Although many federal agencies have yet to cut the cord on their FTS 2001 contracts and shift onto Networx, the General Services Administration already has underway preparations for its next governmentwide telecom contract vehicle.

Calling it Network Services 2020, or NS2020, GSA officials say they're still at an idea-gathering stage and Feb. 25 released a survey to gather public input.

"Some might say, 'Are you kidding me!' 'You are going to start talking about the next acquisition and you are not yet transitioned to Networx!'" writes GSA Director of Network Services Program Karl Krumbholz in a blog post.

"I agree, it is a bit bizarre that we still have work to do on the current transition," he says, adding that nonetheless at this point after award of the FTS 2001 contracts long ago, GSA was likewise "well underway with a strategy" for Networx.

GSA recently announced it would again extend its FTS 2001 Bridge contracts until the summer of 2012 following worries that some agencies will still not have transitioned to Networx once the existing FTS 2001 sole source extension expires in May and June of this year.

For more:
- read Karl Krumbholz's blog post (scroll down for the survey questions)

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