As the 53-year-old editor chiefly responsible for the controversial photograph of a young woman with a nose piercing on the December 2006 cover of Government Executive magazine, I straddle the workplace generational divide. My gray hair gives me street cred among aging boomers. My regular use of YouTube videos on my blog, my Facebook page and my Second Life avatar give me cache among those born after 1980.

So I feel comfortable saying to those of you in my demographic and older: Millennials are here. They're wired. Get over it.

Especially in matters technological, millennials are changing the workplace whether boomers approve or not. And often, we don't. Take last week's story here on NextGov about millennials as computer security risks. You can almost see the raised eyebrows through the lines in Symantec's finding that millennials pose a risk to network security. Just about all the IT managers interviewed grumped about millennials' freewheeling Internet practices, such as checking their personal email and Facebook pages and banking online while at work.

But while the tech czars grumble, those who manage millennials or struggle to lure them into government, are mellowing. They are finding young digital natives to be an asset, not a pain. The Army, for example, was an early adapter with its computer game recruiting tool America's Army. In late 2006, the CIA's National Clandestine Service set up a Facebook group to recruit new employees. NASA, NOAA the CDC and other agencies have entered the virtual world, namely Second Life, in part to meet milennials where they live.

And in a January white paper, "On Learning: The Future of Air Force Education and Training," the Air Education and Training Command proposed creating a virtual base, called MyBase, an obvious allusion to the so-five-minutes-ago millennial hang-out MySpace.

What's fun about MyBase is that it originated in Boomer angst. The paper is based in part on research about millennials done by Art Fritzson, a Booz Allen vice president. He was commissioned by "a senior officer who had been appalled to discover a number of junior officers using the . . . Facebook Web site for the purpose of organizing their. squadrons" This according to a piece Fritzson wrote along with Lloyd W. Howell Jr., another Booz V.P., and Dov S. Zakheim, a former Defense comptroller now at Booz. Their March 10 report, "Military of Millennials" appears on Booz' Web site, strategy + business. The authors point out that Generation Y, born between 1980 and 2001, is just about as large as the baby boom, lives on the Internet, and views knowledge not as power, but as something that "belongs to everyone and creates a basis for building new relationships and fostering dialogue. . . . They have grown up seeing the thoughts reaction, and even indiscretions of their friends and peers posted on a permanent, universally accessible global record."

Yes, this does call for a more creative approach to security and the need for adult supervision, but it also makes for a multi-tasking, anti-hierarchy, adaptive group that might just be uniquely suited to defeating the loosley organized, highly networked enemies we face, as well as the elusive, multi-faceted challenges we must surmount.

And by the way, the millennials also turn out to be deeply committed to family, community and teamwork; hugely civic-minded, creative and independent and possibly the most tolerant generation on record. So what if all this comes in a wrapping of tattoos, piercings and baggy clothes? We drove our elders nuts in our time, too.

The Defense Information Systems Agency awarded Computer Sciences Corp. a $613 million contract to continue managing the Defense network that serves as the global communications backbone for the Defense Department.

CSC won the Defense Information System Network (DISN) Network Management Support Services-Global (DNMSS-G/R) Recompete Network Engineering contract, which has a ceiling value of $613 million over five years. CSC won the original DISN engineering services contract in 1999 and under the new award will continue to provide global digital voice, data and video services.

Another key task for CSC is support of the secure Defense Red Switch Network, a world-wide voice, video and data network used by top Defense officials, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), theater and support commanders, and other senior decision makers.

The DISN engineering contract has a two-year base period and three one-year options. CSC’s partners include AT&T, BAE Systems, CACI, General Dynamics, Telecordia and Qwest.

This news item certainly will heap more suspicion on the Bush administration’s tactics for fighting terrorism.

A law firm in Vermont, which represents a client in Afghanistan and a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, is accusing the federal government of tapping its phones and hacking into a computer used by one of the firm's partners, according to an article posted by the Burlington Free Press. Three partners in the law firm Gensburg, Atwell & Broderick recently sent a letter to clients telling them the firm "can't guarantee their communications were confidential," according to the article. The firm said it had found its phone lines crossed and that a computer forensic examination of the computer used by Robert Gensburg "found an application that disabled all security software and would have given someone access to all information on the computer," according to the article.

Gensberg said there may be an innocent explanation for the problems -- such as he may have accidentally downloaded some malware from the Internet -- but "we are quite confident that it is the United States government that has been doing the phone tapping and computer hacking," the lawyers wrote in their Oct. 2 letter to clients.

According to the article, there's no comment from U.S. officials or Verizon, which operates the phone lines for the law firm and is one of the telecommunication firms named in the Bush administration’s wiretapping program after 9/11:

U.S. Attorney Thomas D. Anderson, the federal government's top law enforcement official in Vermont, said Thursday that he couldn't comment. Verizon has consistently refused to comment on whether it is involved with national security issues, spokeswoman Beth Fastiggi said Thursday.

You typically don’t associate the Space and Naval Warfare System Command with armored vehicles, but it turns out the command’s Space and Naval Systems Center in Charleston, S.C., plays a key role (page 46) in the final assembly of vehicles designed to protect troops in Iraq against Improvised Explosive Devices.

SPAWAR installs all the command control gear for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles at the Charleston facility, according to Steve Davis, a command spokesman. Davis declined for security reasons to provide me with any details on C2 equipment used in the current generation of MRAP vehicles.

But, the statement of work included in the solicitation (from the Marine Corps Systems Command) for the next generation of MRAP vehicles reveals that each of the new MRAP IIs could be stuffed with enough comm gear to take care of an infantry battalion.

The statement of work says each vehicle could be equipped with a wide range of communications gear including multiple radio and satellite systems. The satellite systems eyed for use in the MRAP II include the Movement Tracking System from Comtech Mobile Datacom, which supports two-way text messaging and the ROVER III receiver from L3 Communications, designed to receive battlefield video feeds from manned and unmanned aircraft.

Terrestrial radio systems planned for the MRAP II include workhorse, VHF Single Channel Ground Airborne Radio Systems manufactured by ITT and other companies, the multi-band (including UHF satcom) AN-VRC 103 from Harris, and the AN-VRC 104, an HF radio widely used by the Marines.

Other C2 gear planned for installation in MRAP IIs include the secure Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (from Rockwell Collins) and the satellite-based Blue Force Tracking System from General Dynamics.

The once-a-Marine radio operator in me can hardly wait to test drive a new MRAP II stuffed with all these goodies.

Bids for the MRAP II are due Oct. 1, and, according to the Marines, potential bidders include vehicle manufacturers such as AM General and Oshkosh Truck, as well integrators such as Lockheed Martin Systems Integration Group and BAE Systems.

The members of the 9/11 Commission recommended that the intelligence agencies do a better job of sharing intelligence information. The direct quote form the 9/11 Commission Report: "We propose that information be shared horizontally, across new networks that transcend individual agencies."

Is this what the commission had in mind as a new network? Intelligence agencies say they plan to create "A-Space," a private social networking site modeled on the popular social networking sites MySpace and Facebook.

This is how The Federal Times described it in an article posted yesterday:

The move is the latest part of an ongoing effort to transform the analytical business following the failure to detect the 9/11 terrorist attacks or find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Thomas Fingar, the deputy director of national intelligence for analysis, believes the common workspace – a kind of “MySpace for analysts” – will generate better analysis by breaking down firewalls across the traditionally stove-piped intelligence community. He says the technology can also help process increasing amounts of information where the number of analysts is limited.

A-Space should appeal to younger recruits whom intelligence agencies need to attract. After all, the intelligence agencies are relying on younger employees to develop new ways to fight terrorism, as The New York Times Magazine pointed out in a Dec. 3, 2006, cover article:

[T]hroughout the intelligence community, spies are beginning to wonder why their technology has fallen so far behind — and talk among themselves about how to catch up. Some of the country’s most senior intelligence thinkers have joined the discussion, and surprisingly, many of them believe the answer may lie in the interactive tools the world’s teenagers are using to pass around YouTube videos and bicker online about their favorite bands. Billions of dollars’ worth of ultrasecret data networks couldn’t help spies piece together the clues to the worst terrorist plot ever. So perhaps, they argue, it’ s time to try something radically different. Could blogs and wikis prevent the next 9/11?

We'll find out.

Advancing technology is making it possible to develop satellites that are so small that they can spy (undetected) on other satellites and come close enough to sabotage or destroy a satellite, the BBC reports today. The United Kingdom, as well as other nations, has launched microsatellites, some of which weigh as little as 22 pounds (10 kilograms). The lightweights are much easier to maneuver in space, making it relatively easy to sidle up to another satellite. With that capability, the specter of satellite espionage becomes more real.

Physicist Laura Grego, with the Union of Concerned Scientists, says it is time to update the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, signed by 98 nations including the United States, which lays the framework of international space law. Grego says space must be regulated to prevent spying and destruction of satellites. "Despite space being militarised, it has not yet been 'weaponized,' and this should be strictly prevented," the Union of Concerned Scientists believe, the BBC reports.

With more than 400 microsatellites having been launched, it's a pretty good bet to believe that a large part of any nation's satellite program already includes giving satellites capabilities to spy on other satellites as well as the capability to destroy another nation's satellites at a moments notice. Increasing regulation may be a bitter battle.

The General Services Administration named Karl O. Krumbholz the new director of network services programs within the Federal Acquisition Service’s Office of Integrated Technology Services.

As head of the network services office, based in Fairfax, Va., Krumbholz will help provide strategic, operational, technical, and acquisition leadership for an organization that delivers $1.5 billion in telecommunications services to 135 government agencies in 190 countries.

The new position brings together GSA’s legacy long distance and local services programs in a manner that is intended to reflect the integrated network-enabled government of the future, according to GSA.

John Johnson, assistant FAS commissioner, said Krumbholz has been acting in this role for almost a year and during that time has provided leadership and oversight for the award of the Networx, SATCOM II and the federal relay service contracts.

"He is well-positioned to help lead the federal telecommunications community through the challenges of transition to these new programs," Johnson said.

Previously, Krumbholz served as the deputy assistant commissioner for GSA’s Office of Service Development and Delivery in the legacy Federal Technology Service. In that role he was responsible for managing the FTS2001 and crossover federal telecommunications programs as well as the development activities that defined the next generation of GSA offerings.

Krumbholz has a bachelor’s degree in management from the U.S. Naval Academy, a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School and a master’s degree in business administration from George Washington University.

The following item was posted by Bob Brewin.

The problem with most high-level military conferences held to discuss delivering services to soldiers is that the soldiers are absent from the discussion. They’re off fighting wars.

What you end up with is a bunch of generals and SESers talking milestones and processes that move at a glacial pace, which does little to solve problems faced by soldiers in the unfriendly environs of Iraq and Afghanistan.

But last month, Air Force Lt. Gen. Charles Croom, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), broke this worn out pattern at the agency’s customer conference by inviting an Army and Marine tactical communicator to speak. He told me that their presentations were not “very flattering on the service we provide forward, but it was their experience and told from the ground forward. About 3,500 folks listened to them and they may get rated as the most valued speakers we had.”

DISA has now posted on its Web site (http://www.disa.mil/conference/briefings/kokinda.ppt) the presentation of one of those speakers, Army Co. Timothy Kokinda (CQ), who served last year as the assistant chief of staff for command, control communications and computers in Iraq. His take on the real-world experiences is definitely worth a read.

For example, while speakers at conferences Inside The Beltway have talked for the past decade about a wonderful new world in which data is fungible and easily exchanged, Kokinda, along with other U.S. and multi-national forces in Iraq, must work with 300 stand-alone databases and “standards for interoperability are non-existent or unenforceable.” Plus, Kokinda added, there are no joint data networks.

John Grimes, DOD chief information officer and assistant secretary of Defense for networks and information integration, has for the past two years made spectrum management one of his top priorities, which has implications for all forces deployed to Iraq, which run daily into gauntlets of radio-controlled improvised explosive devices (IED).

But Kokinda told the DISA conference that soldiers face significant spectrum challenges in Iraq, including the need to manage 82,000 frequencies used by U.S. and allied forces, while at the same time countering the IED threat. The spectrum management tool fielded by the DISA Joint Spectrum Center (http://www.disa.mil/jsc/index.html) is not up to the job and needs to be replaced, he said.

The other speaker was Marine tactical communicator Lt. Col. Loretta Vandenberg, who also served in Iraq last year.

Kudos to Croom and DISA for not only inviting Kokinda to share his experiences but also for posting his briefing slides for the rest of us to read.

Sources say that the General Services Administration's Networx Enterprise contract that it awarded today has lower prices than the bigger Networx Universal contract.

GSA awarded five telecom companies a Networx Enterprise contract: AT&T Corp, Level 3 Communications, MCI Communications Services, Qwest Government Services and Sprint Solutions. Many of the same telecom services on Universal can be had on Enterprise -- but at lower prices. That's good news for Sprint Solutions, which lost out on a Universal contract when GSA awarded that contract in March. Sprint was one of two vendors on GSA's FTS2001 telecom contract, the precursor to Networx and which is now expired, so winning the Enterprise contract was a must win for the federal telecom provider.

In a document titled "Networx Enterprise Program Frequently Asked Questions," GSA explains the difference between Universal and Enterprise this way:

The services provided by both sets of contracts are similar. However, most services on the Universal contracts (36 of 48) are mandatory to offer, while only nine services on the Enterprise contracts are mandatory to offer. Hence the Universal awardees offer between 39 and 47 services, while the Enterprise awardees offer between 23 and 41 services.

Enterprise vendors will provide a core set of services, including "IP services, security services, and management services. Among the optional services offered by one or more of the Networx Enterprise contractors are voice, private line, wireless, and optical connectivity services, as well as additional security services and IP-centric applications services such as conferencing, call center, hosting, content management, and teleworking," according to a document GSA provided vendors.

GSA was attempting, with its two-contract strategy, to generate as much competition among telecom providers to drive prices down. "It looks like they accomplished that," one source said.

The General Services Administration plans to hold a press conference Thursday to announce the second and final governmentwide Networx contract, known as Enterprise.

According to a media advisory sent Monday morning, GSA Administrator Lurita Doan and John Johnson, the Federal Acquisition Service’s assistant commissioner for integrated technology services, will discuss award and program specifics at GSA's central office in Washington, D.C., at 10:30 a.m.

Networx is the largest federal telecommunications acquisition and is the third in a series of programs GSA developed in partnership with other federal agencies. The Networx program consists of the Enterprise contract (worth an estimated $20.1 billion) and the much larger Networx Universal contract (worth an estimated $48.1 billion), which was awarded in March.

A General Services Administration spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the agency plans to award before the end of the month the second and final governmentwide Networx Enterprise contract. That means the award will come Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday since Monday is a federal holiday and Friday marks the first day of June.

Networx is the largest federal telecommunications acquisition and is the third in a series of programs GSA developed in partnership with other federal agencies.

The Networx program consists of the Enterprise contract (worth an estimated $20.1 billion) and the much larger Networx Universal contract (worth an estimated $48.1 billion), which was awarded in March.

Have you ever tried to use your home computer network for a business presentation with a deadline in a matter of hours while the kiddos in the house are all downloading videos from YouTube or checking out their friends on MySpace? You quickly find out it’s difficult for business to compete with pleasure, and you yell at the kids to knock it off.

That’s the situation the Defense Information Systems (DISA) and the Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations found themselves in when they assessed the impact that video and social networking sites had on the Defense Department’s Global Information Grid (GIG). What did they find? The GIG just didn’t have the bandwidth to support streaming video and music for thousands or even millions of end users, a DISA spokesman told Tech Insider. In an Associated Press reported that "the policy is being implemented to protect information and reduce drag on the department's networks, according to" Gen. B.B. Bell, the U.S. Forces Korea commander. "This recreational traffic impacts our official DOD network and bandwidth ability, while posing a significant operational security challenge," according to an Army memo released Friday that the AP quotes.

The Operational Directive Message sent by DISA and the joint task force told all combatant commands, the four services and all Defense Department agencies to bar access to video-sharing, photo and social network sites to preserve the bandwidth needed to support DOD missions, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Streaming audio and video -- including YouTube.com and MySpace web sites
-- have always been blocked to Coalition troops in Iraq," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. Army spokesman. "This is done to preserve military bandwidth for operational missions. There are some internet cafes and other networks in various locations throughout Iraq that do not rely on military bandwidth, and troops can often visit those types of web sites on those networks."

A DISA spokesman said some DOD circuits – including those to units operating in the two war zones – likely went over thin satellite connections, which have less bandwidth than units in the states hooked up to the GIG over high-speed fiber-optic networks.

The DISA spokesman said the order had nothing to do with censorship of deployed troops, but a need to conserve DOD network resources. And, just like home networks, DOD end users engaged in mission critical work can find that their work is slowed by too many people downloading videos or music over the network, he added.

DISA spent months evaluating the drag caused by social networking and video on DOD networks and did not make the decision to ban them arbitrarily or capriciously, the agency spokesman said. He added that the decision was in no way related to an Army directive issued this month, limiting blogging by Army personnel.

The joint task force directive bars access to video sites YouTube, Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos and FileCabi; social networking sites MySpace, BlackPlanet and Hi5; music sites Pandora, MTV, 1.fm and live365; and the photo-sharing site Photobucket. -- Bob Brewin

Al Qaeda in Iraq uses cell phone text messages as a way to organize local protests, writes Small Wars blogger and Iraqi-based counterinsurgency adviser David Kilcullen.

“This is classic AQI info ops -- stirring up the population through a combination of manipulation, intimidation and fear of other groups. The level of coordination and media manipulation applied in this case is also a hallmark of AQI info ops,” Kilcullen adds.

Domestically, text messaging has a reputation as something mostly for kids. Messaging requires an agile thumb and often involves use of annoyingly cute abbreviated slang. But texting’s propagation in Iraq should remind us that when it comes to communication, it's the message, not the medium, that's important.

Hat tip: Smart Mobs

The General Services Administration just awarded the $48 billion Networx Universal telecommunications contract, but agencies are already drawing up plans to buy some of the contract's more sophisticated offerings, according to officials with Verizon Business Services, one of three holders of the contract. (The other two are AT&T Government Solutions and Qwest Government Services.)

At a press briefing held today at the telecommunication giant's Washington, D.C., offices, Susan Zeleniak, head of Verizon's federal business, said the three hottest technology services federal IT managers are interested in are private IP networks, managed services and security services. Agencies are specifically interested in how to leverage the Internet to improve services to the public, including upgrading call centers to use speech recognition and other services such as routing Americans' e-mail queries to a specific federal expert and instant messaging chat applications to help Americans navigate a federal Web site or fill out government forms online.

Charles Lee, Verizon Federal's chief technology officer, said agencies are also interested in applications that move content delivery and services "out to the edge of the agency" to serve the citizen, which means an increased interest in wireless technologies and the applications that secure those. "Across the board we are seeing agencies moving forward" to prepare to buy off the Networx contract, Lee said. "No one is sitting back and waiting."

Zeleniak expects most agencies to begin bidding out applications for Networx services by September or October, with a few agencies starting the bidding process before then. Zeleniak also said the transition to Networx should avoid the problems agencies encountered in 2000 when transitioning from FTS2000 to the then-new FTS2001 telecommunications contract.

The General Services Administration received bids late last month to provide voice and data services to federal agencies in the Washington, D.C., area (the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia and much of Maryland).

The $1.8 billion Washington Interagency Telecommunications System-3 (WITS-3) contract seems like a slam dunk for incumbent Verizon, whose service territory covers the greater Washington area. (The other incumbent is Qwest Communications.) But GSA invited competition for the contract by saying it intended to make multiple awards, and we hear that both Level 3 Communications and AT&T submitted bids. We also are told Jerry Hogge, senior veep of the Level 3 federal group, is real hungry for this one.

The bidders still must submit their best-and-final offers, and GSA does not intend to award the contact until the end of the year, shortly after which GSA will turn on WITS-3 finally freeing DC-based federal agencies from a so-yesterday "caller-ID," which under the current contract is “WITS 2001." -- Bob Brewin

Once you have broadband, you never want to go back, which is presumably why the Air Force Air Mobility Command and the Defense Information Systems Agency are looking for commercial satellite communication firms to continue to provide high-speed Internet service on the fly to Air Force One and the other 17 planes that fly senior leaders around the world.

Boeing originally provided broadband to Air Force One via its commercial service that linked airlines to the Internet, but Boeing folded that business, called Connexion, last summer because of poor sales. However, Boeing continues to provide the broadband service to the Air Force VIP fleet, which transports the president, vice president and other pooh-bahs, including the secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, State and top military commanders.

While internal Air Force budget documents indicate the service is satisfied with Boeing, whose airborne broadband contract runs through fiscal 2008, the Air Force's request for proposals seeks alternative suppliers capable of providing broadband voice, video, data and video teleconferencing services to the VIP fleet, with 50 or more users connected at the same time.

Besides the Boeing 747s which serve as Air Force One, the VIP fleet also consists of 757s, 737s and Gulfstream executive jets, with the bulk of the aircraft based at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

DISA also intends to beef up VIP air fleet service through the specialized AT&T “Northstar” network, which provides T-1 circuits (1.54 megabytes per second) from a terrestrial network in the United States over UHF radios to Air Force One.

The Northstar network provides close-to-complete coverage for aircraft operating in the continental United States, according to a background paper from MITRE, but DISA wants to extend the network's reach and has awarded a sole-source contract to AT&T to provide on a 24-hour notice two teams of personnel and gear ready to install a temporary ground site wherever Air Force One or the command post aircraft travel.

While a T-1 circuit pales in comparison to the 5 megabytes-per-second service offered by Connexion, it’s good to know our leaders can still do some serious Web surfing and download a lot of PowerPoint slides (the digital glue of government) on the expanded Northstar network at 1.54 megabytes per second while zooming around at 35,000 feet. -- Bob Brewin

Computer Sciences Corp. announced today that it is part of the Verizon Business team that won one of three contracts under the federal government's Networx Universal telecommunications program, according to an article posted by TMCnet. CSC says it will provide "customer-specific network design support and engineering services, managed tiered security services and anti-virus managed services, which provide detection and removal of system viruses," according to the article.

Former Qwest chieftain Joseph Nacchio is guilty of 19 counts of insider trading.

Nacchio was on trial in Denver federal court for 42 counts of insider trading. The jury found him not guilty on 23 counts. The former chief executive officer sold $100.8 million worth of Qwest stock in 2001 just before the company's shares dropped.

Each guilty count carries a maximum 10-year sentence and a $1 million fine. Nacchio will be sentenced on July 27. The court also could claim Nacchio’s assets in forfeiture, the amount to be determined by a federal judge at a different date. Nacchio was released on bond.

Nacchio’s defense rested in significant part on an argument that Qwest CEO had access to classified information about big national-security-related federal contracts that he thought Qwest would win.

But, according to a Justice Department release, Nacchio’s indictment specifically states that “Nacchio knew that Qwest’s 2001 financial targets were overly aggressive, that Qwest did not have a good track record in growing recurring revenue, that the company’s business units were underperforming, and that there would be insufficient non-recurring revenue sources to close the gap between Qwest’s publicly stated financial targets and its actual performance. It further states that Nacchio was specifically warned about this information.”

New York state Attorney General Andy Cuomo has criticized Verizon, which provides local telephone service on the East Coast, for “chronically poor” telephone repair service, reports Reuters.

Verizon, which became a significant federal contractor when it bought MCI in 2005, is seeking permission from New York regulators to expand “its fiber-optic network to offer high-speed Internet and video services, along with phone services, to compete with cable,” Reuters reports.

But Cuomo wants the company to improve its telephone repair service before expanding. He wants the state’s Public Service Commission to hold Verizon to a promise to repair 80 percent of phone lines within 24 hours of receiving a customer repair request, “but 20 out of Verizon's 35 repair service bureaus across the state chronically failed to meet the PSC's standards, Cuomo said," according to Reuters.

A Verizon spokesman told Reuters the company is improving service levels and that “upgrading to a fiber-optic network would also improve the quality of phone services.”

A GSA official told Government Executive Friday afternoon that Sprint informed the agency that it will not protest the Networx award. Sprint lost its bid to be part of Networx, the next generation government telecommunications contract announced last week. As an incumbent on GSA's precursor telecom contract FTS 2001, Sprint sold about 30 percent of government telecommunications services.

A Sprint official verified that the company will not file a protest and provided the following statement:

The Sprint team met with GSA on April 4th for a debrief on the Networx Universal award. 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.

Mobile wireless networking, coming to an airplane near you! The Wall Street Journal reports that U.S. airlines will start offering in-flight WiFi connections within the next 12 months.

“If broadband connections at 35,000 feet are as popular as they have been at hotels, airports, homes, schools and coffee shops, airplanes will likely be fitted with the relatively inexpensive technology rapidly,” writes Journal travel columnist Scott McCartney.

And, he notes, this probably means that in-flight cell phone service is probably around the bend, too. Though the Federal Communications Commission is keeping a cell-phone ban in place for now, the chances for in-flight cell service are rising, McCartney says.

With airlines in Europe and the Middle East set to allow such service later this year, the pressure will be on American carriers. “Air travel is a copycat business,” McCartney notes. Tech Insider recommends a prompt investment in industrial strength noise-canceling headphones.

Sprint Nextel Corp. is having a rough time lately. Denied a slot Networx Universal, the General Services Administration’s big governmentwide telecommunications procurement, Sprint is also performing sluggishly in the private sector, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Many of the problems revolve around Nextel, the cell phone carrier Sprint acquired for $35 billion in 2004. Subscribership has declined amid complaints of poor service. Chief Executive Officer Gary Forsee recently laid off 8 percent of the company's workforce and “has promised that a turnaround will start by the end of the second quarter,” the Journal reported.

Sprint is betting heavily on broadband wireless technology known as WiMax, which it intends to roll out in several markets this year. Whether WiMax will help the company much in the federal market is an open question, however.

"Initially, it's going to be driven by consumer customers," Tony D'Agata, general manager of Sprint's government systems division, told Government Executive late last year. It could take a while for the technology to migrate from the consumer sector to the government.

Looks like long-awaited word on the award of the multibillion-dollar Networx federal telecommunications contract is finally coming. There will be an "announcement tomorrow morning" on the contract, according to the GSA press office.