By Jeff Erlichman

Networx is designed to improve the productivity of staff and the efficiencies of your agencies telecommunications services.

So, what’s in it for you and your agency when it comes to Networx?

Plenty – starting with flexibility of choosing from five contractors who are the providers in the industry –AT&T, Level 3, Qwest, Sprint and Verizon!

Networx is maximizing the use of government resources by providing a common procurement infrastructure and a performance based approach that embraces commercial technical and interface standards.

“When you are done with the transition you will have ubiquitous, secure and reliable communications allowing you to focus on your customer outcomes and mission,” said Karl Krumbholz, GSA director of Network Services.

“For your remote users, Networx provides all services necessary for VPNs. Networx is a key ingredient for meeting interoperability, COOP/Disaster Recovery, teleworking and security requirements. Networx can provide the infrastructure and communications capabilities you need.” 

Further Networx is based on standards and is structured to keep both the contract current with standards as they evolve. It is designed to support the Federal Enterprise Architecture and provide a framework that supports cross-agency collaboration, transformation, and governmentwide technology improvement.

Plus all Networx providers’ systems have been FISMA certified and accredited.

Reduce Costs, Increase Value
“The prices are better. That’s the bottom line for any agency,” declared Krumbholz.

“Networx offers comprehensive best value telecommunications; offering pricing on legacy services that are about 10 to 20 percent below prices on FTS 2000 and more forward leaning services like IP/VPN services, up to 40 percent below FTS 2001.

So when GSA says best value, is not a hollow statement. Networx allows agencies to focus resources on building seamless, secure operating environments while ensuring access to the best technology industry has to offer.

GSA has SLAs on the contract that will help agencies achieve and be able to monitor the quality of service on the contract.

“We have carriers that can provide all of the services that are currently available and the ability to modify any other new services that come along,” explained Krumbholz. “Our contracts are continually modified with the latest available options and alternatives in the market place, so they will be, will always be pleased that they have access to the latest and greatest stuff that technology can offer.”

Networx Universal and Enterprise have Service Level Agreements (SLAs) requiring certain monthly levels of performance for 17 services, including most transport services. They also offer contract-wide SLAs for On-time Provisioning, Billing Accuracy, Time to Restore, and Service Outages. Credits are available when the contract service does not meet the required levels said Krumbholz.

The success of the SLAs and the obtaining of credit require GSA and the agencies to work together. Further, SLAs provide an opportunity for agencies to gain an accurate network inventory to initiate more effective management of service provider relationships.

In terms of technologies, when it comes to telecommunications, Networx can do it all declared Krumbholz. “There is nothing under that heading that Networx can’t provide. If it is not specifically placed on
the contract, it’s in scope when you write a statement of work (SOW). Networx can deliver whatever any agency wants to do; whether it is new technologies, legacy; it’s available and efficiently available on the Networx contract.”

Easy Ordering, Fast Delivery, Fully Secure

Web tools are available to ease ordering. Get products delivered where you need them. “The Networx website has all the tools and resources you need. Tell vendors what you want and we will deliver it to you where you want it. The way the contract is structured we can make the point of delivery – which we call the Dmark – wherever an agency wants it to be,” explained Krumbholz.

Service enabling devices or SEDS is how Networx defines services on the network. The device could be a phone, a cell phone, a computer; it can be any device to which you elect to deliver or bring your service to where ever you want it delivered.

That makes the contract enormously flexible for the delivery of new services like VoIP or fully converged services where we can put the service on the data network should the agency choose to have it done that way and we can deliver all the way to their desktop noted Krumbholz.

Networx provides four tiers of security services to meet every user’s needs.

“There are a number of mandatory services on both contracts, so the carriers are required to provide these services when an agency purchases them,” Krumbholz explained. “They can buy managed firewalls, intrusion detection, e-authentication, vulnerability scanning, antivirus, incident response and other services packaged in four tiers.”

So, if an agency wants to line up their security requirements the way DOD does – unclassified, secret, top secret etc, you can do that through Networx. Packaging allows agencies to buy the tier security level they need and Networx tells you what you would need to meet each level of requirements. “It’s basically up to the agency to define their requirement however they choose,” Krumbholz said.

Leveraging Strength

“If we look at funding issues from a macro perspective, through GSA, agencies leverage their collective buying power to achieve the best possible value for their network services dollar,” said Krumbholz.  “Overall, this translates to 40% less than best available commercial prices.  In addition, GSA provides, through its 11 regional offices, direct support for agency network service requirements at the bureau and field office level.”

Another service GSA provides agencies, in addition to best available prices, is centralized billing and direct ordering support through GSA regional offices.  On GSA wide area contracts, agencies place orders and receive bills using agency-defined hierarchy codes that allow service providers to identify and assign costs where they are incurred in the agency.  “GSA receives invoices from our network services carriers; we validate the bill, and bill individual agency components.  “

GSA maintains a transition fund as well said Krumbholz. This fund reimburses agencies for certain non-recurring costs associated with the transition from one expiring network services contract to its replacement.  This fund facilitates the ability of agencies to transition to a new provider without having to estimate, and budget in advance, the non-recurring costs associated with such a decision. 

For GSA, the challenge is to standardize common government requirements for infrastructure in order to leverage industry competition and achieve government-wide best value. 

Broadening The Networx Key Governance Structure

The Interagency Management Council has been a critically important partner and oversight body in the development and management of FTS2000, FTS2001 and now Networx.  This council was instrumental in molding the requirements for FTS 2000, FTS2001 and Networx and continues to be the voice of the customer for GSA.

The IMC, which includes representatives from 21 of the largest Government Agencies, has approved and or developed network services technical and operational support requirements, served on evaluation boards, and developed transition processes and guidelines.  This highly productive partnership represents the voice of the customer to GSA and is as important today as in any time in the past.  On April 27, 2009, GSA approved a new charter for the IMC that broadens the Council’s IT responsibilities and encourages more senior participation on the council. 

The revised IMC charter reemphasizes the role of its Executive Steering Committee (ESC).  The ESC will provide senior leadership in providing agency advice to GSA on issues related to the development and management of information technology and network services programs, and help GSA provide solutions that can meet the needs of government agencies today and in the future. This more senior level of participation will help ensure the government continues receive the best services and best value from its network services dollar. 

The IMC meets monthly.  For more information on the IMC, visit http://www.imc.gov.