BT has named Wray Varley as the president and CEO of BT Federal, an appointment that comes at a critical time for the unit to challenge traditional incumbent telcos for various upcoming contract vehicles.
The unit, which operates as a U.S. entity separate from BT, is structured under the U.S. National Industrial Security Program.
Varley takes over the CEO role from Tony Wellen, who has served as interim CEO for BT Federal during the past six months. Wellen will return to his role as COO and work alongside Varley.
In August 2017, BT Federal was selected by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) as one of the companies eligible to provide services under the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract. Under the EIS contract, US Federal Government agencies can tender for a broad array of national and international telecommunications network and information technology (IT) services.
No less important is the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) services contract to compete for contracts worth up to $4.3 billion. The new contract is focused on providing telecom network solutions and services that support the transmission requirements of DISA's enterprise-level infrastructure. BT joins several large service providers, including AT&T, Verizon, and CenturyLink to compete for task order on the DoD’s new contract vehicle.
A 25-year telecom industry veteran, Varley joins BT Federal with over 20 years of government experience. Prior to coming to BT Federal, Varley headed up Infinera’s public sector program.
Earlier, Varley held government-focused positions at an array of traditional telcos including CenturyLink and its predecessor company Qwest and Verizon Federal.