Hung Up: a $25 Billion System The federal phone snafu

In his job as chief network engineer for the General Services Administration, Sureshar Soni helps analyze costs for the vast federal telephone system used by 1.3 million Government workers. Because the GSA is preparing to replace that system for the first time since 1963, a deal worth up to a whopping $25 billion for the companies that will build the new network, Soni was destined to play a significant role. Instead he is embroiled in a byzantine scandal that is paralyzing the giant phone project. According to investigators for the GSA and a Senate committee, Soni leaked secret bidding information in...