EIS Full-Service Business Model Factsheet

Full-service Factsheet

EIS Full-service Business Model Factsheet

GSA will continue to offer a full-service business model to regional customers under EIS. The model is operationally unchanged from our current offering under Local Service Agreements (LSAs). GSA will conduct fair opportunities, award task orders, and manage regional telecom services on behalf of customer agencies. GSA – acting as the “customer of record” – will pay vendor invoices and “rebill” the customer through IPAC. GSA will transition all inventory in TOPS from LSAs to EIS under the full-service model – to the extent that functionally equivalent services are available on the EIS contract or unless the agency elects to assume responsibility for transitioning the services under the direct order model. Frequently asked questions about the full-service model are answered below.

Frequently Asked Questions

What fee does GSA charge for its full-service offering?

What value-for-fee does the full-service offering provide?

What are the agency’s responsibilities under full-service?

How will the elimination of centralized billing under EIS effect full-service customers?

Will GSA report to OMB (as required) on transition progress?

What trouble reporting procedures would be in place under the full-service model?

What SLAs will be available under GSA’s full-service model?

What performance reporting or other deliverables will be available to agency end-users?

How will the telecom industry’s planned phase-out of Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) technology impact transition to EIS? And what alternatives are available if TDM services are not available from EIS in some of my locations?

As part of the Full-service inventory transition under EIS it is my understanding that local and long distance services will be a combined offering. Will I choose my long distance carrier separately or will the full-service transition provide long distance as part of the local service offering selected by GSA?

If current full-service customers choose to transition to direct order and not to take advantage of the full-service option under EIS, what support will GSA provide?

What fee does GSA charge for its full-service offering?

A 30-percent GSA fee shall apply for the full-service model under the EIS Program. As the OMB-appointed category manager for the telecommunications services, GSA has instituted a common, nationwide fee for its full-service model. GSA acknowledges that effective category management requires transparency and simplicity regarding its fee-setting structure.

What value-for-fee does the full-service offering provide?

With the full-service delivery model, GSA works solely with telecom service providers on behalf of its agency customers. GSA, in effect, assumes principal responsibility for service delivery[1], allowing agencies to focus on their missions rather than managing the complexities and risks inherent in telecom/datacom procurement and operations. Agencies benefit significantly when opting for full-service, since GSA assumes responsibility for:

Telecom requirements analysis and specification;
“Fair Opportunity” competitions and decisions;
Task order award;
Service order placement during EIS transition and ongoing for moves, adds and changes;
Transition of service from one service provider to another (where applicable);
Prompt payment to vendors;
Monthly invoice with inventory reconciliation;
Delivery of a single 24x7 national help desk for trouble reporting and resolution
On-going vendor oversight including tracking SLA compliance.

What are the agency’s responsibilities under full-service?

The agency is responsible for the following activities:

Execute an Interagency Agreement (IA) Part A and Part B via Conexus, GSA’s new business support platform. Part A establishes your service requirements that will be transitioned to EIS and Part B documents the agency’s bona fide need and funding. The IA represents a new requirement for full-service customers mandated in accordance with FAR 17.5 [Interagency Acquisitions].
Assign a local government contact (LGC) for each service location.
Confirm transition inventory to be transitioned to EIS.

How will the elimination of centralized billing under EIS effect full-service customers?

The elimination of centralized billing under EIS will have no impact on services provided via the full-service model. “Centralized billing” – where GSA pays vendor invoices – will not be offered to customer agencies for services ordered directly with EIS contractors. The practice is not fully compliant with the FAR and appropriations law for direct order agencies. Consolidated IPAC billing will continue to be provided under the full-service model. The Full Service model is fully complaint with the FAR to support EIS transition. GSA will conduct the Fair Opportunity and bill agencies through IPAC for the services in accordance with signed Interagency Agreements (IA), Part A and Part B (funding).

Will GSA report to OMB on transition progress?

Yes. GSA’s Transition Coordination Center will report full-service transition progress to OMB as well as to other stakeholders.

What trouble reporting procedures would be in place under the full-service model?

GSA’s 24x7 national help desk – in place today for full-service customers to report troubles – will continue under the EIS Program. Direct order customers will continue to report service troubles directly to the contractor providing the service.

What SLAs will be available under GSA’s full-service model?

An SLA is an agreement between the customer and service provider to provide a service at a performance level that meets or exceeds specified performance objective(s). The EIS contract incorporates SLAs between the government and the contractor for services and activities deemed essential to government operations. If the specified service levels are not met, the contractor shall issue specified credits. EIS includes the following types of SLAs:

Service-specific performance SLAs.
Provisioning SLAs.
Billing accuracy SLAs.

These SLAs will be in force for full-service customers. EIS contractors will deliver monthly SLA compliance and credit reports. GSA’s will manage SLA administration via Conexus. Refer to Section G.8 [SLA Management] of the EIS contract for complete SLA detail.

What performance reporting or other deliverables will be available to agency end-users?

Agencies will have access to a wide range of inventory, billing, trouble management, and SLA management deliverables via Conexus. Refer to Section F [Deliveries or Performance] of the EIS contract for a complete list of deliverables.

What is CONEXUS and how will it assist full-service customers?

CONEXUS is GSA’s new business support platform offering an extensive suite of enhanced capabilities designed to manage network services. Conexus will generate task order forecast and spend reports, service ordering and tracking, consolidated billing reports, and inventory reports, bill reconciliation and dispute reports, SLA monitoring, and Agency Hierarchy Code (AHC) to Line of Accounting (LOA) management. Full-service agencies will have full access to CONEXUS capabilities, toolset, and reports that are associated with their EIS services.

GSA fully intends to transition its current full-service customer base to EIS. GSA, however, can provide no assurance that functionally equivalent solutions to legacy telecom services will be available at current prices or at current locations. The American Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is nearing its end-of-life or “sun setting”. Many major service providers (AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, et al) have petitioned the FCC and State PUCs seeking regulatory approval for de-commissioning the PSTN[2] or have announced the retirement of copper facilities (when service is not impaired) as required by section 51.327(a) of the FCC rules. This uncertainty and attendant risk affects all GSA full-service customers presently served by TDM-based offerings including analog business lines, CENTREX, ISDN Basic Rate Interfaces (BRI) and ISDN Primary Rate Interfaces (PRI).

If traditional TDM services are not available under EIS, agencies may choose to migrate to Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions or wireless as a direct order customer. Alternatively, agencies may retain TDM service by opting for commercial offerings such as tariff services.

GSA will advise its full-service customers of the availability of TDM services within 45 days of EIS contract award.

As part of the full-service inventory transition under EIS it is my understanding that local and long distance voice services will be a combined offering. Will I choose my long-distance carrier separately or will the full-service transition provide long distance as part of the local service offering selected by GSA?

No. GSA will provide local and long distance as a combined service under EIS for full-service customers. GSA will assume responsibility for transitioning both local and long distance services to the EIS contract. Agencies preferring the separate purchase of local and long distance services should contact their GSA Agency Managers as soon as possible. Furthermore, Agencies should revise their Agency Transition Plan by stating their intent to conduct and manage their own Fair Opportunity and ordering as Direct Order/Direct Bill customers for both local and long distance voice services. In effect, these agencies will “opt out” of GSA’s Full-service for voice solutions.

The selection of a long-distance carrier (Primary Inter-exchange Carrier [PIC]) will not be available for EIS customers via standard CLINs. GSA recommends that Agencies - both Full-service and Direct Order customers - avail of the bundled or combined voice offerings. Equal access via PIC selection is a vestige of the Modified Final Judgement or “break up” of AT&T in 1983. The economic benefit of equal access, however, is no longer material. The widespread practice of providing unlimited voice minutes with most commercial offerings has mooted the need for purchasing local and long-distance separately[3].

Equal access regulation - under Title I of the Telecommunications Act - only governs circuit-switched voice services. It is not applicable to Voice-over-IP which is essentially regulated as an “information service” under Title II. Thus, PIC selection is not supported across industry for VoIP. All VoIP solutions under EIS will combine local and long-distance voice.

If current full-service customers choose to transition to direct order and not to take advantage of the full-service option under EIS, what support will GSA provide?

Through the TCC, GSA will provide full-service customers exiting the program with a current snapshot of their TOPS inventory of LSA and tariff service. GSA will also coordinate with the incumbent vendor to facilitate transition and process disconnect orders when authorized by the customer.

In addition, GSA is prepared to assist all direct order agencies with the fair opportunity and task ordering process. Transition assistance will be direct, in the form of third-party contractor support. Refer to the EIS Transition Handbook for further detail on GSA transition assistance or contact your agency manager.

If my agency has services under WITS3 or Networx (Direct Ordered under WITS/and/or Networx), can that service inventory be moved to the Full-Service business model under EIS?

The GSA Full-service business area is currently resourced to transition the current Full-Service agency customers with inventory in TOPS. At this time, agencies must plan to transition their own WITS3 and Networx services that were ordered under the Direct Order method for EIS Transition. All direct ordered agency services should be accounted for and accommodated under their ATP plans for fair opportunity and task orders.

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[1] Customers retain responsibility, however, for coordinating facility/building access; approving schedules for service installation; programming or configuring any agency-managed CPE; confirming inventories; and, issuing final acceptance after service commissioning.

[2] Congress has mandated, per Section 214 of the Communications Act, that carriers must obtain FCC approval before they discontinue, reduce, or impair services to a community or part of a community. See 47 U.S.C. §214(a)

[3] Under Networx and its five suppliers, the prevailing prices for switched long-distance voice were {0.511, 0.664, 0.732, 0.770, 0.989} cents per minute during FY2017 for dedicated access. The administrative costs of selecting and managing separate sources of supply for local and long-distance voice likely exceeds any economic benefit. Refer to Voice Services, CLIN 14002, using the Networx Public Pricer available at