Best Value SATCOM
DISA IS PROACTIVELY IMPROVING COMMERCIAL SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES FOR THE WARFIGHTER IN MANY AREAS.
A 2006 story in Military Information Technology highlighted DoD’s significant use of commercial satellite communications (COMSATCOM) resources to meet mission needs that complement available military satellite communications resources. What’s more, DISA is currently obtaining excellent prices for leased fixed satellite services, as demonstrated in the DoD COMSATCOM Spend Analysis provided to Congress under the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill.
Specifically, DISA’s bandwidth lease costs under its primary contract vehicle, the Defense Information Systems Network Satellite Transmission Services-Global (DSTS-G), are on average 25 percent less than market averages and, perhaps more significant, approximately 50 percent less than other DoD contracts. This value is derived principally by openly competing COMSATCOM requirements across the commercial marketplace and leveraging the benefits of competition, DoD’s buying power, and DISA’s strong partnership with the commercial satellite industry.
DISA is also proactively improving COMSATCOM services for the warfighter in other areas. Examples of such improvement include:
• Reducingprovisioning time from previously reported timelines. The current median is 21 days, and DISA stands ready to meet more urgent warfighter needs within hours, when required.
• Reducing DISA contracting and engineering fees by more than 50 percent.
• Seeking continuous improvement through business process reengineering efforts using Lean Six Sigma analytics to further reduce inefficiencies and decrease variation.
• Increasing customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction increased in the past year from 3.9 to 4.5 on a scale of 1 to 5.
These factors all demonstrate DISA’s commitment to being DoD’s COMSATCOM provider of choice. “PMO SATCOM wants DoD COMSATCOM service users to come to DISA not only because we are DoD’s only authorized agent to procure satellite bandwidth, but also because we are the best at what we do and the valueadded service we provide,” says Colonel Allen Green, program manager, PMO SATCOM.
FLOOR CAPABILITIES
In anticipation of emerging warfighter needs and to normalize capabilities that COMSATCOM services for DoD possess, the Joint Staff’s Net-Centric Functional Capabilities Board (NC FCB) in February 2006 endorsed a set of “floor” capabilities and user-selectable enhancements for all DoD leased COMSATCOM. The capabilities span seven areas: responsiveness, portability, flexibility and optimization, capacities, coverage, NetOps and protection.
Although the capabilities specifically address the commercial satellite industry’s ability to provide service for DoD, DISA sometimes has an associated responsibility. For example, the responsiveness capability states that in emergent situations the satellite vendor and operator must provide bandwidth within four hours from contract award to service turn-on. Therefore, DISA has a derived requirement to provide service the warfighter requirement in an equally responsive manner. It is the DISA customer service aspects of this capability that led, in part, to the aforementioned Lean Six Sigma BPR activities—to ensure that DISA can meet its commitment to the warfighter and these capabilities.
Some of the capabilities, such as capacities, were already fully available through the DISA DSTS-G contract. Others, such as portability, coverage and protection, require a contract modification. Accordingly, DISA executed an initial DSTS-G contract modification to obtain commercial X-band services in December 2006. A second DSTS-G contract modification, targeted for completion in May, will provide the remaining capabilities.
One driving capability is protection. Triggered by DoD’s continued reliance on commercial space assets and their associated vulnerabilities, protection measures were defined by the executive agent for Space’s National Security Space Office as part of the Mission Assurance Working Group (MAWG). With commercial satellite industry participation, the MAWG defined a set of protection measures that were reasonable and, to the maximum extent possible, consistent with commercial best practices.
One such projection measure is cyber security. DoD wants assurances that the COMSATCOM services it leases are not susceptible to cyber attacks. Mitigating such cyber threats can be readily accomplished though technologies such as firewalls, which are a relatively standard commercial practice for points where COMSATCOM earth terminals interface with terrestrial networks. By adding this capability, DoD decision makers and the end-user can have greater confidence in the COMSATCOM services they depend upon.
Another protection measure is command- link encryption. The commercial satellite operators have inconsistently applied measures to protect their command and control links. With their active participation in the MAWG, the Joint Staff-endorsed capabilities, and the pending modifications to the DSTS-G contract, the satellite operators clearly understand DoD’s needs. The satellite industry is working in close partnership with the department to incorporate these protection measures, but it cannot be done overnight and in some cases requires the life cycle replacement of a satellite currently in orbit.
Still, DISA fully understands that these protection features may not be available from all COMSATCOM service providers in the immediate future. DISA is working closely with warfighters and industry to improve the protection of warfighters’ networks while still keeping the competition that has made the DSTS-G such an effective contract vehicle.
“We are the bridge between the war fighter and the commercial satellite companies. We want to provide the warfighter the best value for the secure satellite services they require while balancing our valued partnership with industry. We are working with the warfighter and the industry to create win-win solutions,” said Deputy Program Manager Joe Mansir.
Therefore, DISA is adopting a bestvalue- with-tradeoffs approach for obtaining future COMSATCOM service. With this approach, DISA and the end-user can not only leverage best price, but also tailor solutions to meet their individual priorities and perceived risk.
PROTECTION MEASURES
The demands of DoD’s diverse mission needs require service that can be depended upon. Currently, DoD depends on COMSATCOM services, but is not fully aware of the vulnerabilities associated with each specific service. The person that is in the best position to determine mission needs and vulnerabilities is the warfighter.
Warfighters, working with DISA, determine their mission needs and weigh those needs against potential risk, mission criticalities and cost, to select the best solution that satisfies the unique needs of the individual end user.
For example, DoD Directive 8581.1E requires that NSA-approved command link encryption be employed on all SATCOM services supporting the most sensitive missions—Mission Assurance Category (MAC) I and II—including COMSATCOM. However, such capability is of limited availability within the commercial industry. Recognizing that consistently meeting this capability may prove difficult, DISA is developing strategies to consider command-link encryption as part of its best value trade-off to balance customer needs and cost considerations.
Protection capabilities will be evaluated along with other COMSATCOM service requirements. Proposed solutions will be scored based upon pre-defined task order-specific criteria to select a best value solution considering technical capability, protection measures employed, user selectable criteria, and cost. However, recognizing that market limitations to some protection capabilities exist, DISA and the users will consider proposed solutions that may not fully meet all protection requirements—balancing enhanced capabilities with cost sensitivities to achieve best value.
“We believe our approach allows for warfighters to weigh mission needs against protection and other value-added capabilities while maintaining competition by allowing vendors and satellite operators to differentiate their services. The goal is to improve the security posture for DoD, while providing industry the time and business cases to make the necessary investments to do business with DoD,” said Green.
By promoting these protection capabilities, DoD can encourage industry support for protection measures, while maintaining a cost-effective competitive environment. While improved COMSATCOM service protection may lead to marginal cost increases, by approaching the acquisition in a strategic, best value manner, DoD personnel can make informed decisions about the service they utilize, and select service that delivers best value to their mission.
Beyond the Joint Staff-endorsed capabilities, the contract modification will also add value in other areas. The best value trade-off may also be leveraged to encourage return on investment of critical Global Information Grid (GIG) resources such as DoD Gateways. Because DoD Gateways are owned and operated by DoD, they offer increased protection measures and leverage the significant investment in DoD terrestrial infrastructure. On a task order basis, users can request solutions which leverage DoD Gateway, leverage commercially available teleport resources, or choose based on best value.
As DISA provides enhanced capabilities, it can also provide innovative leases tailored to specific mission needs. DISA can offer customers multi-year contracts to obtain potential cost savings should their mission needs and funding support long-term agreements. DISA recognizes the value of such options, and has implemented them using the DSTS-G contract. Customers can request multi-year terms and weigh the risks associated with long term agreements against cost savings benefits.
A POSITIVE FUTURE
As DoD moves towards best value, an already effective DSTS-G contract is becoming more effective. In order to deliver these best value capabilities, DISA is working closely with industry. This approach allows industry best practices to be competitively applied to DoD COMSATCOM services, while allowing vendors and satellite operators to differentiate their services in meeting diverse mission needs.
With plans to complete the DSTSG contract modification in May, DISA’s PMO SATCOM is working diligently to improve the operational effectiveness of its contract vehicles, improve its internal processes, and deliver best value services to its customers. By continuing to work in partnership with both the user and service providing communities, DISA can build upon past successes to competitively deliver mission critical COMSATCOM services its customers depend on. ♦
