U.S. Army Awards Potential $80 Million Delivery Order to Bell Atlantic

U.S. Army Awards Potential $80 Million Delivery Order to Bell Atlantic

Company to Provide Voice, Video and Data Services
Under Largest-Ever DSSMP Contract

November 25, 1998

WASHINGTON -- Bell Atlantic will provide and maintain the voice
communications and data backbone network for the U.S. Army
Communications and Electronics Command at Ft. Monmouth, N.J., under
a contract valued at up to $80 million.

Under the Digital Switched Systems Modernization Program (DSSMP)
contract, the company will provide all personnel, administration,
management, maintenance and materials required to upgrade the campus
switching systems at Ft. Monmouth, a military installation of approximately
7,000 personnel. Bell Atlantic will also install a new telecommunications
management system, and will engineer and furnish a new fiber-optic
backbone infrastructure over a 10-year period.

Bell Atlantic is now the consolidated source for maintaining and improving
voice, video and data communications for Ft. Monmouth. Prior to this
award, the U.S. Army used multiple contracts to provide
telecommunications support for the base.

Consolidating these services under a single delivery order with Bell Atlantic
should simplify contract administration for the U.S. Army and should result
in value-added cost savings and technology improvements.

This delivery order, which is an authorized request for goods and/or
services from an awarded contract, is for one year with nine one-year
options. With a total potential value of $80 million, it is the largest delivery
order ever awarded under the DSSMP contract to date.

"The Statement of Requirements for this project outlined the same
capabilities and expertise which we consider to be our core competencies,"
said Barbara Connor, president of Bell Atlantic Federal. "Our abilities,
experience and past performance all came together to provide our best
solution to the customer."

Due to the streamlined DSSMP process, this delivery order for complex
telecommunications infrastructure was awarded only a few weeks after
proposals were submitted.

"This is a great example of how Bell Atlantic is keeping up with our
customers' needs and the challenges of the market," said Jay McCargo,
director of government-wide acquisition contracts for Bell Atlantic Federal.
"We quickly responded to this major federal initiative with a competitive,
technologically sound proposal to provide the Army with the integrated
voice, video and data services it required."

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information
industry. With 42 million telephone access lines and eight million wireless
customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier providers of
advanced wireline voice and data services, market leaders in wireless
services and the world's largest publishers of directory information. Bell
Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest investors in high-
growth global communications markets, with operations and investments in
23 countries.