NIC4 awarded satcom service provider registry prototype contract for the US Space Force
- Satellite Evolution
- May 4, 2022
- 2 min read
NIC4, a subsidiary of Network Innovations, announces that it has been awarded a Service Provider Registry (SPR) prototype, a component of the Satellite Communications (SATCOM) Enterprise Management and Control (EM&C). This software development effort is for the US Space Force (USSF), Space Systems Command (SSC) through the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) as an Other Transactional Authority (OTA) Agreement Award. The SPR prototype represents the company’s fourth major award under the EM&C program.
The purpose of the SPR prototype is to provide a structured, authoritative catalog of commercial and military SATCOM services that can be allocated to fulfill Department of Defense (DOD) SATCOM mission requirements. It is an essential part of the EM&C planning element that will combine knowledge of missions, services, terminals and threats for optimal planning and provisioning of DOD terminals for mission operations. The SPR prototype will also capture descriptions and parameterization of space and ground segment infrastructure.
The implementation will be developed and delivered as a set of scalable microservices within a stackable, secure, cloud-built architecture. It will be hosted on a government provided platform-as-a-service that includes cyber security and automated testing as an integral part of the software development and deployment process. This will enable rapid delivery of incrementally expanded feature sets in an agile framework.
“The Service Provider Registry prototype is our next step towards reaching our first operational capability for EM&C. It is centered around an integrated SATCOM Common Operating Picture with alerts, health and status, and operational readiness of terminal, space and terrestrial ground components, delivering SATCOM when and where it is needed worldwide,” said Lieutenant Colonel Gary Thompson, Chief of SATCOM Capability Integration at Space Systems Command.
“NIC4 is honored to continue to support the USSF in delivering highly flexible and resilient SATCOM services to the US Military, to ensure our forces continue to enjoy information dominance on the battlefield in the face of new and increasingly challenging conflict domains,” said Chad Gatlin, CEO of NIC4.
NIC4 winning the Satcom registry contract with the US Space Force shows how critical infrastructure and strategic planning intersect — for teams building systems like this, leveraging tools that scale operations is essential, and exploring Top 10 Manufacturing Capacity Planning Tools can help ensure resource optimization and system resilience.
This award is a big moment — having NIC4 build the Satcom Service Provider Registry prototype for the US Space Force shows how critical secure, scalable comms infrastructure is becoming. If you’re interested in how projects like this are built behind the scenes, also check out ai-powered development on devcom’s tech blog — there’s some cool discussion of combining AI with robust engineering approaches.
Great milestone with NIC4 getting that contract. In high‑stakes projects like this, knowing the difference between security integrated early vs later really matters. For anyone comparing approaches, devops devsecops is worth a read—it clarifies how embedding security in DevOps workflows affects risk, compliance, and trust.