Tip Osterthaler, President and CEO of SES Government Solutions, talks to Via Satellite’s Junior Editor, Caleb Henry, at SATELLITE 2014

Roughly a year and a half after collaborating with several other satellite companies on a white paper titled “Seven Ways to Make the DoD a Better Buyer of Commercial Satcom,” SES Government Solutions sees progress being made in regards to the United States Department of Defense’s (DoD) approach to buying from commercial FSS operators.

“There is a remarkable degree of consistency across the industry,” Tip Osterthaler, president and CEO of Government Solutions said in a video interview at SATELLITE 2014. “The government can’t afford to do business the way they have done it before. It costs too much, but more importantly, it’s very risky. It’s very risky in the sense that companies like ours have a hard time investing in the things the government will need, given their current buying practices.”

Osterthaler discussed the progress SES-GS has seen, and what it, along with other FSS operators, hope to see from the DoD in the future.

Watch the full interview here.