The House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC) authorization bill would give the U.S. Space Force new authority to charge commercial space companies for indirect costs related to launch activities on its bases, giving the service a new source of revenue to support the growing number of commercial space launches at government facilities.
The committee’s version of the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes an amendment that was sponsored by Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) and partially mirrors proposed authorities the government sought from Congress earlier this year to help defray the costs of the ever-increasing commercial launch activities from its launch facilities in California and Florida.
Carbajal’s amendment, approved last week en bloc with a host of other provisions in the HASC bill, would allow the Space Force to charge for costs related to things like general security and day-to-day personnel costs such as contracting and finance personnel, which are all part of routine space port operations. When these personnel are directly supporting commercial operations, they are recoverable from a launch provider but otherwise are taxpayer funded.
In May, Col. Jim Horne, deputy director of Assured Access to Space for Space Systems Command, told Defense Daily that personnel supporting launch activities have become a “resource constraint for use from a capacity perspective” and that if allowed to charge the commercial providers for indirect costs it would give the Space Force the added resources to support the higher commercial demand (Defense Daily, May 15).
Carbajal’s amendment would cap reimbursed indirect costs at 30 percent, or no more than $5 million annually, of total direct cost reimbursements with a particular commercial entity.
The Space Force also asked Congress for authority to lease property for up to 25 years for use as a “commercial space launch or space launch support site” giving the Defense Department “unique flexibility to encourage both commercial development and obtain commercial infrastructure contributions,” according to an explanatory statement the department provided Congress with the proposed legislation.
The lease portion of the proposal was not included in Carbajal’s amendment and remains subject to discussions.
If Carbajal’s amendment becomes part of the final FY ’24 NDAA, the Space Force would be required to provide Congress an annual report on the total direct and indirect costs that have been reimbursed to each spaceport, and describe the specific support that has been reimbursed.
Carbajal’s district includes Vandenberg Space Force Base. The Space Force also operates a space port at Cape Canaveral Space Force station in Florida.
There is more commercial activity at the space ports than DoD-specific launches and that trend is expected to continue.