Two More Vendors to Have ATOs on GSA’s EIS Telecom Contract Soon; Verizon’s Michael Maiorana Quoted

A spokesperson for the General Services Administration said two more companies are expected to secure in the next few weeks an authority to operate under GSA’s 15-year, $50B Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions vehicle for telecommunications and information technology services, Nextgov reported Friday.

Michael Maiorana, senior vice president for public sector at Verizon, told Nextgov that the company is close to getting the final approval for the ATO.

“We've been working with GSA diligently for several months and we expect to have our ATO soon,” said Maiorana, a 2019 Wash100 winner.

“We look forward to building upon our decades-long relationship with federal government and delivering next generation, mission-enabling services to address government and citizen needs,” he added.

A status report obtained by the publication says AT&T is the other company that is likely to get the ATO soon and the spokesperson said the remaining six firms are expected to have the authorization before the end of fiscal year 2019.

“There are no shortcuts in federal cybersecurity, so all EIS suppliers must thoroughly and accurately complete every part of the security [assessment and authorization] process and be granted an ATO,” the GSA spokesperson told Nextgov.

CenturyLink became the first vendor to secure an ATO on the EIS contract, which was awarded in 2017.