Verizon’s Public Sector business inked its second deal with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in as many months, this time nabbing a $78.8 million contract to help the Air National Guard (ANG) modernize its network services.
As part of the contract, Verizon will supply IP-based voice services and managed network services. The operator said in a press release the deal broadens the scope of the services it provides and the number of locations it serves in the ANG network. Once the task order is fulfilled, the ANG network will span roughly 140 locations, it said.
Like a number of other government contracts awarded to rivals AT&T and Lumen in recent months, Verizon’s deal came through the General Services Administration's 15-year, $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) technology procurement program. The contract term was not disclosed.
Jennifer Chronis, who was tapped to lead Verizon’s Public Sector unit in April, told Fierce “EIS is the vehicle that allows us to partner with a number of government agencies on their digital modernization efforts,” highlighting the operator’s work with the DoD, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration.
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Addressing public sector trends beyond the ANG contract, Chronis said she expects the pace of 5G adoption to pick up as customers pursue cloud-enabled services, new edge capabilities and remote work options.
“5G is the great enabler across these platforms,” she explained. “Specifically when looking at the federal government and DoD, we see our government customers as leading the way with work on 5G testbeds and broad prototyping efforts…I think we’re going to see rapid growth in the public sector in terms of adopting 5G.”
In June, Verizon scored a $495 million deal to provide the DoD with switches, routers, firewalls, edge computing capabilities and managed services.
Earlier in the year, it detailed projects aimed at enabling 5G at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida and a U.S. Marine Corps Air Station in California.