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A 2004 study by the Satellite Industry Association found
DISA, GSA Streamline $5B Commercial SATCOM Procurement
Since 2003, we provide satellite Internet in Iraq and Afghanistan globally enabling Iraqi and Afghan citizens, businesses and remotely deployed personnel to have broadband Internet access, enterprise connectivity, VoIP and videoconferencing services at affordable costs.
A 2004 study by the Satellite Industry Association found that 80%of all US military satellite communication during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq was carried on commercial satellites. Then-US assistant secretary of defense for networks and information integration, John P. Stenbit, estimated that the US military purchased between $200 million and $300 million worth of commercial satellite services during the first year of the war.
Commercial satellite providers remain a mainstay of the US Department of Defense’s satellite communications capability. To streamline the process for the US military and US federal government agencies to lease communications satellite capacity from commercial providers, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the General Services Administration (GSA) undertook an effort in 2009 to combine the commercial satellite communications (COMSATCOM) service contracts for the US military and US civilan government agencies into a 10-year, $5 billion contract vehicle…
The contract, called the Future COMSATCOM Services Acquisition (FCSA), combines GSA’s SATCOM II and DISA’s Inmarsat and DISN Satellite Transmission Services-Global (DSTS-G) contracts and creates a common marketplace for the US government to acquire satellite capacity. SATCOM II is set to expire in May 2010; DSTS-G, in February 2011; and Inmarsat, in June 2012. The 3 contracts will be rolled into the FCSA.
Through the combined FCSA contract, the US federal government will be able to lease commercial satellite communications capacity for US troops, disaster recovery teams, domestic emergency responders, distance learning and remote access to global government networks.
According to a Feb 17/10 announcement, DISA and GSA have begun the IT 70 Federal Supply Schedule refresh that includes the 2 new special item numbers for COMSATCOM services: transponded capacity and subscription services. FedBizOpps link
The FCSA approach enables the federal government to:
• merge parallel and redundant efforts into a single acquisition with costs shared between agencies;
• share technical and contracting expertise between agencies;
• create a common marketplace for federal COMSATCOM requirements;
• utilize the GSA schedules for government-wide commercial satellite communications services; and
• satisfy national protection requirements.
The DISA/GSA approach divides the federal government COMSATCOM market into 3 segments; vendors can compete in each of these market segments.
Transponded capacity: Dedicated bandwidth on a commercial satellite in any commercially available frequency band, including L-, S-, C-, X-, Ku-, and Ka-band (satellite bandwidth and power only).
Subscription Services: Pre-existing, pre-engineered fixed satellite service (FSS) or mobile satellite service (MSS), including terminals, in any commercial frequency band. Subscription services utilize vendor-defined or selected waveforms and are billed on a per-use basis (e.g., dollars per minute, dollars per megabyte, dollars per month); and
End-to-End Solutions: This includes bandwidth using FSS components, MSS components, or a hybrid consisting of both FSS and MSS components; this segment may also include terminals, teleport, and terrestrial tail circuits.
DISA, GSA Streamline $5B Commercial SATCOM Procurement
Since 2003, we provide satellite Internet in Iraq and Afghanistan globally enabling Iraqi and Afghan citizens, businesses and remotely deployed personnel to have broadband Internet access, enterprise connectivity, VoIP and videoconferencing services at affordable costs.
A 2004 study by the Satellite Industry Association found that 80%of all US military satellite communication during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq was carried on commercial satellites. Then-US assistant secretary of defense for networks and information integration, John P. Stenbit, estimated that the US military purchased between $200 million and $300 million worth of commercial satellite services during the first year of the war.
Commercial satellite providers remain a mainstay of the US Department of Defense’s satellite communications capability. To streamline the process for the US military and US federal government agencies to lease communications satellite capacity from commercial providers, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the General Services Administration (GSA) undertook an effort in 2009 to combine the commercial satellite communications (COMSATCOM) service contracts for the US military and US civilan government agencies into a 10-year, $5 billion contract vehicle…
The contract, called the Future COMSATCOM Services Acquisition (FCSA), combines GSA’s SATCOM II and DISA’s Inmarsat and DISN Satellite Transmission Services-Global (DSTS-G) contracts and creates a common marketplace for the US government to acquire satellite capacity. SATCOM II is set to expire in May 2010; DSTS-G, in February 2011; and Inmarsat, in June 2012. The 3 contracts will be rolled into the FCSA.
Through the combined FCSA contract, the US federal government will be able to lease commercial satellite communications capacity for US troops, disaster recovery teams, domestic emergency responders, distance learning and remote access to global government networks.
According to a Feb 17/10 announcement, DISA and GSA have begun the IT 70 Federal Supply Schedule refresh that includes the 2 new special item numbers for COMSATCOM services: transponded capacity and subscription services. FedBizOpps link
The FCSA approach enables the federal government to:
• merge parallel and redundant efforts into a single acquisition with costs shared between agencies;
• share technical and contracting expertise between agencies;
• create a common marketplace for federal COMSATCOM requirements;
• utilize the GSA schedules for government-wide commercial satellite communications services; and
• satisfy national protection requirements.
The DISA/GSA approach divides the federal government COMSATCOM market into 3 segments; vendors can compete in each of these market segments.
Transponded capacity: Dedicated bandwidth on a commercial satellite in any commercially available frequency band, including L-, S-, C-, X-, Ku-, and Ka-band (satellite bandwidth and power only).
Subscription Services: Pre-existing, pre-engineered fixed satellite service (FSS) or mobile satellite service (MSS), including terminals, in any commercial frequency band. Subscription services utilize vendor-defined or selected waveforms and are billed on a per-use basis (e.g., dollars per minute, dollars per megabyte, dollars per month); and
End-to-End Solutions: This includes bandwidth using FSS components, MSS components, or a hybrid consisting of both FSS and MSS components; this segment may also include terminals, teleport, and terrestrial tail circuits.