NTIA Wins Praise for Picking IBM to Run DTV Coupon Program
NTIA and its NOAA procurement office won high praise from industry groups Wednesday for awarding the DTV coupon program contract to an IBM-led team and for meeting the Aug. 15 deadline set in the program’s request for proposals. The contract is worth $119,968,468, NTIA said. That includes $84,990,343 for the “base” period when all households are eligible to request two coupons each, it said. The DTV statute authorized NTIA to spend up to $100 million running that part of the program. The other $34,978,125 is for a “contingent” period, during which coupons will be available only to households relying exclusively on over-the-air TV, NTIA said. Congress authorized NTIA to spend up to $60 million for that phase of the program.
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In running the program, IBM will lead a team that includes Corporate Lodging Consultants (CLC), of Wichita, Kan.; Epiq Systems, of New York; and Ketchum, the New York- based marketing and public relations giant, it said. “We pulled together a team with a diverse set of skills,” IBM executive Jim Pugh told us. Pugh, who won’t be the project leader, helped assemble the team, he said. IBM’s Global Business Services division, based in Bethesda, Md., will supervise the program, he said. NTIA told IBM early Wednesday it got the contract. The other candidates were SAIC and Vangent, both federal government contracting firms.
“We're well prepared” to meet the contract’s aggressive deadlines, Pugh said. “The core of what we do is ramp our teams up and get ready to execute big programs. We've been looking forward to this decision. We're thrilled the client was able to make this award on time. The first major milestone was to get this award done today.” It’s “premature” to discuss the coupons’ design, Pugh said. IBM showed NTIA “some broad design specs,” but actual design will be “part of the early scope of the contract,” he said.
CEA is “pleased that the NTIA has successfully taken this critical step in the transition to digital television,” a spokesman said. Implementing the converter box program and educating consumers “will guarantee all Americans have multiple options to enjoy watching free over-the-air television today, tomorrow and after February 17, 2009,” he said.
The program contractor’s job is “crucially important” to the DTV transition, “and NTIA has no doubt taken the care, in making its selection, that is commensurate with this great responsibility,” the CE Retailers Coalition (CERC) said. “CERC and its members look forward to learning the details of IBM’s planned programs, facilities and technologies, with a view to participation in aid of the program and the entire transition.”
Awarding the contract was “an important step in a process that will bring digital television to all Americans,” said Jonathan Collegio, vice president of the NAB digital television transition effort. LG, one of several CE makers vowing to market coupon-eligible DTV converter boxes in January, is pleased NTIA “made its decision in a timely manner,” said John Taylor, vice president of government relations.
Ketchum, an IBM team member, presumably will handle the contract’s consumer education component. Best Buy hired Ketchum in 2004 to launch Geek Squad “in a series of nine waves, covering 45 local markets across the country over a period of 15 weeks,” the Ketchum website said. “In a challenging or perhaps opportunistic twist, no advertising or promotional support was provided.” As a result, Geek Squad news stories reached more than 30 million consumers, and scheduled in-home Geek Squad service visits exceeded projections by 73 percent, it said.
Another team member, CLC, runs automated billing and audits for lodging of corporate and government clients. Its TALON software automatically performs up to 52 electronic audits on a hotel bill to confirm its accuracy, its site says. “The process ensures invoices have the correct rate and tax, have been cleaned of incidental charges and duplicate transactions, and only contain charges for authorized travelers.” Epiq is the leading provider of “class-action administrations solutions for settlements involving the federal government,” it said. “Over the years, more than $1 billion has been disbursed for our government agency clients.”