Verizon bags nearly $1B in DoD contracts for network upgrades

Verizon snagged a trio of task orders from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to upgrade network infrastructure and services at the Pentagon, National Capital Region and Fort Belvoir. Collectively, the contracts are worth $966.5 million, making the announcement one of the largest wins Verizon has secured through the government’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) technology procurement program.

The operator’s contract with the Pentagon is the largest, coming in at $515.3 million, and covers a transition from copper-based communications technology to IP-based services. Verizon is set to provide the DoD with support in planning, designing and implementing network upgrades and rolling out new equipment at the Pentagon. Work will include converting over 52,000 voice lines to an integrated IP technology, the operator said.

A second deal with the National Capital Region is worth another $432.9 million and covers the delivery of voice, transport, internet and professional services to more than 370 locations. Meanwhile, a third contract totaling $18.3 million will see Verizon supply core voice, transport, internet and managed services at Fort Belvoir. Last June, Verizon won a $495 million contract from the DoD to deploy switches, routers, firewalls, edge computing capabilities and managed services to support its research and computing facilities. Maggie Hallbach, Verizon’s new Public Sector chief, said in a statement the DoD “is at the forefront of technology modernization, and we are proud that Verizon has been selected to grow our existing partnership and continue to serve as its digital transformation partner.”

The latest group of contracts is one of Verizon’s largest EIS wins to date. Last year, the operator also scored a series of five contracts with the Department of Labor worth a total of $887 million. Other Verizon wins have included a $78.8 million contract with the Air National Guard, a $78 million task order from the Naval District Washington, and a $34.6 million deal with the Department of Energy.

Verizon is competing for contracts against the likes of AT&T, Lumen and MetTel. Data released by the General Services Administration showed 13% of EIS task orders had yet to be awarded as of February 25, 2022, down from 26.2% at the end of August 2021.