The General Services Administration (GSA) could have saved...

The General Services Administration (GSA) could have saved hundreds of millions of dollars if it had been better able to manage a telecom transition, the GAO said in a report released Monday (http://1.usa.gov/19NtNEy). It focused on the Networx transition -- a series of contracts signed in 2007 and covering transport, Internet Protocol, wireless and management and application services -- and said the savings could have been $329 million if the transition had happened on time. “The extent to which GSA is documenting and applying lessons learned in preparation for the next telecommunications transition varies,” the GAO report said. “GSA has fully or partially satisfied five of six key practices necessary for a robust lessons learned process.” But it “has not fully shared these lessons with its customer agencies or prioritized them to ensure that resources are applied to areas with the greatest return on investment,” said the GAO. The GSA needs to share and prioritize lessons from this transition, it said. “GSA plans to finalize its next telecommunications acquisition strategy in December 2013 and begin the next transition when it awards new contracts in February 2017,” the GAO said. “Fully addressing key lessons learned practices should help GSA and agencies."