2012 DoD Commercial SATCOM Users' Workshop
The Department of Defense (DoD) Commercial SATCOM Users’ Workshop is an annual event co-sponsored by the Satellite Industry Association and U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). The 2012 workshop was held in Arlington, Virginia; December 12-14, and brought together the DoD and the commercial satellite industry to discuss the theme: “Innovative Commercial SATCOM Technologies and Business Models in an Austere Budget Environment.”
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) COMSATCOM Center presented six briefings to the group, they were: EMSS/DTCS Update; FY10 & FY11 Annual Report; Mobile Subscription Services (MSS) Transition; Customer Awareness; BGAN RAS Overview; and Future COMSATCOM Services Acquisition (FCSA) Update.
The top five issues relative to the COMSATCOM community affecting the DoD are: 1) Services are highly encouraged to discontinue all inactive Communication Service Authorizations (CSAs) not used in the last five years; 2) Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) will reflect services’ requirements and request for single vendor to manage airtime; 3) Transition of services from current contract to GSA Schedule 70 is highly customer dependent; 4) Fees for FY13 are: FY13 DISA COMSATCOM fee is 2.21% and FY13 DITCO fee is 2.00%; and, 5) FCSA leverages the government’s buying power by consolidating DISA and General Services Administration (GSA) service offerings into one mechanism.
Emerging industry activities include commercial satellite owner/operators preparing for seven new satellite launches over the next three years, industry explaining increased airborne communications on the move (COTM), new mission assurance and communications monitoring, and a new medium earth orbit (MEO) Ka-band constellations. Emerging activities for DoD include working with U.S. Congress on exploring options for authorizing multi-year contracts for information technology services in order to leverage the cost benefits as seen in procuring of vehicles or munitions within DoD. This, along with all of the new potential commercial offerings, should result in increased choices, increased competition, and lower costs for the DoD.
The workshop was a success in bringing government decision-makers together with commercial satellite operators, service provides, integrators, and manufacturers to foster discussions on future possibilities for DoD Commercial SATCOM.
For more information on the 2012 conference, please visit https://www.dodsatcom.com. For more information on the Satellite Industry Association, please visit http://http://www.sia.org.
(Posted April 2013)
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