IBM Receives $74.4 Million Services Contract by GSA

The U.S. General Services Administration, the nation's premier federal acquisition and procurement agency, awarded IBM a $74.4 million services contract to modernize the system that federal agencies and their suppliers use to source equipment, supplies, information technology and telecommunications services.

 

Officials with IBM (News - Alert) said that the company will work with the GSA to design and develop a standard IT architecture that will support the agency's Integrated Acquisition Environment, which is used by hundreds of thousands of civilian and defense employees, as well as companies doing business with the U.S. federal government and other interested parties.  

 

Company officials said that the project will include the integration of nine key GSA (News - Alert) applications into a single system - based on open source software - designed to simplify the entire acquisition and procurement process.  

 

Thanks to the integration, GSA can provide a one-stop online resource where federal agencies and suppliers can access information ranging from approved products and services and existing GSA contracts to contractor registrations and certifications, project reports, and federal business opportunities.  

 

By streamlining and consolidating current IAE applications into the new standard architecture, the GSA could realize significant operating cost savings.

 

'The GSA continues to play a central role in transforming the government's procurement process, making it easier and more cost-effective for federal agencies to acquire products and services,' Charles L. Prow, managing partner, IBM Global Business Services, Public Sector, said in a statement.  

 

Prow said that IBM is very pleased to support this important initiative.

 

TMCnet recently reported that IBM, a multinational computer, technology and IT consulting corporation, has acquired Intelliden Inc., a provider of intelligent network automation software that enables organizations such as telecommunications companies to configure, manage and scale their networks.

 

According to Intelliden (News - Alert) officials, the company provides network automation solutions, which are becoming essential for enterprises to automate the configuration of thousands of manually managed network devices like hubs, routers and switches from dozens of vendors.