The helpdesk support will consist of two consultants, both individuals to be located at HQ ISAF under NCIA System Management Division at SHAPE Mons Belgium and NCIA Sector ISAF supervision. The two consutants will spend a majority of the contract year deployed to ISAF operations in Afghanistan on a rotational basis.

Potential U.S. bidders 1) must be pre-approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce for participation in NATO International Competitive Bidding (ICB) and 2) must be in possession of a current facility security clearance at the level of SECRET. In addition, contractor personnel must be in possession of a SECRET clearance. The contractor is responsible for ensuring that the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO) forwards to NCSA the required NATO security clearance certifications.

The reference for the IFIB is IFIB-12-12-NCIA-SPHQ. The Department of Commerce will be using the same reference.

The base contract is for a period of eight months (May 2013 - December 2013) with up to four one-year options.

Partial bidding is not authorized.

BIDDING PROCEDURE

Only facilities located in NATO member nations may participate in NATO ICB, which requires that the NATO member governments nominate to the bidders list those firms that are located within their borders. Before the U.S. Government can nominate a U.S. firm to the bidders list for this ICB procurement, the firm must be approved for participation in NATO ICB. Firms are approved for NATO ICB on a facility-by-facility basis. 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 U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) will then know to follow up by issuing a Declaration of Eligibility (DOE) for that project. NATO-member governments use a DOE to nominate an approved firm to the bidders list for a particular NATO ICB project.

IMPORTANT DATES:

- Request from the DOC that a DOE be issued (and, for firms new to NATO ICB, submit completed one-time NATO ICB application): 31 December 2012

- IFIB planned to be issued middle of January 2013

- Bid Closing planned for end of February 2013