The Air Force Thursday awarded 14 different $495 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contracts for Hosted Payload Solutions (HoPS), according to a Defense Department statement.
The following companies received contracts: Astrium Services Government, Harris [HRS], Space Systems/Loral (SSL), Millennium Engineering and Integration, Surrey Satellite Technology U.S., Orbital Sciences [ORB], Boeing [BA], Exoterra Resources, Lockheed Martin [LMT], Merging Excellence and Innovation Tech, ViviSat, Intelsat General Corp. (IGC), SES Government Solutions and Eutelsat America Corp.
HoPS is to provide a rapid and flexible means for the government to acquire commercial hosting capabilities for government payloads. The contract is designed to create a pool of qualified vendors to meet the government’s needs for various hosted payload missions.
Procurement of hosted payload missions includes a fully-functioning on-orbit hosted payload space and ground system for government-furnished payloads on commercial platforms. HoPS will also include related on-orbit support for data transfer from the hosted payload to the government end-user/s.
The award is the result of a full and open competitive acquisition. The contract has a five-year ordering period from Thursday. Work is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2029. A total of 19 firms were solicited and a total of 14 offers were received. This is not a multi-year contract.