2025-0213 Site Implementation Management (2) (NS) BELGIUM - 21 Aug

Introduction:

Supporting NATO throughout all its geographical locations, the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) is looking for Site Implementation Management support for the journey of NATO's modernisation of IT services through leveraging the public cloud (Microsoft Azure, M365 and Amazon AWS), delivering managed, protected, security-centric and reliable IT Services.

NCIA- Migration to Cloud:
The NCIA is dedicated to supporting NATO's strategic objectives, including the ambitious NATO 2030 agenda. As part of this commitment, we are spearheading the modernization and digital transformation of NATO's IT services. Our focus is on leveraging public cloud technologies, incorporating a security-by-design approach, and ensuring a seamless transition to a modern, collaborative workplace environment.

Site Implementation Management:
In scope of Site Implementation Management, the service provider is expected to support the management an coordination of user enrolments to M365 environment on NATO Sites, ensuring that on-site implementation is completed on time and with customer satisfaction. The service provider will assist in tracking progress, managing on- site implementation resources, and coordinating communication between stakeholders, including users, customer representatives, project team and cloud operations centre. Strong organizational and problem-solving skills will be essential to ensure successful site implementation.

Contractor's personnel providing this service shall have experience in user migration to cloud, with a strong understanding of project management principles. Familiarity with cloud technologies and platforms such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Microsoft 365 is an asset. The individuals should have excellent organizational, communication, and time-management skills to coordinate complex implementation projects and interact with multiple teams. A proactive, solution-oriented mindset and the ability to provide service effectively in a remote and dynamic environment are essential for this role.
 
Objectives:
NCIA is looking for a service provider who can support the full site implementation on a NATO site, providing the service collaboratively with project managers and technical teams in a cloud migration project.
 
Scope of Work:
The scope of the work comprises the tasks mentioned below:
Site Readiness Assessment

• Engage with the customer and the project team to assess the readiness of site for cloud migration
• Arrange remote and on-site meetings with the customer to understand the site-specific requirements and constraints in terms of user, printer and data migration.
• Assess on-site resources, including enrolment and training spaces, on-site support personnel, and logistics.
  Assess the technical readiness of site in terms of internet bandwidth, wired or wireless internet access, cabling, etc. in coordination with project technical team
• Fill out site readiness checklist for a site, identify the issues and risks that would hamper a successful site implementation
• Address the open action items, issues and risks in coordination with project team, customer and NCIA relevant business areas. Ensure the closure of items before start of site implementation.

Implementation Planning:

• Plan site implementation schedule including planning of daily user enrolments and trainings.
• Plan the data migration of user data, including emails and personal data
• Plan the migration of printers, shared mailboxes, shared drives and portals
• Plan logistics aspects of site implementation, including the delivery and handling of End-User Devices on site, device preparations and provisioning
• Plan MS Teams and Channel Structure and ensure timely creation of Teams and Channels

Site Implementation:

• Be present on site during the site implementation.
• Coordinate and facilitate the distribution of hardware to users, user self-enrolments, account setups, data and printer migrations
• Ensure a seamless migration for users to the new cloud environment.
• Maintain open lines of communication with the customer, providing regular reports on implementation status and address any concerns promptly
• Develop and maintain daily reports, brief customers and project management regarding site implementation progress, issues or risks and identify areas for improvement.

Site Implementation Closure:

• Prepare and lead a Site Implementation Closure Brief to the Customer.
• Report any remaining issues or action items, track the closure of them with service delivery managers.
• Ensure that the user support structure is in place, including the workflows, resolver groups and access rights in ticketing system.

Collaboration and Communication:

• Collaborate with Cloud Operations Centre, Project Managers, Technical Leads, and other relevant teams to ensure cohesive user migration activities on a site.
• Communicate effectively with customers to understand site-specific requirements, constraints and address concerns.

The contractor will be part of the project management team. Close coordination of all activities with NCIA Project
and Technical Managers as well as strict adherence to agreed timelines is mandatory.
The services related to the activities above will be delivered in Sprints, and 5 working days constitute a sprint.
The content and scope of each sprint will be agreed during the sprint‐planning meetings as covered in this section.


Practical Arrangements:
Place of Performance:
The contractor will be required to provide the service 100% onsite NCIA in one of the agreed locations.
The contractor will be required to provide the service within a NATO country, following the rules and regulations applicable for the operations of NATO CIS.

Hours of Operation:
Service is expected to be delivered within NCIA Recognised Business hours/Holidays:

• Duty location official holiday schedule applies and will be provided to the contractor.
• NCIA Hours of Operations:
• Monday to Thursday 0830 - 1730 and Friday 0830 - 1530 (CET)

Travel:

• Contractor will be required to travel to a NCIA location or a NATO site for meetings and site implementations.
• 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

Contractor Furnished Services:

• Contractor shall furnish everything required to perform the contract except for the items specified and covered under NCIA Furnished Property and Services below.

NCIA Furnished Property and Services:

• Access to relevant networks and environments will be provided by NCIA

Others:

• The service depicted in this SOW is expected to be carried by a SINGLE RESOURCE.

Qualification:
Project/Implementation Management Knowledge:

• Basic understanding of project management principles, methodologies, and tools.
• Understanding of project life cycles and the ability to assist in the planning and execution of site implementations from initiation to completion.
• Extensive experience in managing IT migration projects involving user migrations, preferably in military or structured environments. (8 years)

Organizational Skills:

• Strong attention to detail with the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Proven ability to plan complex user rollouts including planning of users, support staff, contractors and physical resources such as rooms, devices, assets.
• Capacity to handle and prioritize competing demands in a fast-paced environment.

Communication Skills:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to effectively collaborate with team members, project managers and stakeholders including leadership of the customer organization.
• Ability to prepare and distribute meeting agendas and minutes, ensuring clarity and accuracy in communication.
• Strong interpersonal skills for coordinating with different teams and stakeholders and ensuring timely follow-ups.

Team Collaboration:

• Proven ability to work collaboratively within a team, ensuring smooth coordination of project activities.
• Willingness to cooperate technical leads and other teams to ensure project success and resolve project-related issues.

Adaptability and Learning Ability:

• Eagerness to learn and grow in project management, with a proactive approach to personal development and skill enhancement.
• Adaptability to changing project requirements and an evolving work environment.

Technical Proficiency:

• Advanced proficiency in using M365 tools, such as Excel, Word, Loop, Planner, MS Teams, etc. to plan, document and track.
• Familiarity with cloud-based platforms (e.g., Microsoft 365) and project management tools (e.g., ServiceNow, Jira) is an advantage but not mandatory.

Others:

• The candidate has strong customer relationship skills, including negotiating complex and sensitive situations under pressure.
• Full proficiency in the English language. French language proficiency is of advantage.
• The candidate must have the nationality of one of the NATO nations.