NOTICE OF INTENT – SOURCES SOUGHT

Tracking ID: SBS00XX-HALO

The Defense Information Systems Agency/Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization intends to negotiate a sole source contract with Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), 1 Rocket Road, Hawthorne, CA 90250, for the Project HALO (Hybrid All-domain LEO Operations) requirement. A sole source Justification and Approval document is being coordinated, and upon approval, a copy will be posted to SAM.gov in accordance with the public display requirements of 10 U.S.C. 3204(f) and 41 U.S.C. 3304(f).

The proposed contract action is to procure high-throughput, low-latency proliferated Low-Earth Orbit (pLEO) broadband telecommunications systems offering resilient global connectivity across stationary, portable, land-mobile, maritime, and specialized aviation platforms. This procurement will encompass commercial-grade and high-assurance, defense-grade satellite transport services, associated user terminals, specialized accessories, and advanced optional capabilities including sovereign ground gateways, committed information rates (CIR), and a tactical security overlay. The Government currently anticipates a one-year base period and nine one-year option periods, subject to final acquisition planning and approvals.

At this time, based on market research conducted by the Government, SpaceX is the only known source capable of providing all necessary services to satisfy the Government's minimum technical and operational needs.

The statutory authority for other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.103-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. Companies that believe they are capable of satisfying this requirement must submit a written unclassified capability statement no later than September 23, 2026; 10:00 AM CDT. Responses must be submitted via email to thomas.m.magee2.civ@mail.mil; ashley.t.hubert.civ@mail.mil; and natalie.b.britton.civ@mail.mil. Capability statements must not exceed 5 pages in PDF format and must address the Government’s minimum requirements, relevant past performance, and the offeror’s ability to provide the required services and hardware. Interested parties are responsible for clearly marking any proprietary information included in their responses. No reimbursement for any costs connected with providing capability information will be provided. All responsible sources will be considered in evaluating the determination to issue a sole-source contract.

Quotations or proposals received in response to this notice cannot be accepted because this synopsis is not a request for quotation or a request for proposal. A solicitation will not be posted to SAM.gov due to the sole source nature of the requirement.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 517410, Satellite Telecommunications. The corresponding small business size standard is $44 million.

1. REQUIREMENT DESCRIPTION & TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

The Government requires an end-to-end, multi-faceted pLEO satellite communications solution supporting civil government and U.S. National Defense operations. The system must deliver resilient, high-throughput, low-latency connectivity globally across five operational domains:

stationary, portable, land-mobile, maritime, and aviation. The required capabilities are split into two primary operational tiers under a single unified network architecture:

A. Dual-Tier Operational Transport Services

• Commercial-Grade Transport Service: Highly resilient, high-throughput, and low-latency pLEO connectivity optimized for fixed-site and mobile operations within the United States (domestic) and global roaming configurations supporting international executive travel. The service must deliver priority network routing over standard consumer traffic.

• Defense-Grade High-Assurance Transport Service: Highly secure, defense-grade pLEO connectivity utilizing end-to-end encryption, protected tactical waveforms, and secure routing structures. It must support global roaming (land, maritime, and aviation) and utilize optical inter-satellite links (space lasers) to isolate payload and telemetry data.

B. Unified Hardware and Configuration Requirements

All user terminals must be delivered pre-configured as single-box "plug-and-play" solutions containing all necessary Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) components (antennas, power supplies, cabling, routers, and mounts) to establish an immediate connection upon power-up:

• Standard Performance Terminals: Designed for fixed-site, vehicle, or maritime configurations. Must support high-throughput priority data tiers and survive extreme environments, including wind speeds greater than 270 kph (170 mph), temperatures from negative 40 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius, and hold an IP68 ingress protection rating (dust-tight and protected against water immersion)

• Portable/Mini Terminals: Designed for rapid deployment by non-technical personnel.

Terminals must be lightweight, compact form factors with integrated Wi-Fi capabilities, and support quick setup and operation in field environments.

• Aviation Terminals: Designed for aircraft installation and in-flight connectivity. Terminals must be aerodynamic, modular, low-profile fuselage-mounted antenna systems operating in the Ku-band (10.7 to 12.7 GHz RX, 14 to 14.5 GHz TX), weighing under 60 pounds, and providing complete aircraft cabin wireless coverage during inflight operations.

C. Mission-Critical Operational & Performance Objectives

• Data Continuity Baseline: Following the consumption of high-speed priority monthly allocations (ranging from 250 GB to 5 TB), the network must maintain continuous, unlimited data throughput of at least 1 Mbps downlink and 0.5 Mbps uplink.

• Committed Information Rate (CIR) Symmetrical Guarantee (Optional): Dedicated, non-preemptible bandwidth allocations overlaying active service plans to prevent network throttling and commercial data congestion. The system must guarantee a continuous, dedicated floor of at least 50 Mbps downlink and 10 Mbps uplink per terminal, with a latency of less than or equal to 99 milliseconds and packet delay variation (jitter) of less than 10 milliseconds.

• Sovereign Private Gateways (Optional): Dedicated, physical, and logically "air-gapped" ground segment infrastructure co-located at secure U.S. government facilities. All communications originating from high-assurance terminals must be routed exclusively via inter-satellite optical links and terminate at these private gateways, completely bypassing the commercial public internet and public routing points.

• Tactical Security Overlay Suite (Optional):

• Electromagnetic Obfuscation: Dynamic beam-hopping and active radio frequency (RF) signature obfuscation (Low Probability of Intercept / Low Probability of Detection) designed to prevent susceptibility to hostile direction-finding and geolocation of terminal emissions.

• Global Geo-Fence Overrides: A 24/7/365 immediate technical override capability to bypass commercial geographic fencing, enabling global terminal operations in unlicensed host nations, international waters, and contested airspace within 15 minutes of notification.

2. JUSTIFICATION FOR LACK OF COMPETITION

The White House Communications Agency (WHCA) and Presidential Information Technology Community (PITC) require a single, integrated satellite communications architecture capable of dynamically transitioning between standard commercial-grade transport and high-assurance, defense-grade transport under a unified global network. Based on market research conducted by the Government, SpaceX is the only known source capable of meeting the following combined, non-severable minimum technical needs:

1. Constellation Maturity and Coverage: SpaceX operates the only fully deployed, operational, and globally scalable proliferated LEO constellation capable of supporting immediate high-speed, low-latency, and multi-domain (land, maritime, aviation) requirements with thousands of active satellite nodes.

2. Integrated Defense-Grade (StarShield) Network Architecture: To the Government’s knowledge, no other commercial satellite provider offers a native, high-assurance military satellite tier (StarShield) operating on the same physical constellation as their commercial network. This single-constellation integration is critical for interoperability, allowing WHCA to utilize unified terminal hardware while switching between commercial and defense-grade service plans depending on the threat environment.

3. Space-to-Space Optical Inter-Satellite Routing: SpaceX’s constellation incorporates operational optical inter-satellite links (space lasers) across the entire fleet. The Government has determined this capability is required to achieve U.S. data sovereignty, allowing sensitive communications to route dynamically in space and terminate exclusively at secure, co-located U.S. Ground Gateways, completely bypassing foreign-owned ground stations and public transit nodes.

4. Aviation-Rated pLEO Fuselage Systems: SpaceX has developed and certified aerodynamic, fuselage-mounted, electronically steered phased array terminals designed natively for their pLEO network, meeting the stringent size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements of executive aircraft.

5. Tactical Security Overrides and RF Obfuscation: SpaceX possesses proprietary, direct-to-satellite control capabilities that allow for 15-minute execution of global geo-fence overrides and native electromagnetic beam-hopping obfuscation. These capabilities are dependent on SpaceX network control functions and are not known by the Government to be available through third-party integration.

Allowing a middle-tier integrator or attempting to split this requirement among multiple distinct satellite networks would introduce unacceptable operational latency, increase hardware footprints on tactical teams, create massive interoperability gaps across aviation and maritime domains, and violate strict supply chain security mandates.

3. CONTRACT/PROGRAM BACKGROUND

The Project HALO requirement is a new requirement. There is no direct, single incumbent contract that covers the full scope of this integrated dual-tier commercial and defense-grade pLEO transport requirement across all five domains for the WHCA.

• Contract Number: N/A (New Requirement)

• Contract Type: N/A

• Incumbent and CAGE: N/A

• Method of Previous Acquisition: N/A

• Period of Performance: N/A

Note: Project HALO is a new requirement with a distinct integrated high-assurance scope that has not previously been supported under a single contract vehicle. While certain related WHCA pLEO services are currently performed under separate contract vehicles, the current requirement reflects a materially broader and different integrated capabilities. Some existing WHCA-only pLEO services may transition to this contract at renewal or expiration of their current ordering periods.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

Facility and Personnel

• All contractor personnel assigned to technical execution, satellite engineering support, and the dedicated 24/7/365 support desk must be verified U.S. citizens.

Telemetry Isolation and Data Protection:

• The contractor must physically and programmatically isolate, anonymize, and encrypt all telemetry data associated with Project HALO terminals to prevent unauthorized disclosure or exploitation of sensitive operational information.

• MAC addresses, device locations, and throughput logs must be shielded from standard commercial support platforms and never disclosed for commercial or other non-governmental analytical purposes.

Sourcing and Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM):

• All hardware, accessories, and services must be sourced directly from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) or an authorized, cleared integrator to ensure supply chain integrity and prevent middle-tier commercial tampering.

• The contractor must deliver and execute a comprehensive SCRM plan in compliance with applicable DFARS 252.239-7017, DFARS 252.239-7018, and NIST SP 800-53 security controls.

Order Acceptance, Rapid Fulfillment, and Service Activation:

• Standard Hardware Lead Time: Delivery of standard pre-configured terminal kits must occur within fifteen (15) calendar days after receipt of order (ARO).

• Rapid Fulfillment Logistics Pipeline: The contractor must maintain a rapid-logistics pipeline capable of delivering configured terminal kits to designated locations within twenty-four (24) to seventy-two (72) hours of an urgent, unforecasted call.

• Rapid Service Activation: Service activation on any fielded terminal must be completed within twenty-four (24) hours of direct technical authorization.

Strict Performance Service Level Agreements (SLAs):

• The contractor must provide a dedicated, 24/7/365 Tier-0/1 support desk with direct-to-satellite engineering access capable of resolving critical service outages within 120 minutes of contact.

• Unscheduled outages must be reported to the COR within 45 minutes of occurrence, with updates provided every 30 minutes until resolution.

Points of Contact: thomas.m.magee2.civ@mail.mil; ashley.t.hubert.civ@mail.mil; and natalie.b.britton.civ@mail.mil

For information on DISA’s requirements, you can find current information on our home page:

www.disa.mil – that includes current forecast and the current acquisition strategies. If there is no information regarding the requirements you may be inquiring about, then there is no additional publicly available information. Please continue to review www.disa.mil.

http://www.disa.mil/