CenturyLink Lands Defense Department Learning Network Contract

CenturyLink secured its second, multi-year contract with the U.S. government this month; this time to power the Department of Defense Education Activity learning network.

On the heels of snagging a $1.6 billion contract with the Department of Interior (DOI) last week, CenturyLink scored a deal to power the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA)’s learning network with secure connectivity.

The latest contract starts with a one-year term, with 12 additional option periods and a contract ceiling of $75 million, CenturyLink revealed on Wednesday.

Via the terms of the task order, CenturyLink will power the DoDEA learning network with virtual private networking, internet, voice and video services to more than 85 of its global locations, according to the carrier.

[Related: CenturyLink Expands Channel Management Team With Solution Provider Superstars]

The DoDEA runs a federally-operated school system and is responsible for planning and managing pre-kindergarten through 12th grade educational programs on behalf of the Department of Defense. The DoDEA operates 163 accredited schools in 8 districts located in 11 foreign countries, seven states, Guam and Puerto Rico. The DoDEA has 15,000 employees serving more than 70,000 children of active duty military and Defense Department civilian families.

CenturyLink beat out nine vendors competing for the work, according to a spokesperson for the Monroe, La.-based provider.

The task order was awarded to CenturyLink through the General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) program and marks the first EIS contract awarded by the Defense Department.

The EIS program lets U.S. government agencies buy IT and telecommunications infrastructure services.

CenturyLink has not named any solution providers that could help the carrier fulfill the DoDEA contract, but CenturyLink has more than 25 strategic alliance partners on its EIS contract, which allows the carrier to bid on federal government agency contracts, the CenturyLink spokesperson said.

CenturyLink last week announced that it was awarded a $1.6 billion task order to modernize the U.S. DOI with secure network services, beating out eight other vendors for the work. Like its latest DoDEA contract, the DOI contract was also awarded to CenturyLink via the General Services Administration’s EIS program. CenturyLink told CRN that they will be working in partnership with Cisco Systems to fulfill the two-part task order, which includes 11 one-year options that run until 2032.