimize Mobility Strategy Expenses
Departments and agencies across the U.S. federal government will soon have a new way of purchasing advanced mobility solutions through a program, called the Wireless Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative.
Verizon along with three other U.S. carriers were awarded a five-year governmentwide blanket purchase agreement by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to improve the purchase and management of wireless services across the federal government. The GSA estimates spending up to $1.6 billion through the program.
Under the agreement, Verizon will offer federal agencies a broad array of mobility solutions, including machine-to-machine and data services, powered by the reliability, speed and reach of Verizon’s 4G LTE network. In addition voice and text messaging services will be available. All of these services will help agencies boost productivity and accelerate information sharing.
According to the GSA, the program will enable agencies to procure the services best suited to their individual requirements by providing valuable insights into historical purchasing habits and usage trends.
The government’s purchasing arm also said the wireless FSSI program is aimed at fostering collaboration across agencies so that best practices can be identified and broadly adopted to reduce life-cycle management costs and take advantage of volume discounts.
The Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI), of which the wireless FSSI is a part, has been implementing strategic sourcing initiatives for the federal government since 2005. Through a structured and collaborative process, the program analyzes organizations’ spending patterns to fully leverage purchasing power, resulting in cost savings, improved management visibility, and identification and application of industry and government best practices.
Mobility and machine-to-machine solutions, when combined with Verizon’s cloud computing infrastructure and security expertise, represent a powerful combination of assets and capabilities. The ability to host applications and data in a secure cloud computing environment that can be accessed from any location with a broadband connection and on any device is a game changer when it comes to efficiency and information availability.
From fleet management, health care delivery and e-citizen services to border control, airport security and battlefield information sharing, all of these technologies offer the promise of access to information, quicker decision making and a more responsive and efficient government.
“From the delivery of vital citizen services to protecting the homeland, mobility is the catalyst driving transformation of day-to-day federal operations, said Susan Zeleniak, senior vice president, public sector markets, Verizon Enterprise Solutions. “When combined with cloud computing, machine-to-machine and security, mobility offers boundless opportunities to remake the business of government.”
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