INMARSAT B HSD Acquisition

INMARSAT B HSD Acquisition

Organization: SPAWAR

Team Name: International Maritime Satellite (INMARSAT) B High Speed Data (HSD) Acquisition IPT

Related Acquisition Topic(s): Acquisition Practices Streamlining, Commercial Practices, Cycle Time Reduction (CTR), Integrated Product Teams (IPT)

Description:
Starting on July 7, 1998, with few resources and the need for a quick award, this IPT developed the requirements and utilized innovative Acquisition Reform initiatives to expedite this procurement. Commercial procurement practices under FAR Part 12 and oral presentations in connection with discussions were employed. Due to the efforts of the entire IPT, this $7M competitive, indefinite-delivery, indefinite quantity, fixed price procurement for leased channel service was successfully awarded in record time -- 49 days from the date the IPT was appointed. The superb effort of this IPT is evident, not only from the fact that the award was made in record time but also, by the fact that no protests were received. The accomplishment of this team clearly reflects their innovation, dedication, technical expertise and hard work to accomplish the SPAWAR mission and provide the fleet with a much-needed communications networking capability. Specifically, these efforts resulted in a contracting process that made the acquisition more efficient,while integrating defense systems with commercial technology and practices. In addition, it promoted continuous improvement of the acquisition process and implemented acquisition reform initiatives. In order to receive maximum benefit for the services received, contract award was based on a best value analysis of overall cost and technical benefits as well as past customer satisfaction. Commercial-item contracting practices were employed in order to reduce the overall costs for INMARSAT HSD leases. Moreover, the decision to lease channels on a 24-hour a day, 7 day a week basis resulted in a cost of $0.69 per minute vs. a cost of $5.90 per minute for the on-demand INMARSAT dial-up service cost. (These savings are based upon full-time usage of the channel, which is expected due to increasing operational needs.) Additionally, the dial-up service only provided 16 kbps of voice or 9.6 kbps of data, whereas this procurement provides 64 kbps of combined voice and data. The acquisition process was made more efficient by empowering the IPT with broad decision-making ability. Additionally, the team was kept small, but contained the technical, contractual, and legal expertise required to make a best value decision. The acquisition lead times have typically been between 240 to 360 days for similar procurements without use of acquisition reform initiatives. This procurement was achieved within record time; contract was awarded August 21, 1998, just 49 days from the formulation of the IPT. The Leased Channel Acquisition Effort for commercial satellite communications was part of an overall effort to completely rely on commercial / non-developmental items for Naval command and control systems. This overall effort integrates commercially available technology into military systems. In addition, this effort addressed industry cost effective practices of leasing entire channels vice simple dial-up service, thereby taking advantage of economies of scale. The IPT simplified the acquisition process by utilizing oral presentations, integrating FAR part 12 practices into an otherwise traditional procurement environment, and using real-time analysis of technical presentations. Although this was an urgent and compelling procurement, limited competition was still conducted between two known satellite service vendors. This successful procurement is a baseline for future acquisitions of this nature. Clearly, the accomplishments of this IPT represent positive implementation of a variety of acquisition reform initiatives. Teamwork, clear goals, use of commercial practices to satisfy U.S. Navy requirements, and use of streamlined acquisition practices were key to the success of this IPT. Conclusion: This team's ability to reduce costs, streamline the acquisition process, utilize commercial based practices, promote continuous improvement, and work together as an IPT, resulted in the successful award of this International Maritime Satellite (INMARSAT) B High Speed Data (HSD) contract.

SPAWAR

International Maritime Satellite (INMARSAT) B High Speed Data (HSD) Acquisition IPT