General Services Administration's Management of FTS 2000

GAO discussed the General Services Administration's (GSA) management of the federal telecommunications system (FTS) 2000 program. GAO noted that: (1) the GSA agreement to assign Navy traffic to one telecommunications corporation, in return for price reductions, may not be in the government's best interests, since it would not result in the desired 60/40 revenue split; (2) while GSA effectively enforced mandatory use, such compliance could cost more for some agencies than they would pay for a separate contract; (3) there was some concern about the magnitude of GSA allocation of FTS 2000 costs through its information technology fund; (4) the two telecommunications contractors exceeded their FTS 2000 subcontracting goals for small disadvantaged businesses, but it was not clear whether maximum practicable opportunity was afforded such businesses; and (5) GSA failure to address contract problems could seriously undermine the effectiveness of FTS 2000.