National Reconnaissance Office Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Release #05-22

Contact: 703-808-1198 | media@nro.mil May 25, 2022

NRO announces largest award of commercial imagery contracts

CHANTILLY, Va. – The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) today announced the 

results of its largest-ever commercial imagery contract effort, awarding Electro-Optical 

Commercial Layer (EOCL) contracts to BlackSky, Maxar, and Planet. Valued at billions 

of dollars over the next decade, these contracts mark a historic expansion of the NRO’s 

acquisition of commercial imagery to meet increasing customer demands with greater 

capacity than ever before.

“The NRO has a long-standing strategy of ‘buy what we can, build what we must’,” said

Dr. Chris Scolese, director of the NRO. “The diversity offered by our expanding 

architecture comprised of both commercial and NRO systems increases our resilience and 

enables an integrated approach to the threats facing our Nation.” 

Due to its unclassified and shareable nature, commercial remote sensing data offer 

important benefits, including increased transparency, mission-critical situational 

awareness, and humanitarian assistance. EOCL's unique design, featuring user-friendly 

license agreements and built-in contract flexibility, maximizes shareability across a 

diverse customer base. 

“Commercial imagery is a valuable tool for information sharing and decision making,” 

said Pete Muend, director of NRO’s commercial systems program office. “EOCL allows 

us to meet a larger number of customer requirements more quickly than ever before 

and dedicate national systems to the most challenging and sensitive missions.”

The EOCL awards are the culmination of close collaboration with stakeholders from 

across the defense and intelligence communities. EOCL includes a substantial increase in 

requirements for foundation data, intelligence points, and non-taskable data collection; 

shortwave infrared, nighttime, and non-earth imaging; and direct downlink to theaterbased remote ground terminals—a vital capability for the military that has been 

successfully demonstrated in multiple exercises over the past year. 

EOCL will support the mission needs of NRO’s half-million intelligence, defense, and 

federal civil agency users over the next decade. It will also help ensure long-term, 

continued support for the U.S. commercial remote sensing industry. EOCL is effective as 

of May 22, 2022 with a five-year base and multiple one-year options with additional 

growth through 2032.
Learn more about NRO acquisition opportunities at NRO.gov/innovate.

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NRO is the leader in developing, acquiring, launching, and operating the nation’s 

intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance satellites to secure and expand America’s 

advantage in space. We are building a diversified and resilient architecture of spacecraft 

and ground systems designed to meet the challenges of a changing space environment by 

accelerating innovation and leveraging strategic partnerships, backed by a diverse and 

highly skilled workforce. At NRO, we See It, Hear It, Sense It so our nation’s warfighters 

and policymakers have decision advantage amid increasing global competition. Learn 

more at NRO.gov.