Galileo Service Provision Delegated to the European GNSS Agency

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) and the European Commission have concluded an agreement that delegates a range of exploitation tasks for Galileo to the GSA, providing a framework and budget for the development of services and operations through 2021.

The signing of the Galileo Exploitation Delegation Agreement serves as an initial step towards the full Galileo Exploitation Phase.

According to the governance structure set out in the Agreement for the Galileo programme, the European Commission is responsible for the overall programme supervision, the European Space Agency (ESA) is entrusted with the deployment phase, while the GSA is responsible for the exploitation phase.

As to the exploitation phase, the GSA’s responsibilities include:

• Provision and marketing of the services
• Management, maintenance, continuous improvement, evolution and protection of the space and ground infrastructure
• Research and development of receiver platforms with innovative features in different application domains
• Development of future generations of the system
• Cooperation with other GNSS
• All other required activities to ensure the development and smooth running of the system

“With Galileo, we aim to provide a tangible service to European citizens, and this Delegation Agreement ensures we have the tools and funding necessary to achieve this,” said GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides.

The Galileo exploitation phase will be progressively rolled out starting in 2014-2015, with full operability scheduled for 2020.

The agreement was signed between Daniel Calleja Crespo, director-general of the Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General at the European Commission and Carlo des Dorides, executive director of the GSA. The agreement specifically sets the actions to be implemented, the amount of funding provided, and the conditions for the overall management.

The implementation period of the agreement runs until 2021, with a comprehensive review of its functioning by the end of 2016. The maximum current EU contribution amounts to EUR 490 million, which will cover procurement and grant activities, including the GSA-ESA working arrangements and a programme management reserve, along with related research and development activities. The financing of the full exploitation phase will be confirmed during a mid-term review before the end of 2016.