NIGP 97576: Spacecraft and/or Satellite Rental or Lease

NIGP 97576 Spacecraft and/or Satellite Rental or Lease, an Item code, covers leasing of orbital and spacecraft assets by state and local governments for communications, imaging, weather monitoring, or other remote-sensing applications. The code captures recurring lease arrangements for satellite capacity, transponder time, or dedicated spacecraft access rather than outright purchase. State and local governments use this code when they need temporary or medium-term satellite services — typically communications infrastructure for emergency response, remote operations, or specialized data collection — without the capital outlay of ownership. Issuing bodies span state departments managing emergency services or environmental monitoring, counties coordinating regional communications networks, cities supporting smart-city or public-safety initiatives, and transit authorities provisioning real-time vehicle tracking or fleet communications.

The source contains no recent state or local contract opportunities under this code. Activity at the state and local level in spacecraft and satellite leasing remains sparse or absent from current procurement notice databases, suggesting either low demand for rental capacity among public agencies, preference for lease-to-own or service-integration agreements filed under related codes, or reliance on federal partnerships and grants (such as NOAA or USGS data agreements) rather than direct commercial leases.