Summary: Space Systems Command’s Commercial SATCOM Communications Office has joined the Air Force Working Capital Fund, establishing a new Enterprise Space Activity Group charter that will enable more commercial space capabilities and services for warfighters.
El Segundo, Calif~ A new Enterprise Space Activity Group (ESAG) on behalf of Space Systems Command’s Commercial SATCOM Communications Office (CSCO) was activated on Oct. 1 to enable the Space Force to better support its Commercial Space Strategy, ensuring combat effectiveness for Dept. of War (DoW) components and joint and allied warfighters.
“I’m very proud of our combined interagency team. The establishment of a Working Capital Fund for the USSF represents an important milestone in integrating commercial capabilities into the architecture,” said USSF Col. Timothy Trimailo. “It allows us to meet the uptick in warfighter demands and enables commercial vendors more flexibility to work with the Space Force, setting the stage for additional commercial services in the future.”
The Working Capital Fund (WCF) was established through the ESAG charter to provide an adaptable and scalable financial platform, capable of synchronizing DoW space efforts to support future commercial service demands. The charter established the ESAG under the Air Force WCF and was contingent upon establishment of sufficient cash corpus, trained personnel, and implementation of an audit-compliant financial system.
Through the WCF, customers pay for services, the WCF collects the reimbursements and that revenue is used to replenish the corpus, creating a revolving fund that does not depend on a continuous cycle of annual appropriations.
The WCF operates on a "break-even" basis with a long-term strategy, and any profits can lead to lower rates for customers in the future, while losses may require higher rates; or a request for more money may be needed to add more money to the corpus.
This WCF required initial capital of $120M as an activation deposit to start operations and is estimated to be valued in excess of $1.2B annually. The Commercial Satellite Communications Office is the only approved program under the ESAG charter to manage the WCF.
“The USSF ESAG will be a separate activity that’s not budgeted through annual federal appropriations,” said Clare Hopper, director, SSC CSCO. “The WCF allows enough lead time to budget for anticipated demand and the annual device count updates enable equitable cost share but should be applied in a manner that enables customers adequate lead time to budget.”
In the previous two decades, DoW commercial space communications services were provided by CSCO under the Defense Information System Agency’s (DISA) long-standing Defense Working Capital Fund. Since the establishment of the Space Force in 2019 and the transition of CSCO into the Space Force, CSCO continues to be the sole authority for procurement of commercial satellite communication services and capabilities for the DoW.
CSCO supports U.S. federal, state, and local agencies and international partners through its three business units: the Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) Program, the EMSS Capabilities Office (ECO), and the COMSATCOM Solutions Program.
“This is a strategic advantage for the Space Force and more importantly, our warfighters,” said Hopper. “We’re looking forward to offering even more capabilities that our warfighters need and deserve to be successful.”
Space Systems Command is the U.S. Space Force field command responsible for acquiring, developing, and delivering resilient capabilities to outpace emerging threats and protect our Nation’s strategic advantage in, from, and to space. SSC manages a $15.6 billion annual space acquisition budget for the Department of Defense, working with joint forces, industry partners, government agencies, academia, and allied nations. For more information, visit ssc.spaceforce.mil and follow @USSF-SSC on LinkedIn.
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