agement, earth terminal services, leased earth terminal operation, and maintenance services, commercial teleport services and all necessary U.S. and foreign bandwidth and terminal licenses and approvals. The list also includes optional terrestrial interconnection services, optional host nation agreement negotiating support and optional systems engineering support. In addition, DSTS-G provides a contractual vehicle for the government to optionally acquire terminals on an ownership basis. The contract services support fixed, transportable and mobile user terminals. DISA manages the DSTS-G contract and coordinates the space segment acquisition for DoD. The contract has been extremely effective in reducing the cost and enhancing the delivery of services to DoD through a two-tiered competition strategy. Three DSTS-G contractors first allow satellite operators to compete for the lowest cost, best solution possible. Then the contractors compete among themselves to win the business. A 2006 Government Accountability Office report concluded that the DSTS-G contract was working well and provided DoD satellite capacity at a cost roughly 30 percent below other approaches, such as the prior contract or DoD agencies purchasing bandwidth directly from satellite operators.
ENHANCEMENTS Several enhancements were added to the contract in 2007, which made the contract vehicle even more useful, to the extent that it is now one of DISA’s most successful contract vehicles. Major enhancements included: Timeliness. The improvement in processes has shortened taskorder response times from approximately four weeks to an average of three days, and has cut service delivery from an average of six weeks to an average of three days. In times of extreme need, the primes have been able to establish a signal in a matter of hours. NetOps. Several enhancements were added to improve NetOps and situational awareness. Signal parameters are monitored in real time and reported, on an as-changed basis, the planned and actual signal parameter values for each provisioned service. The out-of-tolerance alarm conditions are reported to the Global Netops Center when spectral measurements no longer fall within the nominal range assigned to predicted signal values, and also reported when each out-of-tolerance alarm has been cleared. There is also requirement for EMI/RFI identification, characterization, and geo-location for services procured under DSTS-G. Such services include the ability to identify and characterize sub-carrier EMI/RFI being transmitted underneath an authorized carrier, and the ability to geo-locate the source of any and all EMI/RFI. The existence of EMI/RFI is immediately reported to the Global SATCOM Support Center and other stake holders for each task order. Additionally, best efforts are made to geo-locate the source of the interference and report findings in accordance with USSTRATCOM guidance. Information Assurance. Commercial satellite communications services are vital critical infrastructure that must be protected from intentional or accidental attacks. DoD issued guidelines in the spring of 2008 to accompany each task order response by a statement that identifies the security measures in place. The measures are categorized by a Mission Assurance Category or MAC level, rated from 1, most restrictive, to 3, least restrictive. These MAC levels are applied to the four main components of the information signal train, which are the remote station, network, 14 | MIT 13.5
teleport, and satellite command and control system. DISA has promulgated minimum MAC level requirements for service offerings on the DSTS-G contract, consistent with DoD Directive 8500.1 and DoD Instruction 8500.2.
SERVING THE WARFIGHTER Prior to September 11, 2001, there was an overabundance of commercial satellite bandwidth availability. Since that time, however, capacity has been stressed by the global war on terror, requirements from global news and media outlets, and the growth of digital television transmission. For example, commercial bandwidth has become increasingly scarce in Southwest Asia, and there are also extreme shortages of satellite capacity in both the Middle East and North Africa. While the availability of commercial satellite bandwidth is decreasing, the military’s need for affordable bandwidth continues to grow. New warfighter initiatives are constantly being identified, and there is more widespread use of UAVs, which consume vast amounts of bandwidth. The shortage of bandwidth and other challenges continues to enhance the role of systems integrators, like the DSTS-G primes. The use of commercial bandwidth for military applications requires real-time monitoring, interference detection and geo-location, and information assurance to ensure the availability of interference-free bandwidth for mission-critical applications. DSTS-G primes are performing these functions with the use of cleared, experienced personnel. Over the last few years, the satellite industry has been pushed out to foreign ownership. The anonymity and security of DoD operations are critical to mission success. Integrators mitigate this risk by inserting themselves between the satellite operators and the government. The integrators are satellite agnostic and able to provide end-to-end services as defined by service level agreements. The integrators seek capacity and other resources such as teleport services and backhauls from multiple U.S. and foreign companies, and provide trusted services to the government. There is an argument that DoD needs to be able to make longer term commitments for satellite usage, and that the year-to-year requirement forces the industry to charge higher rates than would be the case if they could order for a longer period. However, an integrator will be able to provide services to DoD under the current paradigm by absorbing the risk of acquiring services for longer term. This is equivalent to offering multi-year pricing without long-term commitment by the government, which can buy what it needs, where it needs it, and when it needs it without multi-year commitments. Congress inserted language into the 2008 defense authorization bill specifically requesting that DoD re-investigate the issue of utilizing commercial satellite bandwidth for military purposes, and report back to Congress no later than February 2010. As lawmakers await the report, the DSTS-G contract is serving the warfighters well. The systems integrators continue to provide a valuable role by allowing: •
Flexibility: Through the DSTS-G contract, the primes have been able to provide commercial satellite bandwidth, bandwidth and service management, terminal services, terminal operation and maintenance services (including health-andstatus monitoring), commercial teleport services, licensing and approvals, host-nation agreements, and related services. www.MIT-kmi.com