As technology has advanced rapidly over the last several decades, keeping government up to speed on the latest technology has been challenging. Though the technology may exist in the private sector, government may not have the infrastructure or systems in place to support it. Keeping America secure will require the most up-to-date and secure systems possible. This is why more and more government agencies are partnering with industry to get ahead of the curve. By contracting more “off-the-shelf” technology, government can adapt the private sector’s latest technology for government needs.
One of the biggest names in this effort is CenturyLink. Last year, CenturyLink Government was awarded a $50B contract with the General Services Administration (GSA) to update the federal government’s technology infrastructure. This massive undertaking highlights just why government-industry partnerships with companies like CenturyLink are so critical to national security and overall government function.
ClearanceJobs had a Q&A with the CenturyLink Government team to hear more about the GSA Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions program, their company culture, and current job opportunities with CenturyLink to help with this important work.
Q: CenturyLink Government recently won a spot on the GSA Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions program. Can you tell us a bit more about this program and how CenturyLink Government will be able to fill this need?
A: The GSA Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract is a 15-year $50 Billion program that provides CenturyLink the unique opportunity to help transition existing and new customers from their legacy agreements to the EIS contract and new services that allow for IT Modernization.
With EIS, GSA has developed a contract framework for delivery of CenturyLink’s expansive suite of capabilities and solutions. These services will not only deliver savings to the government and taxpayers, but will also help to transition a number of agencies into solutions to transform government networks. By fully understanding an agency’s requirements and working with the right solutions available under EIS, CenturyLink can help federal agencies to achieve digital transformation.
Q: What products and features will help CenturyLink deliver on these important projects?
A: CenturyLink offers solutions from a platform of service offerings designed to ensure that federal government agencies benefit from continuous product and service innovation. All CenturyLink services are layered in a fully converged architecture with integrated access, cybersecurity, diagnostic monitoring, and managed network services. This will enable a smooth migration from legacy services to CenturyLink’s future programmable services backbone (PSB) that will offer network function virtualization (NFV) pods and software-defined networking (SDN).
Supporting our product offerings is CenturyLink’s Federal Solutions Group, a dedicated organization of people that is singularly accountable to and responsible for the federal government’s needs. Direct support to the EIS contract is provided by our EIS Program Management Office (PMO)
Q: What is the mission of CenturyLink Government?
A: Our mission is to become the trusted and primary IT partner of the federal government, offering Hybrid IT solutions that meet specific customer needs and budgets, to help advance government by improving their networks. Our vision is to connect government to the power of the digital world. We will achieve this vision and mission success with secure, reliable, and available CenturyLink IT solutions for governments.
Q: Your current open positions range from security engineer to government property manager—are there any overarching qualities that apply across positions or any major hiring pushes within individual contracts or sectors?
A: We do have several programs that we are actively recruiting top quality candidates to fill. We are looking for cleared professionals that are willing to learn, can collaborate in a team setting, and possesses the same core values as the CenturyLink Unifying Principles: Fairness, Honesty and Integrity, Commitment to Excellence, Positive Attitude, Respect, Faith, and Perseverance.
Q: Work-life balance is something that has been touted by CenturyLink Government employees in the past—how is this lived out?
A: We offer a solid work life balance for our employees. We encourage them to live a balanced lifestyle and provide resources to assist them with establishing that balance – such as setting “Focus on You” goals as part of their annual performance goals. We also provide wellness support tools for diet, exercise, stress management, etc., as well as incentives for leading a healthy lifestyle.
Excited about CenturyLink Government’s work? See current job openings here.