Defense Satellite Communications: DOD Needs Additional Information to Improve Procurements

Abstract

The Department of Defense s (DOD) procurement of commercial satellite communications (SATCOM), or bandwidth, is fragmented and inefficient. Historically, commercial SATCOM was used to augment military capability, but DOD has become increasingly reliant on commercial SATCOM to support ongoing U.S. military operations. DOD policy requires all of its components to procure commercial SATCOM through the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), but GAO found that some components are independently procuring SATCOM to meet their individual needs. DOD s most recent SATCOM usage report estimates that over 30 percent of commercial SATCOM is bought independently by DOD components, even though DOD found the average cost of commercial SATCOM bought through DISA is about 16 percent lower than independently bought commercial SATCOM. Fragmentation limits opportunities for DOD to bundle purchases, share services, and streamline its procurement of commercial SATCOM.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 2015
Accession Number
ADA619400

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Bandwidth
  • Best Practices
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Congress
  • Contracts
  • Department Of Defense
  • Governments
  • Information Systems
  • Military Operations
  • Military Satellites
  • Procurement
  • Satellite Communications
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States Central Command
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Industrial Economics
  • Tactical Satellite Communications Systems Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Space