The NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A) intends to issue an Invitation for Bid (IFB) in relation to the procurement of hardware and software under NATO Project "CIS Uplift for ISAF HQ Crisis Establishment Billets".

NC3A has been authorized to use the Alliance Operations and Mission (AOM) International Competitive Bidding (ICB) procedure. The successful bid pursuant to this IFB will be the lowest price technically compliant bid in accordance with the evaluation criteria.

The estimated value of this project is €428,754. The reference of the IFB is IFB-CO-13225-OPL. The Department of Commerce will be using the same reference.

NC3A plans to place a single contract for the entire scope of work. No partial bidding will be allowed.

The IFB package will be NATO UNCLASSIFIED.

BACKGROUND

The new Crisis Establishment (CE) version of 16.0 for HQ ISAF, Kabul was approved in August 2010 and took effect on October 1, 2010. The manpower increase provides additional personnel within HQ ISAF, resulting in an increase of the requirement for end user equipment.

In response to the above situation, CJ6/HQ ISAF identified an urgent requirement (CUR OPS 1058) for providing additional CIS equipment based on the difference between CE version 15.1 and CE version 16.0.

SCOPE

This project is to deliver hardware (115 workstations, 17 printers, 28 VoIP phones, 28 NCN phones, 23 additional monitors, 3 switches, cables) including 1 year of warranty, and software to the HQ ISAF in Kabul, Afghanistan. The installation and the configuration inside the HQ is an NCSA/CST (NATO Communications Services Agency/CIS Support Team) responsibility, and will therefore not be part of the prospective contract.

The requested equipment must be completely interoperable with the existing CIS infrastructure/architecture in place, a description of which will be provided with the IFB, and compliant with the current NATO CIS/security standards in use in the Area of Operations.

BIDDING PROCEDURE

Before a firm can be nominated to the bidders list for this ICB procurement, it must be approved for participation in NATO ICB. Firms are approved for NATO ICB on a facility-by-facility basis. Only facilities located in NATO member nations may participate in NATO ICB. The U.S. Department of Commerce approves facilities that are located within the United States.

U.S. firms will find a copy of the U.S. NATO ICB application at the following website:

http://www.bis.doc.gov/defenseindustrialbaseprograms/OSIES/NATOprograms/index.htm

The NATO ICB application is a one-time application. The application requires supporting documentation in the form of 1) a company resume and 2) an annual report or set of financial documents indicating compilation, review, or audit by an independent CPA. The application and supporting documentation may be submitted as e-mail attachments. If, when submitting the application, your firm is interested in a specific NATO ICB project, please include the following in the text of your email:

- the title and/or solicitation number of the project
- the name/phone/FAX/email of the point of contact for the bid documents

After approval of your one-time NATO ICB application, the Department of Commerce will then know to follow up by issuing a Declaration of Eligibility (DOE) for that project. A DOE is used to nominate an approved firm to the bidders list for a particular NATO ICB project.

Using the contact information indicated on the DOE, the NATO contracting agency will contact the firm directly when the IFB has been issued.

IMPORTANT DATES:

1) Request DOE (and, for firms new to NATO ICB, submit completed NATO ICB application): no later than May 05, 2011
2) Release of IFB: planned for May 2011
3) Bid Closing: early June 2011
4) Contract Award: end of June 2011

Bid Protests Not Available