The U.S. Space Force has tapped a new manager for the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC), the agency’s prototyping organization, which will oversee $12 billion in awards for space-related projects over the next 10 years, C4ISRNet reported on Tuesday.
“There’s no question that SpEC has been an overwhelming success for the government programs that have utilized it to accelerate their prototyping, and for the consortium members to gain a better understanding on the USSF’s architectural direction,” said Col. Tim Sejba, program executive officer for Space and Missile Systems Center’s (SMC) Space Development Corps.
The SMC Space Development Corps has selected National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL) to manage its SpEC Reloaded portfolio, which will enable the agency to develop and integrate innovative solutions. SMC expects to issue the award on Dec. 31, following a required 30-day congressional notification period.
“We are honored to contribute to U.S. space advancement,” NSTXL CEO Tim Greeff said. “This has been a very successful program thus far, and we look forward to taking it to next level to unlock more value for the U.S. military by engaging more nontraditional defense companies and bringing great innovation to the nascent Space Force.”
Since its inception in 2017, SpEC has awarded prototyping awards for a wide variety of space and technology solutions. SpEC has reduced contract award timelines by 36 percent, grown membership by 55 percent year-over-year and awarded 80 prototype efforts with a combined value of $856 million.
In addition, SpEC has also enabled non-traditional companies to win work with the Department of Defense on space systems. SpEC has connected vendors with organizations, including the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, as well as the intelligence community’s National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), by using other transaction authorities (OTAs).
OTAs allow “us to get on contract much faster than traditional approaches,” SMC head Lt. Gen. John Thompson said. “In addition, the vehicle really lowers the bar for nontraditional contractors to become part of national security space efforts, makes it easier for them to get in the door. In fact, 350 of those 430 members of the consortium are really nontraditional contractors or academic organizations.”
