Special Notice Call for White Papers - SDN Industry Consortium

SPECIAL NOTICE: CALL FOR WHITE PAPERS

Space Data Network (SDN) Industry Consortium for Space-to-Space Communications

Notice ID: FA8819-SDN-CONSORT-27-01

Notice Type: Special Notice
NAICS Code: 541715 – Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
Product Service Code (PSC): AC12 – Space R&D Services; Commercialized and Other Applied Research
Response Date: 23 November 2026 NLT 17:00 Pacific Time (PT)

1. Purpose and Program Background

The Space Systems Command’s Space Data Network Backbone (SDN-B) program office is fielding a proliferated, integrated, vendor-diverse space-to-space communications mesh in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) leveraging commercial product baselines from across the industrial base. This mesh forms the critical communications backbone of the Space Data Network (SDN).
SDN-B has established the Space Data Network (SDN) Industry Consortium to cultivate a collaborative public-private partnership focused on addressing high-priority technical integration and architectural challenges across the proliferated LEO (pLEO) space-to-space communications mesh.
This announcement is an open, one-step call for white papers to serve as market intelligence, informing the Government of the capabilities of the industrial base to meet current and future SDN requirements. Based on this market intelligence, the Government may onboard individual companies into the SDN consortium.

2. Consortium Construct & Terms of Participation
Agreement Mechanism: Selected industry members will enter the consortium as Associate Members under a $0-value Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) executed pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 4022.
Scope of Engagement: Consortium members will participate in regular collaborative forums, technical working groups, and architectural interchange meetings chaired by the Government. Activities include technical interoperability assessments, standards formulation, risk reduction discussions, and multi-vendor on-ramp coordination. Agreements & Non-Disclosure: Participating organizations will be required to execute Associate Contractor Agreements (ACAs) and implement Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) and proprietary information protection strategies to enable cross-industry and Government information exchange.

Nature of Notice: This notice does not constitute a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) or a commitment by the Government to fund any development. Membership does not guarantee future contract awards or delivery orders.