DOD cancels expansion of P-LEO satellite contract
gettyimages.com/marian
By
Nick Wakeman
The Pentagon is not explaining why it terminated an on-ramp process.
The Defense Department has cancelled the on-ramp for a $900 million contract to support low-earth orbit satellites.
No reason was given for the cancellation, a move announced Tuesday on Sam.gov.
In two rounds during 2023, DOD named 20 companies to the Proliferated Low-Earth Orbit Commercial Satellite Services contract that goes by the acronym P-LEO.
DOD released a solicitation later in 2023 for a on-ramp process with the plan to make more awards in December of this year, according to procurement documents.
DOD uses the contract to acquire tools for managing satellite constellations in low-earth orbit. Because these are groups of commercial satellites, it gives DOD flexibility and resilience.
The department is buying low-latency services such as communications, remote sensing, data products and other offerings. Many of these are available as a managed service.
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The on-ramp was open to companies whose proposals did not warrant an award in 2023. Proposals for the on-ramp were due in May 2024.
SpaceX has been the big winner under the contract with $374 million in obligations. That number represents 97.8% of the contract’s business since the start of federal fiscal year 2024. OneWeb Technologies is second with 1% of the work, according to Deltek data.