BellSouth grabs State ConnecTEN contract from ENA

Updated 2:47 p.m. -- Education Networks loses decade-old work first won during Sundquist Administration

Email | Print By Milt Capps

David Pierce

Updated 2:47 p.m. with additional information.

The Tennessee Department of Education yesterday awarded BellSouth a contract to provide high-speed Internet and related network services to Tennessee schools, apparently ending eleven years of incumbent Education Networks of America's service to 132 school districts, through a contract currently valued at $27 million per year.

ENA President and CEO David Pierce told NashvillePost.com this morning that ENA's only other contract is an $11 million agreement with the state of Indiana. Given that fact, "it remains to be seen" what impact this week's news will have on the company, the CEO said.

Pierce added that ENA is moving to notify school districts that they may still choose ENA through individual contracts, over participation in the state's ConnecTEN contract, which is to shift to BellSouth control July 1st. He also noted that the contract awarded to BellSouth does not, in his view, provide the breadth of services that ENA currently provides.

Pierce also said ENA may, under the current contract, be called upon to provide transition services for up to 12 months.

Pierce and other ENA staff had previously made clear that ENA has separately forged a contingency relationship through a separate contract to provide Internet and related network-management services to schools, as a result of a project spurred by the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents, which had objected last fall to an earlier proposal to combine the ConnecTEN work with a contract in which BellSouth provided support of another statewide network, known as TNII.

State Department of Education officials associated with the contract-bidding process have not yet returned NashvillePost.com's calls for comment in this matter.

[UPDATE 2:47 p.m.: Deputy Education Commissioner Tim Webb told NashvillePost.com this afternoon that based on conversations with BellSouth today, transition support from ENA does not seem likely to be required. In addition to BellSouth and ENA, Webb said, bids were received from Qwest Communications, Cinergy Communications, and Hayes Communications.]

ENA was founded in 1995 by Al Ganier, an associate of then-Gov. Don Sundquist. Ganier has been indicted and awaits trial in federal court on charges stemming from an investigation of state contracting practices under the Sundquist Administration. That trial has not been scheduled, pending the outcome of deliberations over evidence the U.S. Attorney proposes to offer in support of charges that Ganier attempted to destroy or suppress evidence. ENA staff have previously noted that Ganier has not, for some time, been associated with ENA.