AT&T Government Solutions faces tough competition as one of 29 co...

“For us this was an important opportunity,” Klebonis said. “Obviously there are a lot of large integrators selected for this,” he said. “AT&T feels it also has some strong past performance and capabilities and can play in this game.” Last week, the General Services Administration awarded contracts to 29 of the 66 companies that applied to be part of the Alliant program. The contracts are a kind of prequalification to sell information technology (IT) solutions and services to government agencies. AT&T and other winners still have to bid on various other contracts offered under the program. Klebonis said competition for government contracts is already tough and he doesn’t expect additional pricing pressure. AT&T has historically provided the federal government with IT services. The division has some 4,000 employees. “This is a business that AT&T has been in for over 40 years,” Klebonis said. “For software engineering and IT services, certainly we're a large player,” he said. “Certainly, we're expanding within the federal government.” AT&T was a recent winner of the two big telecom contracts to fell the government services -- the Networx Enterprise and Universal contracts. John Okay, a government contracting expert and former top GSA official, said Friday the contract is a good compliment to the Networx contract. “AT&T in addition to being a world class telecom carrier has a fair amount of experience in IT services,” he said. “AT&T has nurtured and grown its capabilities,” Okay said. “It provides services you'd more associate with Computer Associates or SRA than you would a telecom carrier.” Okay noted that GSA asked all competitors for references from past contracts and made calls to verify past performance was acceptable.