The General Services Administration’s Office of Telecommunications Services supports government agencies’ access to secure, mission-enhancing communications services and shared value, according to Amando E. Gavino Jr., director.
Providing a guest post to the Federal Acquisition Service Office of Information Technology Category’s "Great Government Through Technology" blog, Gavino looks back at 2016 and examines 2017 priorities of the office, which provides solution sets including voice, video, data, managed network services, call center services, mobile and wireless, satellite services, last mile connections and much more.
Gavino touches on the category management approach used to simplify and standardize buying in volume, and how technical, functional and acquisition experts are available to help agencies buy efficiently. The Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions Infrastructure Advisory Group helps define priorities, share best practices, plan for transition and ensure the telecommunications program offers a range of purchasing solutions while optimizing savings.
Collected data lets GSA see purchasing trends to shape contracts and manage suppliers to get better value. This approach has been particularly effective in driving up availability and performance of bandwidth, while driving down price.
In 2017, the No. 1 priority will be to continue collaboration across government and industry as GSA and agency partners transition from Networx to Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contracts, according to Gavino.
Partnership will continue to be imperative as the governmentwide Mobile Services Category Team works to drive wireless plan savings, bandwidth demands and security capabilities continue to be addressed and a new Commercial Satellite Custom Commercial SATCOM Solutions contract is awarded.
