
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990                   TAG: 9004100604
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BELL ATLANTIC SUSPENDED IN C&P BIDDING CHARGES

The U.S. Treasury Department has suspended Bell Atlantic Corp. from future business with the federal government because, the agency said, Bell's C&P Telephone subsidiary made "material misrepresentations" in a contract bid.

The Wall Street Journal quoted a Treasury letter as saying C&P's misrepresentations came in a bid for a $100 million contract to modernize the Treasury telephone system in Washington.

AT&T is another bidder for the system, continuing the strong rivalry that emerged when the government broke up the former Bell system, once owned by AT&T.

Bell Atlantic in a statement Monday claimed the government is showing favoritism to AT&T.

The suspension letter, it said, is "part of a continuing campaign by the Treasury Department to award the contract on its new digital telephone system to AT&T despite the requirements of the federal procurement regulations."

C&P has successfully overturned two awards by Treasury of this contract to AT&T in the past four years, the company said. Bell said Treasury "acted improperly in favoring AT&T" in both cases and the suspension letter "is simply the latest tactic of the agency to eliminate C&P from the bidding."

There is no finding by any independent agency that C&P misrepresented the equipment it was bidding, Bell Atlantic said.

The telephone company said C&P "will not be harassed out of this competition and C&P is confident that in the end federal procurement regulations will be fairly applied and its bid will be not only vindicated but accepted by the Treasury Department."

A Treasury spokesman told the Journal the misrepresentation allegations were sent to the agency's inspector general for investigation. Bell Atlantic's suspension from receiving contracts will continue during the investigation.

by CNB