Notice of Intent to Award - Sole Source

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), specifically the Assistant Secretary for Departmental Management's Office of the Chief Information Officer, issued a Notice of Intent to Award as a sole source procurement on March 4, 2026. This special notice announces the USDA's intention to award a firm-fixed-price contract for data and voice support with telecommunication services under the authority of FAR 6.302-1, which permits procurement from only one responsible source when no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. No written solicitation will be issued, and contracting will proceed through negotiation procedures outlined in FAR Part 15. The contract will be awarded to Verizon for USDA Voice Services, and the notice was filed with a response deadline of March 7, 2026.

The primary objective of this sole source contract is to maintain Verizon's Contact Center and Enhanced Toll-Free solutions currently serving the National Finance Center (NFC), which provides critical payroll and human resources services to over 156 federal agencies and 661,000 federal and former federal employees. The estimated contract value is $711,230, comprising a base year (FY26) at $355,000 and one twelve-month option period (FY27) at $356,230, with the current GSA Networx contract expiring May 31, 2026. The USDA determined that sole source award to Verizon is necessary to execute a low-risk transition with minimal service disruption, as Verizon possesses decade-long institutional knowledge of the NFC's complex environment and a pre-integrated solution that eliminates integration risks associated with transitioning to a new vendor. Market research and previous unsuccessful competitive efforts with Lumen Technologies under the GSA Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract demonstrated that competition and implementation timelines would not support the May 31, 2026 deadline. The Contracting Officer verified that the anticipated cost is fair and reasonable based on published price lists, previous similar service contracts, and an independent government cost estimate, with this arrangement characterized as a temporary solution pending a future competitive procurement.