[Satellite TODAY 11-01-10] Hughes Network Systems has been selected by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to provide commercial satellite communications under the GSA and U.S. Defense Intelligence Systems Agency’s (DISA) expanded Future ComSatCom Services Acquisition (FCSA) program, the company announced Oct. 29.
   Hughes, which joins Artel and CapRock on the program, will provide subscription services and transponder capacity to support critical mission requirements ranging from military and homeland security communications-on-the-move activities to civilian and state/local government requirements for emergency preparedness.
    The contract enables Hughes to offer C-, Ku-, and Ka-band services through its Spaceway 3 satellite and advanced HX System. Hughes also will provide network management, monitoring, engineering, integration and operations necessary to deliver services.
    The 10-year FCSA program combines the U.S. military’s ComSatCom acquisition vehicles DSTS-G with GSA’s SatCom2. Through FCSA, the government can acquire any part of or a fully managed end-to-end satellite services solution in any commercially available commercial satellite communications frequency band, including L-, S-, C-, X-, Ku-, extended Ku-, Ka- and UHF. FCSA is open to defense and civilian agencies as well as state, local and tribal governments, public schools and colleges, and public authorities.