Report: US Military Is Wasting Millions On Satellite Comms

An anonymous reader writes: Fast information exchange is the key to a powerful military, and satellites have been an incredible boon to the commanders of modern fighting forces. But a new report from the Government Accountability Office says the U.S. military is vastly overpaying for its satellite communications, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. They say the Department of Defense "has become increasingly reliant on commercial SATCOM to support ongoing U.S. military operations." You see, every part of the DoD is required to go through the Defense Information Systems Agency when procuring SATCOM equipment. The problem is that this process is incredibly slow, and fraught with red tape. Because of this, many in the military skip DISA and go straight to commercial providers — at a steep markup. The GAO estimates that this cost taxpayers around $45 million extra in a single year.

Comments

Re:45 million? Tha's all?

[dcw3]

When I read tens of millions, my first thought was "chump change among billions", but the summary is wrong. Here's the text from the actual article:
If the GAO is correct, then the military could have gotten that same service for about $45 billion less.

Re:45 million? Tha's all?

[6ULDV8]

Looks like TFS is correct and the article is wrong.

> The most recent data available show that the military paid more than $1 billion for satellite capacity in 2011, according to GAO. That year, about $280 million worth of satellite capability was bought outside the DISA process. If the GAO is correct, then the military could have gotten that same service for about $45 billion less.

It's hard to save $45 billion on a total expenditure of $280 million.

Re:45 million? Tha's all?

[merky1]

Ummm... sequestration did not work, and was not the massive deterrent that it was made out to be. Pure pork programs like the F-35 were completely untouched. The only consistent aspect of sequestration was that federal employees (common people, not the asshats in congress) took a 5-10% paycut.