Responding to complaints of favoritism in the Department of Defense‘s commercial satellite service procurement process, Intelsat told the General Accounting Office that a contract it received to provide satellite transponder service to a DoD contractor was awarded based on merit. The GAO became involved in the matter after Sens. James Inhofe (D-Hawaii), Dainel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) sent letters in mid-November asking GAO to review DoD commercial-satellite procurement practices.

In a response submitted to the GAO on Monday, Intelsat countered that “there is no reason to conclude that DoD contracting has been anything but fair to all qualified participants.” According to the Intelsat letter, “DoD has global satellite communications needs that require mission- critical reliability, coverage and service quality. Intelsat meets these needs better than our competitors. In the satellite business, location and reliability are paramount factors for success and Intelsat offers unrivalled global coverage and industry leading reliability.”