The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) intends to issue an Invitation For Bid (IFB) for delivery of Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Increments 1&2 functions for TOPFAS.

Potential U.S. prime contractors must 1) maintain a professionally active facility (office, factory, laboratory, etc.) within the United States, 2) be pre-approved for participation in NATO International Competitive Bidding (ICB), and 3) be issued a Declaration of Eligibility (DOE) by the U.S. Government.   

The successful bidder may be required to handle and store classified information up to the level of NATO RESTRICTED. In addition, execution of the proposed contract may require that personnel of the successful bidder hold individual security clearances of SECRET. Only firms maintaining the appropriate personnel clearances will be able to perform the resulting contract.

The reference for the IFB is IFB-CO-115498-TOPFAS-BMD and all correspondence concerning the IFB should reference this number.

The successful bid will be the bid that is deemed to offer the best value in accordance with predefined bid evaluation criteria, which will be detailed in the IFB. The top-level criteria weightings will be 60% Technical and 40% Price. 

No partial bidding will be accepted.

SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENTS

Work Package 1: Deliver TOPFAS BMD Capabilities: This work package comprises the activities for developing and delivering the first increment of Functional Services for Operations Planning in Support of BMD (TOPFAS BMD) allocated scope of functionality, which is to be implemented by adding new BMD capabilities and making enhancements to the current baseline of the TOPFAS Application Suite.

b. Work Package 2: Deliver TOPFAS BMD Capabilities: This work package comprises the activities for developing and delivering the second increment of TOPFAS allocated scope of functionality and further evolving and extending the TOPFAS Application Suite capabilities delivered under Work Package 1. This work package is conditional, so that it can be exercised pending the contractor’s performance and successful completion of milestones/gates/criteria for Work Package 1. With the delivery of Work Package 2, a warranty period of one year will start.

c. Work Package 3: Maintenance and Support Services: This work package comprises all activities and services for the maintenance and support of the TOPFAS Application Suite baseline from Final System Acceptance (FSA) up to five years, starting from final system acceptance with the first year being concurrent with the warranty period. This work package is optional.

Please note that a high-level summary of the technical requirements of the IFB is set forth in the attachment. The NCI Agency will include all of the technical details in the IFB.

BECOMING ELIGIBLE TO BID

NATO ICB requires that the U.S. Government issue a DOE for potential U.S. prime contractors interested in this project. Before the U.S. Government can do so, however, the U.S. Government must approve the U.S. firm for participation in NATO ICB.  U.S. firms are approved for NATO ICB on a facility-by-facility basis. 

The U.S. NATO ICB application is a one-time application.  The application requires supporting documentation in the form of 1) a company resume or capability statement indicating contracts completed as a prime contractor and 2) an annual report or set of financial documents indicating compilation, review, or audit by an independent CPA.

U.S. firms can download a copy of the U.S. NATO ICB application from the following website:

http://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/other-areas/strategic-industries-and-economic-security-sies/nato-related-business-opportunities   

The Department of Commerce (DOC) is the U.S. Government agency that approves NATO ICB applications. Please submit to the email address provided your application and supporting documentation (as attachments). If your firm is interested in a specific NATO ICB project at this time, please also include the following in the text of your email:  

- the title and/or solicitation number of the project
- the name/phone/email of the company employee who should receive the bid documents

After approval of your one-time NATO ICB application, DOC will then know to follow up by issuing a DOE for the project.  DOC will transmit the DOE to the NATO contracting agency.  

IMPORTANT DATES:

Request a DOE (and, for firms new to NATO ICB, submit the completed one-time NATO ICB application): 10 November 2022

NCI Agency distributes the IFB (planned): Q4 2022

Proposal phase: 84 days

Contract Award (estimated): Q2 2023

Period of Performance: 9.5 years (4.5 years until FSA and 5 years of Maintenance and Support)