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October 19, 2020
Federal Telecommunications Modernization: Transitioning
from Networx to Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions
Background
GSA is providing assistance through—
Periodically, the General Services Administration (GSA)
a Transition Coordination Center to provide assistance
negotiates new contracts through which federal agencies
with inventory validation, transition planning, and
can acquire their telecommunications services. Current
solicitation development; and
contracts—known as Networx, Washington Interagency
Transition Ordering Assistance for requirements
Telecommunications System 3, and Regional Local Service
development, source selection, and proposal
Agreements—are scheduled to end on May 31, 2023. Each
evaluation.
of these contracts has been extended twice. In FY2019,
agencies spent about $2.5 billion on services acquired
The Transition Coordination Center was put in place in
through these contracts, with about $2 billion going to
January 2016. Transition Ordering Assistance was finalized
Networx.
in March 2017.
EIS Overview
Figure 1. Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions Timeline
The new GSA telecommunications services acquisition
contract vehicle is Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS).
On August 1, 2017, the GSA announced that it had awarded
EIS contracts to 10 vendors. These contracts have a
combined value of up to $50 billion and are for a possible
period of up to 15 years—one 5-year base period and two
5-year option periods. According to the Government
Accountability Office (GAO), more than 135 agencies will
transition 32 types of services and millions of voice and
data lines to the new contract. EIS is intended to deliver—
cost savings resulting from increased supplier
competition and price transparency;
qualified industry suppliers who can deliver a
complete portfolio of cyber-security solutions;
an ability to incorporate emerging technologies as
they become available; and
flexibility to address unique agency requirements.
The Transition to EIS
In 2017, GSA identified several critical milestones (Figure
1) that agencies should meet to ensure they will have
completely transitioned to EIS before their current contracts
expire. These dates were set in an effort to avoid the costly
delays associated with previous transitions.
Agencies have principal responsibility for the transition.
According to GSA, agencies must—
identify key personnel for the transition;
engage expertise from agency leadership to build a
transition team of telecommunications managers,
acquisition experts, and financial staff;
conduct an inventory of services to be transitioned;
develop a transition plan and schedule that includes
GSA’s major transition milestones;
Source: CRS based on General Services Administration data.
prepare solicitations for task orders;
place task and service orders; and
In April 2020, GAO testified that the majority of the 19
develop a process to review, accept/reject, and pay for
federal agencies it had studied had not met the two 2019
services.
milestones and were not on track to meet the final (2022)
milestone (Table 1).
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Federal Telecommunications Modernization: Transitioning from Networx to Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions
Table 1. Status and Plans for Completing EIS
achieved in this initial assessment, the better positioned an
Transition Activities by GSA Milestone Dates (as of
agency is expected to be to fully transition to EIS and
April 2020)
achieve 100% transition by the September 30, 2022,
milestone date.
Agencies
Agencies
that
that did not
Table 2. Percent Transition to Enterprise
completed
or do not
Infrastructure Solutions by Agency (as of April 2020)
GSA’s
or plan to
plan to
milestone
complete
complete
EIS
date to
activity by
activity by
transition
complete
milestone
milestone
activity
activity
date
date
Milestone 1
3/31/2019
5
14
Milestone 2
9/30/2019
1
18
Milestone 3
9/30/2022
8
11
Source: Government Accountability Office analysis of data provided
by agency officials. Telecommunications: Ful y Implementing
Established Transition Planning Practices Would Help Agencies
Reduce Risk of Costly Delays, GAO-20-458T, March 4, 2020,
https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-20-458T.
Note: For milestone definitions, see Figure 1.
Comparison to Previous Transitions
GSA’s establishment of early transition milestone dates was
in response to the significant delays that occurred during
the last two contract transitions. GAO found that those
delays led to “hundreds of millions of dollars in increased
costs and missed savings.” Delays associated with the
transition that began in 1998 resulted in an estimated $74
million in missed savings. The transition to Networx, which
began in 2007, took 33 months longer than planned, and the
majority of agencies experienced transition delays. In 2013,
GAO reported that these delays resulted in an increase of
$66.4 million in costs to GSA. The delays also resulted in
an estimated $329 million in lost savings because agencies
continued to order services from the previous contract even
after the same services were available through Networx,
generally at lower rates. At the time, GAO attributed the
Source: FITARA 10.0 Scorecard, https://oversight.house.gov/sites/
delays to inadequate project planning.
democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Scorecard%2010%20-
Legislative Review of Transition
%20USAID%20corrected.pdf.
In August 2020, the House Committee on Oversight and
Note: Percentages at or above 70% are shown in green; percentages
Reform’s Subcommittee on Government Operations added
at or below 30% are shown in red.
EIS transition status to its “scorecard,” which it publishes
Additional Legislative Activity: 116th
twice a year to assess compliance with the Federal
Congress
Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s
(FITARA). The subcommittee assessed, by percentage, the
Subcommittee on Government Operations held a hearing,
extent to which 24 agencies had moved off expiring
“Making IT a Priority for the Federal Government,” on
contracts (Table 2). The new EIS category was not used in
March 4, 2020. The hearing examined several initiatives of
agencies’ final grade in August 2020, but it may be a factor
GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service. The service operates
in future scoring.
several programs to help agencies modernize their existing
The highest reported EIS transition percentages, at or over
information technology infrastructure and adopt new
70%, were at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, National
technologies. EIS was one of the three topics for the
Science Foundation, and Department of the Treasury. The
hearing. No legislation has been introduced in the 116th
lowest percentages, at or under 30% transitioned, were at
Congress that would directly impact current
the Department of State, Department of Defense,
telecommunications modernization efforts.
Department of Homeland Security, Department of
Commerce, Small Business Administration, Office of
Patricia Moloney Figliola, Specialist in Internet and
Personnel Management, and National Aeronautics and
Telecommunications Policy
Space Administration. Overall, six out of 24 agencies
IF11668
reported over 50% EIS adoption. The higher the percentage
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Federal Telecommunications Modernization: Transitioning from Networx to Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to
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