GSA seeking upgrade to DSL

The General Services Administration, through its Federal Technology Service

division in California, is soliciting contract bids to upgrade the agency's

copper phone lines to handle high-speed Internet access.

In an announcement made Thursday, the FTS' Pacific Rim Region indicated

that it intends to issue contracts to provide Digital Subscriber Line service

to the agency's 10 regional locations nationwide, including Alaska and Hawaii.

Solicitations begin Aug. 1.

With DSL, of which there are several types, data can be packed onto

copper wires, enabling existing phone lines to access the Internet at high

speeds.

Thursday's announcement indicated that several service and supply contracts

will be awarded for the New England Region office in Boston. These contracts

are to assure a source of supply for DSL services anywhere within the United

States.

Separately, contracts will go to companies providing DSL services to

GSA's 10 regional locations nationwide. These may include regional providers

in some parts of the country as well as local metropolitan-area providers

and national providers, according to the announcement.

GSA officials were not available for comment Thursday.

Under terms of the contracts, services will have to include installation,

wiring and coordination of the DSL service with the local phone service

carrier, as well as technical help.

The program appears to be connected to GSA's Applications "N' Support

for Widely Diverse End-User Requirements program. Answer is worth a potential

$25 billion over 10 years to provide or upgrade information technology systems

for federal customers.