By Marina Malenic

The Air Force is poised to open a new round of bidding for a $10 billion Transformational Communications Satellite (TSAT) contract, which the service plans to award in a year’s time or sooner, one top official said last week.

"We spent some time back in December to make sure the warfighter’s needs were quantified," Gary Payton, deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for space programs, said in a Jan. 16 teleconference with reporters.

"Looks like about a year from now we can make an award decision," he said, while adding that he would prefer to "accelerate the date" if possible.

The Air Force has spent $2 billion on developing TSAT, but the program has been plagued by cost overruns and delays. Last month, chief Pentagon arms buyer John Young instructed the Air Force to move ahead with a restructure, admonishing the service for running the program poorly. In a Dec. 23 announcement, the existing program solicitation was scrapped. (Please see Space & Missile Defense Report, Monday, Jan. 5, 2009.)

Instead, the service hosted an industry day last week to discuss the new draft request for proposals (RFP) and acquisition strategy. A final RFP is expected in June.

The program is being designed to provide secure, high-bandwidth satellite communications for soldiers. Payton said TSAT is expected to provide far more jam resistant communication channels than commercial satellites and existing line-of-site communications currently allow.

"The big jump is in protected communications," said Payton. "The value is not just measured in bits per second — it’s frequency jumping, all the stuff that helps us protect the warfighter."

A potential contract for the system is expected to be worth some $10 billion. However, according to Payton, the system could cost $15 billion to $20 billion through its entire service life.

He added that his office has held discussions with members of the Obama administration staff, who are expected to take a closer look at the Pentagon budget before finalizing it in the coming months.

"We have had some discussions with the transition team about military space in general," Payton said. He refused to elaborate on specific budget lines.

The initial TSAT increment will consist of five Block 10 satellites and related ground control systems, with a first launch capability by 2019, according to the Air Force. The capabilities solicited in the new request for proposals include Internet Protocol routing for network management and new means to communicate with deployed forces on-the-move.

Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] and The Boeing Co. [BA], the two largest defense contractors, had been in competition for the TSAT contract. Payton said the new solicitation would be open to all bidders who have the work force and facilities needed to conduct the effort.

Earlier in the fall, Payton admitted his concern that the Air Force’s efforts to "protest-proof" the TSAT competition might lead to an award delay. The service has presided over a number of large, troubled acquisition programs in recent years and was loath to avoid another embarrassment along those lines.

Last week, Payton said the new solicitation has been modified to "comply with new Air Force source selection guidelines."

"We have well-stated, well-defined warfighter needs, as reflected in the technical requirements documents, which we intend to communicate to all the bidders," he said. "On the whole, we are making an effort to improve the way we do source selections."