Treasury's TCE reopens for further bids

• By Mary Mosquera
• Nov 04, 2005

The Treasury Department has reopened its controversial network and telecommunications contract to new offers from the original bidders. AT&T Corp. won the initial 10-year, $1 billion award in December 2004. The new proposals are due Nov. 17.

The recompete is the result of an award protest that the Government Accountability Office sustained. Unknown to the bidders at the time, Treasury had signed an agreement with the General Services Administration and the Office of Management and Budget to pave the way for a move from the Treasury Communications Enterprise contract, when the base period expired, to the governmentwide Networx contract, when it became available.

That agreement was no longer in force when Treasury decided in August to reopen the bidding with the original vendors as GAO recommended, a Treasury spokeswoman said.