Request for Information - Overcoming Barriers to Use Commercial Overhead Data and Analytic Services in the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense

The United States Government relies on commercial remote sensing capabilities and services for our mission success.  Over the past decade, the commercial remote sensing industry has grown rapidly, and it continues to introduce new capabilities, improved imagery quality, and enhanced revisit rates. Both the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense have explored emerging capabilities offered by commercial companies with varying degrees of incorporation into operations. Although it is the policy of the United States to eliminate impediments to the timely delivery of space capabilities and accelerate the use of commercial capabilities,[1] frequently commercial industry encounters challenges to working with the U.S. Government and spending on commercial analytic products remains relatively small compared to spending on commercial satellite data.  

The Director of National Intelligence directed a study to examine ways to overcome barriers to use of commercial remote sensing/space-based data and analytic services in the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense.

[1] National Strategy for Space, March 5, 2018.

Commercial Overhead Data is defined as unprocessed and/or processed signals or images (i.e., pixels) acquired or licensed from a commercial spaced-based providers. It includes all phenomenologies. Overhead SIGINT includes radio frequency data, communications intelligence, electronic intelligence, and geolocation.  Commercial Overhead Data excludes cloud, storage or other costs associated with storage of imagery; portals or web-based dissemination/discovery tools used to access imagery; and analytic tools for exploiting imagery and visualization tools to display imagery.

Commercial Overhead Analytic Services is defined as products, analytics, or services derived using space-based commercial remote sensing capabilities. It includes, but is not limited to, imagery-derived geospatial information (e.g., observations, features, and tracks), non-imagery derived geospatial information (e.g., automated identification system (AIS) data, radio frequency-derived locations, algorithms, or machine learning models), and finished analytics and products. Ground station networks/as a service are included only as they pertain to being a limitation to use of commercial overhead data and analytic services. Commercial overhead analytic services do not include non-analytic based services such as communications; relay; launch; in-space service, or assembly and manufacturing.

Responses to this RFI are due no later than 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on 22 September 2023. All submissions must be electronically submitted to ODNI_CODAS_Study_Team@dni.gov as a PDF document. Inquiries to this RFI must be submitted to ODNI_CODAS_Study_Team@dni.gov. Do not send questions with proprietary content. No telephone inquiries will be accepted.