United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office National Security and International Affairs Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1994-02-24 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:NSIAD-94-48 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-94-48 P0b002ee18037fb91 f:ns94048 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-94-48 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-94-48 NSIAD-94-48 Leasing policies Defense contingency planning Defense procurement Defense communications operations Military satellites Defense cost control Systems architecture Communications equipment Equipment leases Letter Report NSIAD Congress has urged the Pentagon to make greater use of commercial satellites to reduce the cost of military communications. Although the Defense Department (DOD) is studying the issue, a new criterion that DOD uses to set communication requirements has reduced general purpose requirements by more than 40 percent. In addition, core requirements may be overstated because users may have favored military communications that are provided at no direct cost to them. General purpose requirements may also be understated because users must pay for commercial services through their units' budgets. All these factors reduce the potential use of commercial satellite services. DOD's current approach to leasing commercial satellite services is not centrally managed and does not take advantage of economies of scale. According to DOD, most of this leasing is done on an ad hoc basis. In addition, leasing individual circuits is costly, compared with packaging them into larger quantities and using full satellite transponders that have the capacity to handle multiple circuits. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-94-48/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-94-48.htm GAO/NSIAD-94-48 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-94-48 Letter Report GAO/NSIAD-94-48; Military Satellite Communications: DOD Needs to Review Requirements and Strengthen Leasing Practices; Leasing policies Defense contingency planning Defense procurement Defense communications operations Military satellites Defense cost control Systems architecture Communications equipment Equipment leases