The Air Force Turns to Private Industry to Launch Satellites
DOD recently awarded two contracts for launch of Air Force satellites. United Launch Services (ULS), Centennial, Colorado, has been awarded a $354,811,947 firm-fixed-price contract for launch services to deliver two Air Force Space Command satellites, AFSPC-8 and AFSPC-12, to their intended orbit. The contract includes launch vehicle production, mission integration/launch operations/spaceflight worthiness, mission unique activities, and mission unique options for the AFSPC-8 and AFSPC-12 missions. Work will be performed in Centennial, Colorado; Decatur, Alabama; and Cape Canaveral Air Force Space Station, Florida, and is expected to be complete by June 2020; and March 2020, respectively. The award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal year 2017 and 2018 space procurement; and fiscal year 2018 research, development, test, and evaluation funding in the amount of $354,811,947 will be obligated at the time of award. The Contracting Division, Launch Systems Enterprise Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California is the contracting activity.
Under the second contract, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, in Hawthorne, California, has been awarded a $290,594,130 firm-fixed-price contract for launch services to deliver the GPS III to its intended orbit. Like ULS' contract, the SpaceX contract includes launch vehicle production, mission integration/launch operations/spaceflight worthiness and mission unique activities for the GPS III mission, with options for two additional GPS III launch services. Work will be performed in Hawthorne; Cape Canaveral; and McGregor, Texas, and is expected to be complete by March 2020. The award is the result of a competitive acquisition and two offers were received. Fiscal year 2017 and 2018 space procurement funding in the amount of $96,937,905 will be obligated at the time of award. The Contracting Division, Launch Systems Enterprise Directorate at the Los Angeles Air Force Base is also the contracting activity.
