Department of Interior awards $1.6 billion EIS contract to CenturyLink

CenturyLink has been awarded a $1.6 billion network services and IT modernization contract with the Department of Interior as part of the General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) program.

Under the task order, CenturyLink will manage two areas: core network services and access services like Wi-Fi. The contract has 11 one-year option periods that could run through 2032, bringing the total potential value to $1.6 billion.

“The Department of the Interior selected CenturyLink to deliver secure, modern network services that will help the agency achieve its mission to conserve and manage our nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people,” David Young, CenturyLink senior vice president ofpublic sector, said in a statement Thursday. “This award from DOI shows that government agencies are increasingly turning to CenturyLink as their trusted provider to help them with their IT modernization efforts so they can focus on their mission.”

CenturyLink received its authority to operate (ATO) as one of the one of nine primes under the 15-year, $50 billion EIS contract in March 2019. As of December 2019, all nine have their ATOs for EIS, which is the government’s new flagship telecom modernization contract.

In April, CenturyLink won the contract’s first official task order, with NASA.

All agencies were supposed to issue their EIS task orders by Sept. 30, 2019, but that proved to be a loose deadline. GSA has said that it intends to limit the use of extended contracts for agencies that still haven’t made task order awards by March 31, 2020, and 90% of agencies’ telecom inventory must be on EIS by March 31, 2022.

EIS’s predecessor contract, Networx, expires March 31, 2023.