Hearing of the House Committee on Government Reform: Making Networx Work: Countdown to the RFP for the Federal Government's Telecommunications Program
Hearing of the House Committee on Government Reform: Making Networx Work: Countdown to the RFP for the Federal Government's Telecommunications Program
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Mr. Lynch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The ability of customers to utilize new technologies and to have that flexibility in cost-saving technology as well
depends, I think, in part on the ease of transition to actually adopt some of those technologies and, if necessary, to change
carriers.
The last time that we were here on this matter, I know Ms. Koontz had identified some transition challenges that we
still--at that point I believe your statement was that GSA had not developed procedures or a time line or contractor support
to allow people to actually transition to the advantage of the customer and use some of these new technologies and change
carriers.
I am wondering, have we made any progress on that? And do we see any other obstacles that need to be addressed with
respect to that transition occurring?
Ms. Koontz. Since we we last testified on this subject, I think GSA has made some progress; first, in mapping a schedule
out and mapping a strategy for preparing for the transition. I also think that one of the things that was a very fundamental
problem in the prior transition was the lack of service inventories or adequate service inventories so that agencies
had identified exactly what services needed to be transitioned to the new carriers.
I think GSA, based on the experience that they had last time, have a recognition that this is important. They spent a
lot more time in developing service inventories, and again they have a strategy and a deadline for getting those completed in
time for the transition.
Mr. Lynch. OK. Just going back just to the lessons learned from previous transition efforts, what have we learned? What
were the major obstacles or major challenges in transition before, and how have we overcome these obstacles going forward?
Ms. Koontz. Again, I thought one of the issues was the lack of adequate inventories, but I can--do you have anything to add
about the challenges?
Mr. Swedman. There are a few more. A lot of it has to deal with the agencies, just recognizing the scope of the challenge,
recognizing that it is hard. And there has been a lot of talk within the Interagency Management Council. GSA has been putting
in some contractor support to help them with their portion of the transition management. There are a few things, and GSA is
working on a plan on that. They expect that to be finished by February 2006, which would put it in place a few months before
the transition has to actually begin.
Mr. Lynch. OK. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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