Contractors Act To Protect Pricing Information
 
June 1, 2000
 

In April, the General Service Administration’s Federal Technology Service (FTS) advised private industry of a dramatic change in FTS policy. The agency, which oversees GSA’s telecommunications contracts, announced that henceforth it would no longer treat contractor prices in the future years of long-term contracts as proprietary. Instead, FTS would release those prices to anyone who requested them under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

This change of policy triggered legal action by most of the government’s major telecommunications contractors. AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Winstar, Bell South, Bell Atlantic and SBC have all filed suit in the federal district court in Washington to block the agency’s proposed action. (Holland & Knight represents one of the litigants.) Those companies have pointed to the competitive harm they would suffer if their detailed out-year prices for federal telecommunications services were released. They claim that such pricing information is protected under a statutory exemption to FOIA, which allows the government to withhold certain privileged or confidential information submitted to the government, and under the provisions of the Trade Secrets Act. The results of the litigation could have a significant impact on the government’s multi-year contracting practices. The government has agreed to delay implementing its new policy until the court action is resolved.