Deadline Date:
Wednesday 24 September 2025
Requirement Title:
NATO NISC ID&E OPEX Operational Support - Core IS
Location of Performance:
100% On-site, SHAPE Belgium (BE).
Cost Not to Exceed:
2025 BASE: 8 weeks, (Not to Exceed) NTE € 4,320 / week, total Not to Exceed (NTE) € 34,560
2026 - 2027 - 2028 OPTION
Period of performance:
3 November 2025
Required Security Clearance: Cosmic Top Secret. NS with CTS in progress acceptable to start.
Special Terms and Conditions:
See paragraph 8 for further details regarding security clearance.
Please do NOT
apply for any NATO contract positions unless you meet ALL the following criteria:
- Current National or NATO SECRET clearance
- Nationality of one of the NATO member countries
- Current work visa for the specific location if applying for an in-country position
Any applications that do NOT meet all the above - and do not CLEARLY show these on the CV - will be deleted.
Introduction:
- NATO Communication and Information Agency (NCIA) provides end-user services to customers throughout NATO. These end-users services are supported by Innovation, Deployable & Engineering (ID&E) - Operations & Exercises (OPEX) provided by the NATO Infrastructure Services Centre (NISC) Business Area of NCIA. All services provided by NCIA, regardless of whether they are end-user services or supporting services, are under the responsibility of Service Delivery Managers (SDM).
- The NATO Infrastructure Service Centre (NISC) Business Area Lead (BAL) is accountable for planning and executing the full lifecycle management activities (design, transition and operations) for the identified area of responsibility. NISC provides generic, domain independent, technical functionality that enables and facilitates the operation and use of Information Technology resources.
NISC services (including: subject matter expertise; acquisition; project management, operations and maintenance; and, disposal) are provided in the following technical domains: Network Services (to include routing, switching and transmission services), infrastructure hosting, storage and processing, infrastructure networking, HW and SW management, databases and web platform services, as well as identity management. Services are provided throughout the lifecycle to both internal and external customers in both static and deployable settings.
Objectives:
The main objectives of this statement of work can be summarized as follows:
The main objectives of this statement of work can be summarized as follows:
- Ensure high-quality, continuous support for DCIS service
- Provide continuous monitoring and pro-active administration of the DCIS service
- Develop and deploy iterative updates to the DCIS services, aligning with evolving business requirements.
Scope of Work:
The Contractor will provide services related to the following activities, using an agile (see paragraph 4) and iterative approach using multiple sprints, with each sprint planned for a duration of 5 working days
Support activities:
- Supporting the delivery of 3rd level technical support for IT and Data Management Services in DCIS and assuring availability of assigned services is in line with Target of table 3.2.
- Supporting the performs fault diagnosis using the IT and Data Management Services Management System
- Supporting to Supervise and carry out routine maintenance of IT and Data Management Services infrastructure, management appliances and other NATO IT and Data Management Services equipment
- Supporting the completion of any changes to the system documentation
- Supporting the completion of backups and restores of IT and Data Management Services devices
- Supporting the performs remote fault diagnosis on IT and Data Management Services as required
- Supporting the collaboration with the stakeholders, both internal and externals, as necessary, to coordinate efforts and ensure smooth execution of software support and development activities
- Supporting the execution of the processes of Incident Management, Change Management and Release Management, as required, following the NCIA procedures and execute incident intervention/resolution within expected KPI`s listed under 3.1.8.1
- Performance of the services described in this SOW requires a valid NATO COSMIC TOP SECRET. NATO SECRET security clearance can be accepted, prior to the start of the engagement with COSMIC TOP SECRET clearance in process. The COSMIC TOP SECRET shall be obtained during the first year of the execution of deliverables under this SoW.
- The Contractor SHALL ensure that all the Contractor staff or anyone working under the remit of the Contractor requiring recurring access to on-site locations for the delivery of the services under this SoW, have a valid NATO Personal Security Clearance at least to the NATO COSMIC TOP SECRET level.
Place of Performance:
- The contractor shall provide services 100% On-site, SHAPE Belgium (BE).
- The service will be executed mainly onsite but some sprint will be other NATO entities. Remote work cannot be performed offsite NATO entities since the nature and classification of the work which requires the contractor to be present at the office. Exceptionally requests can be agreed on a case by case basis.
The service will be conducted during normal office hours (Monday to Thursday from 08h30 until 17h30 and Friday from 08h30 until 15h30) following the Mons calendar
On-Call Service:
On-Call Support and Responsibilities:
- The Contractor's personnel will participate in a rotation-based on-call system with the Purchaser's staff
- On-call activities are considered delivery-based and part of the monthly sprint cycle
- After each on-call day, a daily status report will be provided on a Purchaser provided SharePoint page containing the following information:
- Any Issue: Yes / No
- Remarks: Summary of the issue and the fix provided.
- The daily report will be provided no later than 8:30 the following day.
- A summary of the issues handled and resolutions provided during the on-call period will be submitted at the end of the sprint.
- The schedule will be defined during sprint planning and will outline who is responsible for on-call activities duties each week
- On-call duty will cover critical issues outside working hours Mo.-Th. 08:30h-17:30h Fr. 8:30h-15:30h including weekend and national holidays.
- The Contractor's personnel would cover maximum 2 weeks per sprint.
- Responding to urgent incidents or requests during the designated on-call hours
- Resolving high-priority incidents to ensure minimal downtime and quick resolution
- Documenting any on-call activities, including actions taken to resolve issues
There may be requirements to travel to other sites within NATO for completing these tasks Travel will be the responsibility of the contractor and the expenses will be reimbursed in accordance with Article 5.5 of AAS Framework Contract and within the limits of the NCIA Travel Directive. They will be invoiced separately to the purchaser by the service provider, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the framework agreement. These additional travel costs are considered an extra charge to the overall bid price.
Other:
The service depicted in this SOW is to be performed by ONE contractor.
Qualifications:
The consultancy support for this work requires the following qualifications:
Technical Qualifications:
At least 2 years' experience in various areas of:
- Latest Virtualization Technologies and Operating Systems
- Implementation and troubleshooting Infrastructure Failover Clusters (Vmware and Microsoft)
- Latest Server, Storage, Client and Infrastructure Networking hardware technologies
- Antivirus Management Systems (i.e. McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator)
- Enterprise Systems Management services, methods and tools (i.e. SCOM, SCCM, SCVMM)
- Experience in various areas of Software Engineering including some of the following
- Email and collaboration services technologies (e.g. MS Exchange and Skype for Business)
- Cloud Computing Systems such as Microsoft Remote Desktop Infrastructure and VMware Horizon
- Design and implementation of Active Directory Federation Services in large enterprise environments
- WEP Portal Technologies and High Availability Database Systems (i.e. SQL Cluster)
- At least 1 year experience support by professional certification in the implementation and administration of COTS products such as MS Windows Server, Linux, Oracle, MS SQL, VMware, MS Hyper-V, MS SharePoint, MS Active Directory and Active Directory Federation Services, MS Exchange, MS Skype for Business, Client OS (Windows, Linux.)
- Configuration management practices and tools
- Knowledge of ITIL IT service management model
- Experience and applied knowledge of Service Transition
- Proven ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing with good briefing skills
- Strong and open communication skills
- Entrepreneur and strong networking skills
- Autonomous, problem-solver and drives towards results
- Must have excellent spoken and written English communication and presentation skills, as demonstrated by recent experience (within the past 5 years)
- Excellent communication skills to effectively interact with users, team members and stakeholders
- Must demonstrate the ability and self-motivation to work on his/her own but must also work well within groups as part of a team
- Must demonstrate an ability and keen sense for problem-solving
- Motivated, good communication skills, team player
- Able to work independently with minimal supervision
- Knowledge of NATO responsibilities and organization.