WASHINGTON (AP) - Sprint Nextel Corp., the only losing bidder among four companies vying for a government telecommunications contract worth up to $48 billion, said Friday it has decided not to protest last week's decision.
The company met with the General Service Administration on Wednesday for a 'debriefing' on why they weren't chosen for the 10-year 'Networx Universal' contract.
Sprint Nextel informed the agency Thursday that it would not protest the decision, said company spokeswoman Sukhi Sahni, who did not offer any more details.
'After a thorough discussion, Sprint has decided to move forward and focus on the future and continue to aggressively pursue the forthcoming Networx Enterprise contract,' according to an official statement by the company.
Enterprise is a second government contract worth up to $20 billion, expected to be awarded in May. It has fewer requirements than the Universal contract and covers a smaller geographic area.
The Universal contract covers voice, video and data services and technologies domestically and internationally for at least six federal agencies, but is available to as many as 135 agencies operating in more than 190 countries.
Several analysts had said that Sprint Nextel would have a difficult time proving the GSA did something wrong in rejecting the company's proposal.
Sprint, which has been supplying telecom services to the government for the last 18 years, lost out to Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and Qwest Communications International Inc. for the Universal contract. As a result, Sprint will not be able to compete for individual agency business for the next decade.
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