The General Services Administration said a new...

The General Services Administration said a new disclosure about the award of $55 million in telecommunications contracts “raises serious questions” about whether AT&T; received confidential information about competing companies. The questions introduce a new twist into the investigation of the contract for 12 big telephone switches for a federal system, which American Telephone & Telegraph Co. is protesting with allegations that GSA leaked AT&T;’s pricing information to competitors. The contract eventually went to Bell Atlantic. The GSA said it was troubled by AT&T;’s answer to written questions posed by three regional Bell telephone companies in which it said a GSA engineer told an AT&T; saleswoman that the company’s initial bid “was not good enough to win.” The GSA said AT&T; later lowered its bid by about 25%.