Current Events
Sprint Signs A No-Bid Contract With the City, Joining Snapple
CITY SPRINTS TO AWARD $2.5M PACT
By CARL CAMPANILE (NY POST, May 10, 2004)
The Department of Education has signed a no-bid $2.5 million contract with Sprint Corp. to provide long-distance phone services - declining to entertain proposals from other companies in one of the nation's most competitive industries, The Post has learned.
The sole-source contract for long-distance calls has raised eyebrows from critics who complain the number of no-bid deals has increased dramatically under the administration of Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.
But Klein spokeswoman Margie Feinberg defended the Sprint deal, which is actually a renewal of a prior no-bid contract awarded to the firm, as a bargain.
Under the agreement, Sprint agreed to cut the cost of service by 27 percent from the prior contract. The extension runs from July 1 of this year through June 30, 2006.
And she said the department is working on a proposal to put long-distance service out to bid down the road.
"If we didn't extend the contract there would have been a massive disruption in long-distance service," Feinberg said.
Verizon, another phone-service provider that has other contracts with the department, declined to take issue with the Sprint deal.
By CARL CAMPANILE (NY POST, May 10, 2004)
The Department of Education has signed a no-bid $2.5 million contract with Sprint Corp. to provide long-distance phone services - declining to entertain proposals from other companies in one of the nation's most competitive industries, The Post has learned.
The sole-source contract for long-distance calls has raised eyebrows from critics who complain the number of no-bid deals has increased dramatically under the administration of Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.
But Klein spokeswoman Margie Feinberg defended the Sprint deal, which is actually a renewal of a prior no-bid contract awarded to the firm, as a bargain.
Under the agreement, Sprint agreed to cut the cost of service by 27 percent from the prior contract. The extension runs from July 1 of this year through June 30, 2006.
And she said the department is working on a proposal to put long-distance service out to bid down the road.
"If we didn't extend the contract there would have been a massive disruption in long-distance service," Feinberg said.
Verizon, another phone-service provider that has other contracts with the department, declined to take issue with the Sprint deal.