USSTRATCOM Cyber & Space 2011 Walter Scott

Image: Iran | July 5, 2011 | 50cm

A New Acquisition Model for a Budget Constrained Era

Service Level Agreements

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

• Vendor provides infrastructure and operations to deliver a service

• Customer makes stable, multi-year commitment to acquire the service

Consumer Electronics

Dedicated Manufacturing

SLA Manufacturing

• Seasonal demand • Can repurpose

excess capacity • Can surge if needed

EnhancedView (EV) SLA

•NGA contract to acquire unclassified, shareable imagery

•10 yr term, monthly fee

QuickBird

On-orbit 0.6m GSD

WorldView-1

On-orbit 0.5m GSD

WorldView-2

On-orbit 0.46m GSD

WorldView-3

2014 0.3m GSD

WorldView-4

2018 <=0.3m GSD

•Priority access to 5-satellite imaging constellation for much less than cost of ownership

•Guaranteed capacity, accuracy, timeliness, availability

•Includes hosting and delivery

•Continuous improvement in capacity, # sats, resolution, timelines, etc

•Firm fixed price, low cost risk

DigitalGlobe Satellite Acquisitions

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

140%

160%

-200% 0% 200% 400% 600% 800%

Sch

ed

ule

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wth

(P

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t)

Cost Growth (Percent)

DigitalGlobe Satellite Acquisitions

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

140%

160%

-200% 0% 200% 400% 600% 800%

Sch

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ule

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(P

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Cost Growth (Percent)

WorldView-1

QuickBird, WorldView-2

(All cost growth has been absorbed entirely by DigitalGlobe; none was passed on to the USG)

SLAs Enable This Performance

• Stable requirements

• Stable funding

• Stable, experienced staffing

• Managed innovation

• Eating our own cooking

Traditional Acquisition

• You buy the car

• You drive the car

• You pay for gas

• You fix the car if it breaks

Why Are SLAs Better?

• You buy a new car every few years

• And it all costs less than ownership

• When your relatives visit, we provide extra cars for their use

SLA Acquisition

• You sign up for an SLA

• We drive the car

• We pay for gas

• We fix the car if it breaks

• We add a better car every few years

SLAs Most Applicable When

• Up-front investment is needed to create required infrastructure

• Activity requires development and operations

• Long term, (mostly) predictable needs

• Bleeding edge technology not required

– SLA does allow for technology insertion

• There are multiple customers across whom to spread costs, and enabling surge capacity

SLA Model is Applicable To

Imagery

Geospatial production

• & Analysis?

• Telecommunications

• Launch

• Weather?

• Cyber?