Satellite service providers met with government procurement officials October 22nd to hear details about the upcoming US$5 billion, 10-year Future ComSatCom Services Acquisition, and to proffer questions and concerns about this acquisition that could become a model for others to come. With three satellite communications contracts set to expire over the next three years, the General Services Administration and the Defense Information Systems Agency agreed in July to partner to offer a single replacement: FCSA, a multiple-award schedule and indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity acquisition, open to defense and civilian agencies as well as state, local and tribal governments, public schools and colleges, and public authorities.

At the October 22nd FCSA industry day in Washington, Kevin Gallow, GSA’s FCSA program director, laid out the structure of the acquisition for the 110 contractor representatives attending. Because buying transponded capacity and “plug-in” satellite subscription services is most easily done by individual task order, they will be available on the Federal Supply Schedule through two new special item numbers (SINs) on IT Schedule 70, Gallow said. For the third tier of the contract covering custom end-to-end solutions and including leased bandwidth, teleport access, network, user equipment, integration services and network management, an IDIQ contract is more flexible and a better fit, he said. A separate industry day will be scheduled to discuss the solutions component of FCSA, he said.

(Source: Sami Lais, Defense Systems)