Windstream Communications, LLC

Windstream Communications, LLC, a for-profit telecommunications and software company headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, operates as a prime contractor delivering voice, data, fiber optic, and integrated telecommunications infrastructure services to 59 distinct federal agencies across no set-aside categories. The vendor competes full-and-open on a broad portfolio of 274 awards (99% as prime) spanning the past two decades, with a combined potential value of $1.01 billion and 3% obligated to date.

Windstream's customer concentration is heavily anchored by the Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Acquisition Center Austin, which accounts for a majority of the dollar value through a dominant single vehicle: the National Local Exchange Carrier Services for the Enterprise Next Generation (NLEC-NG) contract, a multi-award IDIQ valued at $721.8 million providing local exchange carrier services to approximately 1,500 VA locations nationwide through 2035. The GSA Federal Acquisition Service represents the second-largest customer by potential value ($260.8 million across 52 awards) and sits primarily on the GSA Region 4 Integrated Telecom Services II vehicle, which carries 76 task orders worth $11.4 million combined. The Department of Justice Offices Boards and Divisions U.S. Attorney's Offices and Drug Enforcement Administration together account for 88 awards but carry only $1.2 million in combined potential value—a pattern of high-volume, low-dollar transactional work in contrast to the VA's anchor dollars. Four task orders under the NLEC-NG vehicle account for $18.1 million in combined potential value.

Representative work includes a $40.8 million firm fixed-price purchase order from the Fish and Wildlife Service (awarded April 2026, completing April 2031) for Ethernet infrastructure upgrade at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia; a $721.8 million NLEC-NG contract with VA for nationwide local exchange services; multiple recurring purchase orders from the Drug Enforcement Administration for telephone service fees and security features at field offices; and fiber optic services to the Bureau of Reclamation and Department of Interior. On the sub side, Windstream performs telecommunications support work under General Dynamics Information Technology on priority telecommunications services contracts, and serves as a sub-recipient to Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners on a broadband infrastructure grant delivering gigabit-speed service to 1,846 locations in Lumpkin County.

Activity has been sporadic in the recent window: four awards in 2021, seven in 2022, one in 2023, four in 2024, and one in 2026. Only two awards face ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete pressure. SCI-reported invoicing across prime service contracts above the $150,000 reporting threshold totaled $11.2 million from FY2022 through FY2024 ($126 thousand in FY2022, $5.6 million in FY2023, $5.5 million in FY2024), with federal FTE delivery scaling from 0.2 FTEs in FY2022 to 2.1 FTEs in FY2024. On SCI-reportable prime contracts, government-paid hourly rates run a median of $3,180.76 per hour, with senior labor pricing reaching $4,842.33 per hour at the 90th percentile. The vendor performs all delivery in-house on SCI contracts (0% sub-hours share). Windstream's core competency centers on local and long-distance telecommunications, fiber optic infrastructure, voice and data connectivity, and communications equipment relocation—a portfolio aligned to large federal facility networks and distributed service footprints rather than software or IT modernization services.