Briefing on DOD's Report on Commercial Communications Satellite Services Procurement Process

The Department of Defense (DOD) submitted to the Congress on July 29, 2005 a report entitled Defense Commercial Communications Satellite Services Procurement Process. In response to direction from the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, we reviewed DOD's report to determine the extent to which it addressed the seven recommendations contained in our December 2003 report on how DOD procures fixed commercial satellite bandwidth services. On September 2, 2005, we briefed the Committee on the results of our review. This letter summarizes and transmits that briefing.

Our analysis of DOD's report indicates that DOD either fully or partially addressed the seven recommendations from our December 2003 report. DOD fully addressed our recommendation on the need to inventory users to determine existing and long-term requirements and our recommendation on improving the current funding structure. However, DOD did not address all elements of the remaining five recommendations, so they are identified as partially addressed.