USGS_NSC-KSAT_J_A_6_302-4_2025_SAM_GPE_Posting_1.pdf

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION – FAR 6.302-4

1. Contracting Agency and Activity.

Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey.

2. Nature of Action Being Approved.

The Department of Interior (DOI), United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observations and Science (EROS) Center has a requirement to procure polar ground station services from Norwegian Space Agency/Kongsberg Satellite Services (NSA/KSAT) consisting of the following:

Landsat polar ground station S-Band telemetry (TLM) receive (RX) and command (CMD) transmit (TX), and X-Band data reception services .

3. Description of Supplies or Services.

The USGS currently operates the Landsat 8 (L8) and Landsat 9 (L9) spacecrafts (S/C) and is responsible for maintaining S/C health and safety, scheduling image acquisitions, and receiving image data to populate the US archive under the terms of an existing International Agreement (IA) between the United States of America and Norway. The USGS Landsat Mission Operations Center (MOC) utilizes the Svalbard Satellite Station (SvalSat) polar ground station to communicate to the S/C for these purposes.

The Norwegian Space Agency (NSA) established SvalSat, located in Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, Norway in 1997. Its northern locality provides access to Landsat 8's near-polar satellite orbits daily. The SvalSat Station is owned and operated exclusively by Kongsberg Satellite Services AS (KSAT), a Norwegian company owned 50% by the Space Norway AS and 50% by Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace AS (KDA). Space Norway AS is (since 2014) a wholly owned subsidiary of the Norwegian Ministry of Industry, Trade and Fisheries. It was previously owned by NOSA under the name of Norsk Romsenter Eiendom AS.

The USGS currently receives Landsat polar ground station reception services through a contract with the NSA under an existing International Agreement with the government of Norway.

This proposed procurement is to provide continued Landsat operations support and continued Landsat 9 test and mission operations readiness support. The contract is for a base plus four (4) option years.

The procurement has firm-fixed-price options for variable levels of services, based upon the nominal number of daily passes required. The level of service is set when the contract is initially awarded and updated annually when options are exercised.

4. Estimated Dollar Value.

The total estimate for the base year and 4 option years is $6,714,737.05.

5. Statutory Authority. The proposed action may be awarded on a sole source basis under the authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-4 – International Agreement.

6. Rationale Supporting Use of Citation in No. 5.

The USGS is a party in a remote sensing international agreement between the United States of America and Norway. The agreement, between the US Geological Survey and the Norwegian Space Agency (formerly referred to as the Norwegian Space Centre (NSC)), titled Implementing Agreement (IA) Between The United States Geological Survey Of The Department Of The Interior And The Norwegian Space Centre (NSC) For Cooperation In The Use Of U.S. Land Remote Sensing Satellite Data, entered into force on March 22, 2013, and remains in force through the operational lifetime of the USGS land remote sensing spacecraft(s).

The IA recognizes the parties’ mutual interest in the use of space technology for peaceful purposes and notes the value of the US Landsat satellite missions to cooperation among governments in space-based remote sensing of the Earth’s surface. The IA establishes the terms and conditions under which the USGS will provide United States-owned land remote sensing satellite data and NSA will receive, process, archive, distribute, and exchange such data in cooperation with the USGS.

The responsibilities of NSA/KSAT under the IA include, but are not limited to, operation of (a) ground station(s) for the reception, processing, archiving, distribution, and exchange of USGS land remote sensing satellite data, including establishing and operating the necessary communication links with the USGS Mission Operations Center (MOC) and the USGS data center located at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center as specified in the mission-specific Annex(es).

The responsibilities of the USGS include, but are not limited to, programming land remote sensing satellites to collect and provide remote sensing data of areas within the acquisition radius of NSC's ground station and funding various activities under the IA associated with ground station operations.

The ground station in use under the agreement, (SvalSat) is located in a sovereign foreign nation (Norway). KSAT, a subsidiary of NSA and partially owned by the Norwegian government, is the exclusive operator of the SvalSat ground station.

The terms of the IA preclude full and open competition. The IA remains in force, as the USGS land remote sensing spacecraft(s) remain in operation and both parties are meeting their obligations and responsibilities under the IA.

The agreement, part of the The Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS), is published by the United States Department of State under the authority of the United States Secretary of State. The complete agreement can be found online at https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/13-322- Norway-Remote-Sensing.pdf.

7. Other Information.

This procurement action will be established under the Implementing Agreement between the United States Geological Survey of the Department of the Interior and the Norwegian Space Agency (NSA) for cooperation in the use of U.S. Land Remote Sensing Satellite Data.

8. The Efforts to Identify Additional Sources Including the Market Research Conducted.

N/A