Lite Coms wins $500M Marine Corps satellite equipment contract

Lite Coms, a small business that designs and manufactures satellite terminals, has won a potential $500 million contract to supply related products and equipment for the Marine Corps to access wideband satellite communications systems.

Six companies submitted proposals for the five-year contract that initially will cover test systems and logistics work on the developmental phase, the Pentagon said in its Monday awards digest.

The Marine Corps is using this contract to buy a pair of radio systems, aptly named Marine Corps Wideband Satellite Communications Light (MCWS-L) and Heavy (MCWS-H), for accessing the Internet and U.S. military communication networks without a line-of-sight connection.

Procurement documents available through GovTribe detail how the Marines want the lighter variant to support battalions and missions involving smaller teams, while the heavy variant is geared toward regiments and larger missions.

Work under the contract will take place over two phases with the first involving the developmental testing and logistics efforts ahead of a Marine Corps fielding decision. Phase two involves production, testing and delivery of the systems after that decision.

Lite Coms will also be responsible for providing technical data, logistics data, training data, training support, fielding support, sustainment support, and any technology upgrades or engineering changes needed to maintain the relevance of the systems.

This contract appears to be brand new requirement, thus there is no incumbent. It also apparently was a full-and-open competition.