Insider Brief:
- 16 companies were awarded not-to-exceed Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contracts for Proliferated Low Earth Orbit Satellite-Based Services.
- Aggregated contract model is a first for government SATCOM procurement and promises to deliver capabilities to the warfighter faster and at lower cost.
- Proposals were solicited via the governmentwide point-of-entry, SAM.gov, and 25 proposals were received from this full and open competition.
PRESS RELEASE — El Segundo, California / July 24, 2023 — Sixteen companies were awarded not-to-exceed Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts on July 18 for Proliferated Low Earth Orbit Satellite-Based Services. The contracts were awarded by the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) through the Commercial Satellite Communications Office (CSCO), a central marketplace for SATCOM services operated by Space Systems Command (SSC), a field command of the U.S. Space Force.
The face value of this action is $32,000 (a $2,000 minimum guarantee to each contractor), funded by no year defense working capital funds, with a total cumulative face value of $900,000,000. Place of performance will vary based on the Task Order.
According to SSC, this multiple partner/multiple award contract model is a first for government satcom procurement and promises to deliver capabilities to the warfighter faster and at lower cost compared to traditional one contract per mission partner/task order.
“This is a transformational strategy that will allow government and industry to partner more quickly and more broadly to take advantage of the rapid innovation that’s happening in the Commercial SATCOM sector,” said Clare Hopper, Chief of SSC’s Commercial Satellite Communications Office.
Proliferating SATCOM services in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is part of an overall DoD strategy of bolstering resilience by diversifying orbits. The 16 contracts awarded by DISA cover a broad scope of service capability development based on satellites in LEO. Areas within scope may include, but are not limited to, high-speed broadband, synthetic aperture radar imaging, space domain awareness, and alternative positioning, navigation and timing.
“We continue to see game-changing advances in Commercial SATCOM,” said Col Richard Kniseley, Senior Materiel Leader of SSC’s Commercial Space Office. “I applaud Ms. Hopper and her team for creating a contracting strategy that will allow us to take full advantage of that evolving landscape more quickly and efficiently in support of our warfighters.”
The first round of DISA contract awardees includes these 16 companies: ARINC, Inc.; Artel, LLC; Capella Federal, Inc.; BlackSky Geospatial Solutions, Inc.; DRS Global Enterprise Solutions, Inc.; Hughes Network Systems, LLC; Inmarsat Government, Inc.; KGS LLC; Intelsat General Communications LLC; OneWeb Technologies, Inc.; PAR Government; RiteNet Corporation; Satcom Direct Government, Inc. (SDG); SpaceX; Trace Systems Inc.; and UltiSat, Inc.
Proposals were solicited via the governmentwide point-of-entry, SAM.gov, and 25 proposals were received from this full and open competition.
The period of performance is July 18, 2023, through July 17, 2028, with one five-year option.
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SOURCE: Space Systems Command
Featured image: Space Systems Command logo. Credit: Space Systems Command
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