Charles Lyons-Burt
Lumen Technologies has secured a potential 11-year, $1.2 billion task order from the Department of Agriculture to provide a wide area data transport service.
The Louisiana-based company said Thursday the task order will put in place secure remote access, contact service and cloud connectivity services intended to help USDA employees oversee initiatives focused on farming, food and nutrition and forestry, as well as rural economic development.
As part of the task order, Lumen will implement features such as edge computing structures, fiber connectivity and virtual private network services, in addition to voice over internet protocol and wireless and satellite services.
The services are intended to increase efficiency in USDA activities and expedite processes of data collection. The technology is said to operate at speeds up to 100 gigabits per second.
“[Support from Lumen] will make it easier for the USDA to accomplish its mission of promoting the production of nutritious food that nourishes our people, providing economic opportunity to rural Americans,” said Zain Ahmed, senior vice president of public sector at Lumen.
The company’s capabilities will be utilized at over 9,500 USDA locations by almost 100,000 employees.
USDA awarded the task order to Lumen under the 15-year, $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contracting vehicle of the General Services Administration. The award has 10 one-year options and an initial term lasting through Sept. 30, 2022.
In September 2021, Lumen was awarded a contract to update the U.S. Postal Service’s network services via its edge cloud, connected security and collaboration strategies.
Work with the USPS will affect over 32,000 post office locations.
