P03 -Low earth Orbit (LEO) Internet Services Sole Source JA_Redacted.pdf
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- Attached to
- Low Earth Internet Services Federal contract opportunity
- Solicitation number
- 36C10A22P0027
About this file
This document contains a sole source justification and market research report for a low earth orbit satellite internet services contract award. The Department of Veterans Affairs conducted market research in July 2022 and determined that only SpaceX's Starlink Enterprise low earth orbit satellite internet service could meet the agency's needs for the Tuba City Community Based Outpatient Clinic in terms of latency, bandwidth, and network resilience. Contract specialists performed additional market research through various sources but did not find any other providers that could satisfy the required level of internet services. Consequently, the VA will issue a sole source request for quote to SpaceX for these low earth orbit satellite internet services. On September 1, 2022, the VA awarded contract number 36C10A22P0027 to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. for $678,600 to procure this service for the Tuba City VA clinic.
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Sole Source Justification Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Internet Services
7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable competition in future actions.
8. Market Research: VA personnel conducted market research in July 2022.
Specifically, the Government’s technical experts conducted web-based market research on other similar internet and LEO services from alternative sources such as Lumen and AT&T, who could not provide a quote for the requirement. Various LEO companies like SpaceX’s StarLink, OneWeb, Telesat and Amazon were reviewed.
SpaceX confirmed in writing that they are capable of providing the level of internet service that is required for the VA’s needs. Web based research was conducted on other LEO providers which resulted in no other LEO services within the CONUS that could meet the VA’s requirement at this time. It is noted that all of the other LEO internet service providers are expected to expand LEO services in the next few years. Therefore, no other commercial LEO provider currently meets Starlink's latency, bandwidth, and resilience. In addition, VA Subject Matter Experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if any other LEO internet service is available. Based on all of these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only the aforementioned SpaceX’s Starlink Enterprise LEO service can meet all of VA’s needs.
In July 2022, the contract specialist (CS) conducted market research using web searches, and by searching for resellers on Veteran Information Pages (VIP), National Aeronautics and Space Administration Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) IV Government Wide Acquisition Contract, and General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule. The CS also posted a Request of Information (RFI) on NASA SEWP and GSA. Both RFI’s did not yield any providers that are able to provide the level of internet services required. The CS reviewed Contract Opportunities for comparable procurements from other agencies and found that LEO services are currently only available from SpaceX. Based on this market research the CS will issue a sole source Request for Quote (RFQ) to SpaceX.
9. Other Facts: None.
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