[Satellite News 12-15-09] Commercial satellite industry representatives, developers, vendors and U.S. military bandwidth providers, along with U.S. Defense Information Systems (DISA) PEO and Satellite Director Bruce Bennett, will come together for Via Satellite’s Dec. 16 Webinar, “Addressing the Issues of Government and Military Bandwidth Acquisition,” to discuss solutions in order to better serve U.S. forces in the battle field.
    As U.S. President Barack Obama announced his strategy to increase U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, the commercial satellite imagery sector now plays an even larger role in U.S. and allied operations as U.S. military officials have upped their reliance on significant commercial satellite bandwidth and next-generation technology and are seeking to acquire it in as little time as possible.
    The bandwidth needs of the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Department of Defense and its coalition forces have increased to the point where the U.S. government now relies on commercial satellite providers for more than 80 percent of its total capacity to meet mission requirements, according to Bill Schmidt, vice president of government marketing for Xtar and a speaker on the Dec. 16 webinar. “The ratio of commercial capacity for government use is as high as 93 percent in battle arenas such as Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.
    New data-intensive applications contributing to increased bandwidth requirements include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for surveillance, gun targeting and data transmission platforms. Several U.S. states also are purchasing UAVs for border surveillance. Shifting data quickly takes a lot of bandwidth and the military’s growing appetite has resulted in a shrinking supply of Ku- and C-band capacity across the commercial satellite industry. Several companies have assessed the situation as a golden growth opportunity, but a slow-moving military acquisition process has made both profitable business and efficient military operation more difficult.
    In an attempt to solve some of the acquisition issues, DISA and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced in August that it would initiate the Federal Commercial Satellite Communications Service Acquisition (FCSA) program, a contract vehicle which aims to replace several existing programs, streamlining satellite service acquisitions by allowing government agencies access to a wider choice of vendors, services and products while speeding up the overall procurement process.
    The GSA said the will issue 70 indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity and end-to-end contracts to purchase satellite bandwidth and other services on behalf of U.S. government customers for the next 10 years. Previously, these responsibilities were split between the two agencies. DISA managed military satellite service acquisitions, and the GSA was responsible for the procurement of those services for non-military government organizations. “Why manage separate contract vehicles that offer essentially the same services when we can combine forces?” Tony Montemarano, DISA’s component acquisition executive, said in an Aug. 6 press call.
    Bennett said the agencies would replace the Defense Information Systems Network Satellite Transmission Services-Global (DSTS-G), Satcom 2 and Inmarsat contracts that expire in 2012. DISA and GSA have spent $350 million and $47 million on these contracts, respectively. The consolidation of these duties under GSA is expected to result in bulk bandwidth cost savings between 10 percent and 15 percent, according to Bennett. “This partnership will provide one source for commercial vendors to come to in order to meet government and military demand,” he said during a press conference.
Schmidt agrees that FCSA benefits the military-minded commercial satellite company. “I think the program is a reflection of the government’s desire to better aggregate and manage requirements for commercial satellites,” he said.
    However, Schmidt believes that the government acquisition policy still needs to develop in order to work properly. “When it comes to an acquisition strategy, we still need to discuss future planning and ask ourselves questions about the process. How is the military going to buy bandwidth to meet their requirements — short term or long term? Those are some of the discussions we would like to have with the Pentagon. We understand that the analytical data is not perfect. It never is, but our concern is that, at some point in the future, they may have a requirement to support the warfighter and the capacity just won’t be there. For a lot of what’s being done by the U.S. military in the world, commercial satellite more than meets the requirements to carry out the mission. We, as an industry, would just like to see the Department of Defense better communicate some of their future requirements.”
    Inmarsat Vice President Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch, who also will appear as a panelist, has worked to improve the communication between the commercial providers and military customers. In 2008, Cowen-Hirsch called the relationship between the U.S. military and the commercial satellite industry a "forced marriage" — the result of a financial and technological understanding between the two sectors. At the end of 2009, the two sides find themselves on the same side of the issues that once caused serious concern. "Historically, the Department of Defense has not been interested in how a company does business," she said. “The military eventually realized that we can provide the assured access, encryption and bandwidth they needed at lower cost. Now they are looking at commercial operators as an opportunity to utilize existing technology instead of having to build from the ground up.”
    For the military to meet its own deadlines and acquire the bandwidth it needs for successful operations in theaters like Afghanistan, the discussion now migrates to policy, which has the attention of a unified commercial satellite industry. Satellite manufacturers and vendors also have a stake in acquisition policy, as several companies have rolled out product lines to support the latest U.S. military and coalition needs.
    The commercial industry also will be represented on the panel by William Reiner, Boeing assistant director of Satcom and Navigation Systems; Keith Hall, president and COO of Globecomm Systems; and Skot Butler, Intelsat General‘s director of strategic initiatives.

For more information on how you can register to attend the Dec. 16 Webinar at  1p.m. EST, visit www.satellitetoday.com/webinars We also will be making an audio recording of the conference available for purchase and download for those who will miss the event.