The Department of Technology Statewide Technology Procurement Division has awarded the first CALNET 3 contracts to AT&T Corporation; Qwest Government Services, Inc. dba CenturyLink, QGS; Integra Telecom Holdings, Inc.; Jive Communications Inc.; NWN Corporation; and Verizon Business Services, Inc.
CALNET 3 is the state’s multi-billion dollar telecommunication procurement to provide communications to state and local departments and agencies.
According to Department of Technology press release, the contracts were awarded last Friday for the companies to provide Voice and Data Services, including long distance and toll-free calling, converged and standalone voice-over IP (VoIP) services, and dedicated transport.
Voice and Data Services were the first category of bids for the CALNET 3 procurement, which has been broken up into several smaller bids to reduce risk to state government.
The CALNET 3 procurement also required companies to prequalify before submitting a bid in order to increase competition.
