damiendehorn
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Well at last the go ahead has been given. Looks like you stick bongobhondhu name on anything and it will get the green light.
BD govt decides to launch satellite
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damiendehorn
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Thanks for the offer, but the sat will weight a lot more then 150kg, around 1500_2000kg and will have to be placed in GSO orbit. Its being designed and made by the US, so the launch vechicle will either be US or European.
Sheikh Mujib was a anti Bangladeshi figure and he now symbol of Awami League looting and his Mijib bahini was looting after independence.
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BTRC manipulates evaluation to advantage small US company
David Bergman
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission manipulated the results of the technical evaluation of tender proposals from five international companies, each of whom were bidding to assist the government in the launch of the countrys first space satellite, to ensure that a small US company won the contract.
A New Age investigation has found that Space Partnership International, which in
March 2012 signed a $10 million consultancy contract with the government, only won the tender after another applicant, which had received a much higher score in the technical evaluation, was disqualified in highly contentious circumstances.
Inquiries also show that the BTRC was aided in this manipulation by Space Partnership International which provided the regulator with misleading information.
This disclosure comes a day after New Age reported that the winning company had not even met the minimum tender requirements and should not have been shortlisted for the technical evaluation.
In May 2011, a seven-member evaluation committee led by one of the BTRCs commissioners, Mallick Sudhir Chandra, and also comprising of three further BTRC staff members and three other non-BTRC government employees, started the process of technically evaluating the proposals of the five shortlisted applicants.
According to the BTRC version, Space Partnership International, a small US company with barely a dozen employees, was the only applicant to obtain an average of more than 80 marks, requiring only its financial bid to be opened.
New Age can, however, reveal that one of the five applicants, the large US public company Globecomm Systems Inc, received a far higher score.
When the scores of all the evaluators were averaged out, two of the companies
received over 80 marks, one of the evaluators told New Age. Space Partnership International received about 81 marks but Globecomm received around 92 marks.
At a meeting of the evaluation committee in early June, a piece of paper was distributed summarising all the marks given.
I could see that not only had Globecomm received an average of over 90 marks but that each of the seven members of the committee had given Globecomm over 90 marks, the person added.
Another evaluator confirmed this scoring.
It is at this stage, New Age has learnt that the evaluation committee came under pressure from within the BTRC to disqualify Globecomm on the basis that it broke a condition in the tender which prohibited applicants from having ties to satellite manufacturers.
The claim that Globecomm was involved with manufacturing was first made in a letter, dated June 8, 2011 and titled confidential, which Space Partnership Internationals managing director Bruce Krapelsy sent to the BTRCs evaluation committee chairman.
The letter stated that Globecomm was a manufacturer and supplier of ground-based systems directly related to the satellite industry.Krapelsky supported this contention by pointing to wording on Globecomms web site which refers to the companys engineering expertise producing a wide range of satellite and wireless terminal products.
On the basis of this letter, the evaluation committee disqualified Globecomm. t was found from the contents of [Globecomms] web site that it was offering satellite earth stations and related equipments as its products, it stated. Space satellite experts have, however, told New Age that it is not correct to claim that Globecomm was involved in manufacturing.
Robert Bell, executive director of both the Society of Satellite Professionals International and the World Teleport Association, a US-based satellite industry trade association whose members include Globecomm, told New Age, The company is not a manufacturer. It is a system integrator.
In the space satellite sector, there is a clear distinction between manufacturers who make the components and integrators who buy the already manufactured components and create a system from them, he added. I have never heard of Globecomm being talked about as being involved in manufacturing.
Andrew Smith, president of a European ground systems company and who once worked at Globecomm, confirmed this. The company has nothing whatsoever to do with the manufacturing of ground stations. They are not manufacturers, but integrators.
New Age has also confirmed that members on the BTRC evaluation committee, none of whom have any expertise in the satellite sector, did not seek an expert opinion on the accuracy of Space Partnership Internationals claims.
According to one evaluator, the BTRC chairman, in fact, specifically rejected this suggestion at a meeting he arranged with the evaluation committee after it had completed its scoring.
It was suggested that it would be a good idea to get an expert to assess whether Globecomm should be disqualified. But the chairman said that there was no time for that, a person who was present at the meeting told New Age.
In addition, if reference to producing products and engineering on a companys web site was the basis for disqualification, the application of Space Partnership International, the company that won, would also have to be under question.
This is because the web site of RKF Engineering Solutions Ltd, the company with which Space Partnership International had applied for the tender, has a whole section titled Products and services which stated that RKF offers a host of products and is working with manufacturers.
Globecomm appealed against its disqualification to a procurement review panel in September 2011.
At the hearing, the BTRC supported its view that Globecomm had ties with manufacturers by claiming that the company had acquired a ground station division of the satellite manufacturer, Matra Marconi.
In response, Globecomm told the panel that the division purchased in England was not involved in the manufacture of satellites or earth station equipment and that the subsidiary company that Globecomm had created to run the division was in any case closed down in 2006.
The review panel, however, did not believe the company and ruled that that because Globecomm could not prove one of the vital conditions of the RFP documentarily it is conclusive proof that Globecomm Systems Inc has a ties/interest with Matra Marconi who is a satellite manufacturer.
The satellite expert Andrew Smith, who used to work for the Matra Marconi division before it was purchased by Globecom, however, told New Age that the division had nothing to do with manufacturing of satellite or ground system. It was just involved in earth station system integration. In addition, records filed with the UKs Companies House corroborate what Globecomm said about the establishment and sale of the company.
Before Space Partnership International could sign the contract, one further obstacle was placed in the BTRCs way and New Age has discovered that this forced the government regulator to change the actual scoring given by the technical evaluation committee.
In the middle of February 2010, six months after all the evaluations were done, I was asked to sign a sheet which had new scoring for Globecomm. In the new sheet, the total scoring for the company was now below 80, one of the evaluators told New Age.
This was confirmed by another committee member.
The BTRC changed the scoring as the cabinets purchase committee had asked to see the score sheet relating to the disqualified bidders.
There was no meeting of the evaluation committee to consider this. I was told that since Globecomm had a conflict of interest which disqualified it, its technical scoring should be lowered, the person added.
In response to a detailed set of questions about the evaluation process both Bruce Krapelsy, Space Partnership Internationals managing director, and Zia Ahmed, the BTRCs chairman, told New Age that the selection process was conducted properly and that the company was selected because it was the best qualified.
Krapelsy said, Our focus is now on helping BTRC to achieve its objectives with respect to the construction, launch and implementation of the Bangabandhu satellite system.
At an earlier meeting, when asked how such a small company managed to beat much bigger companies, Krapelsy told New Age, We found our way through as we were clearly the best. We brought a very unique combination of expertise to this project that none of the other players had from a complete perspective.
The BTRC chairman, a retired major general, however, denied any intervention in the process.
The entire responsibility for the evaluation was with the evaluation committee. Whatever they recommended I sent to the government. I was not aware of what was going on with the evaluation.
About whether he placed any pressure on the evaluation committee, he said, The evaluation committee was absolutely free to decide on everything and my point was only that they should consider all the [tender] requirements.
He said that he did not know what happened at the purchase committee. I was not present. It was the chairman of the assessment panel who attended.
The chairman of the assessment panel declined to comment. His term as commissioner ended on April 26, 2012. He is waiting to hear whether he will be reappointed commissioner for another term.
Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of the Transparency International Bangladesh, told New Age, Before proceeding any further on the project, the government should constitute a fully-fledged independent investigation in order to establish, without any bias or influence, if any violations took place, in which case the bidding process should be re-opened and the wrongdoers should be handed exemplary punishment.
He also called on the US government to conduct due investigations in case the US company or any associated quarter has been involved in any malpractice and abuse of power, he said pointing out that the US ambassador was present at the contract signing ceremony.
New Age | Newspaper
Source: Crippling Corruption by Awami League regime | Page 4
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BTRC manipulates evaluation to advantage small US company
David Bergman
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission manipulated the results of the technical evaluation of tender proposals from five international companies, each of whom were bidding to assist the government in the launch of the countrys first space satellite, to ensure that a small US company won the contract.
A New Age investigation has found that Space Partnership International, which in
March 2012 signed a $10 million consultancy contract with the government, only won the tender after another applicant, which had received a much higher score in the technical evaluation, was disqualified in highly contentious circumstances.
Inquiries also show that the BTRC was aided in this manipulation by Space Partnership International which provided the regulator with misleading information.
This disclosure comes a day after New Age reported that the winning company had not even met the minimum tender requirements and should not have been shortlisted for the technical evaluation.
In May 2011, a seven-member evaluation committee led by one of the BTRCs commissioners, Mallick Sudhir Chandra, and also comprising of three further BTRC staff members and three other non-BTRC government employees, started the process of technically evaluating the proposals of the five shortlisted applicants.
According to the BTRC version, Space Partnership International, a small US company with barely a dozen employees, was the only applicant to obtain an average of more than 80 marks, requiring only its financial bid to be opened.
New Age can, however, reveal that one of the five applicants, the large US public company Globecomm Systems Inc, received a far higher score.
When the scores of all the evaluators were averaged out, two of the companies
received over 80 marks, one of the evaluators told New Age. Space Partnership International received about 81 marks but Globecomm received around 92 marks.
At a meeting of the evaluation committee in early June, a piece of paper was distributed summarising all the marks given.
I could see that not only had Globecomm received an average of over 90 marks but that each of the seven members of the committee had given Globecomm over 90 marks, the person added.
Another evaluator confirmed this scoring.
It is at this stage, New Age has learnt that the evaluation committee came under pressure from within the BTRC to disqualify Globecomm on the basis that it broke a condition in the tender which prohibited applicants from having ties to satellite manufacturers.
The claim that Globecomm was involved with manufacturing was first made in a letter, dated June 8, 2011 and titled confidential, which Space Partnership Internationals managing director Bruce Krapelsy sent to the BTRCs evaluation committee chairman.
The letter stated that Globecomm was a manufacturer and supplier of ground-based systems directly related to the satellite industry.Krapelsky supported this contention by pointing to wording on Globecomms web site which refers to the companys engineering expertise producing a wide range of satellite and wireless terminal products.
On the basis of this letter, the evaluation committee disqualified Globecomm. t was found from the contents of [Globecomms] web site that it was offering satellite earth stations and related equipments as its products, it stated. Space satellite experts have, however, told New Age that it is not correct to claim that Globecomm was involved in manufacturing.
Robert Bell, executive director of both the Society of Satellite Professionals International and the World Teleport Association, a US-based satellite industry trade association whose members include Globecomm, told New Age, The company is not a manufacturer. It is a system integrator.
In the space satellite sector, there is a clear distinction between manufacturers who make the components and integrators who buy the already manufactured components and create a system from them, he added. I have never heard of Globecomm being talked about as being involved in manufacturing.
Andrew Smith, president of a European ground systems company and who once worked at Globecomm, confirmed this. The company has nothing whatsoever to do with the manufacturing of ground stations. They are not manufacturers, but integrators.
New Age has also confirmed that members on the BTRC evaluation committee, none of whom have any expertise in the satellite sector, did not seek an expert opinion on the accuracy of Space Partnership Internationals claims.
According to one evaluator, the BTRC chairman, in fact, specifically rejected this suggestion at a meeting he arranged with the evaluation committee after it had completed its scoring.
It was suggested that it would be a good idea to get an expert to assess whether Globecomm should be disqualified. But the chairman said that there was no time for that, a person who was present at the meeting told New Age.
In addition, if reference to producing products and engineering on a companys web site was the basis for disqualification, the application of Space Partnership International, the company that won, would also have to be under question.
This is because the web site of RKF Engineering Solutions Ltd, the company with which Space Partnership International had applied for the tender, has a whole section titled Products and services which stated that RKF offers a host of products and is working with manufacturers.
Globecomm appealed against its disqualification to a procurement review panel in September 2011.
At the hearing, the BTRC supported its view that Globecomm had ties with manufacturers by claiming that the company had acquired a ground station division of the satellite manufacturer, Matra Marconi.
In response, Globecomm told the panel that the division purchased in England was not involved in the manufacture of satellites or earth station equipment and that the subsidiary company that Globecomm had created to run the division was in any case closed down in 2006.
The review panel, however, did not believe the company and ruled that that because Globecomm could not prove one of the vital conditions of the RFP documentarily it is conclusive proof that Globecomm Systems Inc has a ties/interest with Matra Marconi who is a satellite manufacturer.
The satellite expert Andrew Smith, who used to work for the Matra Marconi division before it was purchased by Globecom, however, told New Age that the division had nothing to do with manufacturing of satellite or ground system. It was just involved in earth station system integration. In addition, records filed with the UKs Companies House corroborate what Globecomm said about the establishment and sale of the company.
Before Space Partnership International could sign the contract, one further obstacle was placed in the BTRCs way and New Age has discovered that this forced the government regulator to change the actual scoring given by the technical evaluation committee.
In the middle of February 2010, six months after all the evaluations were done, I was asked to sign a sheet which had new scoring for Globecomm. In the new sheet, the total scoring for the company was now below 80, one of the evaluators told New Age.
This was confirmed by another committee member.
The BTRC changed the scoring as the cabinets purchase committee had asked to see the score sheet relating to the disqualified bidders.
There was no meeting of the evaluation committee to consider this. I was told that since Globecomm had a conflict of interest which disqualified it, its technical scoring should be lowered, the person added.
In response to a detailed set of questions about the evaluation process both Bruce Krapelsy, Space Partnership Internationals managing director, and Zia Ahmed, the BTRCs chairman, told New Age that the selection process was conducted properly and that the company was selected because it was the best qualified.
Krapelsy said, Our focus is now on helping BTRC to achieve its objectives with respect to the construction, launch and implementation of the Bangabandhu satellite system.
At an earlier meeting, when asked how such a small company managed to beat much bigger companies, Krapelsy told New Age, We found our way through as we were clearly the best. We brought a very unique combination of expertise to this project that none of the other players had from a complete perspective.
The BTRC chairman, a retired major general, however, denied any intervention in the process.
The entire responsibility for the evaluation was with the evaluation committee. Whatever they recommended I sent to the government. I was not aware of what was going on with the evaluation.
About whether he placed any pressure on the evaluation committee, he said, The evaluation committee was absolutely free to decide on everything and my point was only that they should consider all the [tender] requirements.
He said that he did not know what happened at the purchase committee. I was not present. It was the chairman of the assessment panel who attended.
The chairman of the assessment panel declined to comment. His term as commissioner ended on April 26, 2012. He is waiting to hear whether he will be reappointed commissioner for another term.
Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of the Transparency International Bangladesh, told New Age, Before proceeding any further on the project, the government should constitute a fully-fledged independent investigation in order to establish, without any bias or influence, if any violations took place, in which case the bidding process should be re-opened and the wrongdoers should be handed exemplary punishment.
He also called on the US government to conduct due investigations in case the US company or any associated quarter has been involved in any malpractice and abuse of power, he said pointing out that the US ambassador was present at the contract signing ceremony.
New Age | Newspaper
Source: Crippling Corruption by Awami League regime | Page 4
Maiden satellite project okayed | Bangabandhu Satellite to take off by 2017; estimated cost Tk 2,968cr
Maiden satellite project okayed
Bangabandhu Satellite to take off by 2017; estimated cost Tk 2,968cr
Staff Correspondent
The government has approved a satellite project, first of its kind, to improve information technology related services, including mobile phone service and television broadcast, at a cheaper rate.
A satellite will be built and a ground station set up for launching it under the Tk 2,968-crore project. An authority will also be formed for the maintenance of the satellite. At present, telecommunications and broadcast services are provided through hiring bandwidths from overseas satellite operators.
The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) yesterday gave the go-ahead to the “Bangabandhu Satellite Launching Project”, under which a satellite is expected to take off from here by 2017.
The winning bidder will raise Tk 1,652-crore fund for the project, which means the government will have to pay it back at a higher interest rate than the cost of soft loans from development partners.
The Ecnec meeting was told that the USA, China, France, Russia and Japan had expressed interest in building and launching the satellite, but the committee decided to award the job through open bidding.
The cabinet committee on purchase will finally make the decision as to which firm will get the job, said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal after the meeting. The servicing cost will be negotiated with the winning bidder, he said.
Officials of the planning ministry at the meeting said most of the developed and developing countries had brought massive changes in telecommunication, broadcasting, meteorology, defence, telemedicine and research through launching their own satellites.
Bangladesh is a densely populated country and so it needs a satellite of its own for improving the IT services. About $14 million is paid every year to foreign operators only for broadcasting facilities, as per the planning ministry. The cost will be much less if Bangladesh procures a satellite.
The project will generate jobs in rural areas, said an official of the Information and Communication Technology Division, adding that mobile services would be improved there.
Two projects titled “Development of NGO-based telecommunication network” and “Setting up wireless broadband network” have been undertaken. The Sheikh Hasina-led government has also moved to set up a second submarine cable.
“When the proposed Bangabandhu Satellite Launching Project will be implemented, people all over the country will get information technology services at low cost and easily,” an official of the planning ministry said.
According to the proposal, the satellite will have 40 transponder capacity, 30 percent of which will be used up to meet the country's demand.
And the remaining 70 percent of the capacity would be available to sell services to other countries, officials of the planning ministry told the meeting.
There are demands in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, Malaysia launched three satellites and Indonesia placed nine satellites on the orbit, according to the planning ministry statistics.
Maiden satellite project okayed
Bangabandhu Satellite to take off by 2017; estimated cost Tk 2,968cr
Staff Correspondent
The government has approved a satellite project, first of its kind, to improve information technology related services, including mobile phone service and television broadcast, at a cheaper rate.
A satellite will be built and a ground station set up for launching it under the Tk 2,968-crore project. An authority will also be formed for the maintenance of the satellite. At present, telecommunications and broadcast services are provided through hiring bandwidths from overseas satellite operators.
The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) yesterday gave the go-ahead to the “Bangabandhu Satellite Launching Project”, under which a satellite is expected to take off from here by 2017.
The winning bidder will raise Tk 1,652-crore fund for the project, which means the government will have to pay it back at a higher interest rate than the cost of soft loans from development partners.
The Ecnec meeting was told that the USA, China, France, Russia and Japan had expressed interest in building and launching the satellite, but the committee decided to award the job through open bidding.
The cabinet committee on purchase will finally make the decision as to which firm will get the job, said Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal after the meeting. The servicing cost will be negotiated with the winning bidder, he said.
Officials of the planning ministry at the meeting said most of the developed and developing countries had brought massive changes in telecommunication, broadcasting, meteorology, defence, telemedicine and research through launching their own satellites.
Bangladesh is a densely populated country and so it needs a satellite of its own for improving the IT services. About $14 million is paid every year to foreign operators only for broadcasting facilities, as per the planning ministry. The cost will be much less if Bangladesh procures a satellite.
The project will generate jobs in rural areas, said an official of the Information and Communication Technology Division, adding that mobile services would be improved there.
Two projects titled “Development of NGO-based telecommunication network” and “Setting up wireless broadband network” have been undertaken. The Sheikh Hasina-led government has also moved to set up a second submarine cable.
“When the proposed Bangabandhu Satellite Launching Project will be implemented, people all over the country will get information technology services at low cost and easily,” an official of the planning ministry said.
According to the proposal, the satellite will have 40 transponder capacity, 30 percent of which will be used up to meet the country's demand.
And the remaining 70 percent of the capacity would be available to sell services to other countries, officials of the planning ministry told the meeting.
There are demands in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, Malaysia launched three satellites and Indonesia placed nine satellites on the orbit, according to the planning ministry statistics.
haman10
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aha !
i thought the sat. will be made by BD so i assumed it wont be more than 150kgs .
iran wont have those capabilities in a decade
good luck guys and i wish u the best !!
@BDforever huge step for BD , congrats !
trollhunter
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awesome..good going
HariPrasad
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Leo doesn't extend up to 2000 KM.
Good luck to Bangladesh.
What is the weight?
It can certainly Piggy Back with other satellites on PSLV if it is low weigh.
haman10
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A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with an altitude between 160 kilometers (99 mi), (orbital period of about 88 minutes), and 2,000 kilometers (1,200 mi) (about 127 minutes)
Low Earth orbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HariPrasad
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Yes it is Apogee. In general discussion apogee is not mentioned.
Most Earth observation satellites carry instruments that should be operated at a relatively low altitude. Altitudes below 500-600 kilometers are in general avoided, though, because of the significant air-drag at such low altitudes making frequent orbit reboost maneuvres necessary. The Earth observation satellites ERS-1, ERS-2and Envisat of European Space Agency as well as the MetOp spacecraft of theEuropean Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites are all operated at altitudes of about 800 km. The Proba-1, Proba-2 and SMOS spacecraft of European Space Agency are observing the Earth from an altitude of about 700 km.
Earth observation satellite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Astra-2013
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why BD wasting so much money on this new satellite , certainly US is not giving them some TOT.
BD should learn from pkistan, and buy a second hand satellite in orbit it would have been cheap.
BD should learn from pkistan, and buy a second hand satellite in orbit it would have been cheap.
TopCat
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How about India learn from Pakistan and buy a satellite that we throw away after testing and screwing.
damiendehorn
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PSLV has a max capacity of under 1500kg to GTO, the satillite will have 40 plus transponders and weigh between 1500kg and 2000kg which needs to be placed at GTO.
Our money our choice. Why do we need TOT, were not looking to start building satillites, we just want a advanced com sat as the gov has a priority focus on ICT exports in the next few decades and right now we have to pay others to use their com sat and in future having our own would save us money in the long run.
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Astra-2013
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itna emotional kyon hota hai lungiman.
thats ok...but then how your dreams of BD defeating superpapa of south asia will come true.
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damiendehorn
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Easily, according to you lot were already invading WB and assam. Looks like superpopo is doomed.
