Coast Guard Explores Commercial Satcom Market for Global Connectivity Requirements

The U.S. Coast Guard has started its market research to identify potential vendors capable of providing commercial satellite communications hardware, software and services to address the branch’s connectivity needs across the globe.

USCG is examining the availability of satcom offerings from industry as part of efforts to determine an acquisition strategy for the requirement, according to a notice posted Monday on SAM.gov.

The Next Generation COMSATCOM program aims to connect the internal network of USCG cutters and mobile contingency vehicles with the CGONE and Secret Internet Protocol Router Network.

USCG intends to establish two-way communications between the networks to enable record message traffic and virtual tunneling for mission-specific intelligence and surveillance traffic.

The maritime law enforcement service is also eyeing an operations center for continuous monitoring and optimization of connectivity between the networks.

Responses to USCG’s request for information are due Feb. 17.