Deadline Date:
Thursday 16 October 2025
Requirement:
Consultancy Services - ISO 45001:2018 Implementation and Certification Support
Location:
Brussels, BELGIUM; Mons, BELGIUM; Braine-l'Alleud, BELGIUM; The Hague, NETHERLANDS; Oeiras, PORTUGAL
Full Time On-Site:
Yes
Time On-Site:
100%
Not to Exceed:
Base Contract 2025: WP1 - 23,400 EUR
Option 2026:
WP 2 - 25,425 EUR
WP 3 - 9,675 EUR
Period of Performance:
Base Contract: 24 November 2025
Required Security Clearance:
NATO SECRET
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
Bidding Instructions:
Bidders shall submit a detailed technical proposal including:
- Methodology and approach for each Work Package (WP1–WP3).
- Resource plan with CVs of proposed consultants.
- Detailed project plan with milestones and deliverables.
- Quality assurance and risk management approach.
- Evidence of relevant experience in OH&S management, ISO 45001 implementation, and work with international or complex organizations.
Introduction:
The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) employs over 3,000 civilian and military staff across 29 sites in Europe and North America. The Agency seeks to implement a comprehensive Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Management System aligned with ISO 45001:2018. The initiative is a strategic priority to strengthen safety culture, risk management, and operational resilience across Agency sites. The final aim is ISO 45001 certification for NCIA's main locations, progressively extending coverage to other sites.
Purpose:
This SoW defines the scope, work packages, deliverables, responsibilities, acceptance criteria, payment milestones, and timeline for the project: Consultancy Services - ISO 45001:2018 Implementation and Certification Support.
The selected contractor will:
- Support NCIA in implementing an ISO 45001:2018 compliant OH&SMS with the aim of certification readiness (certification itself is excluded from this contract)
- Enhance risk management practices, improve safety culture, and ensure compliance with NATO directives and host nation legislation.
- Deliver across NCIA's five primary sites (Brussels, Mons, Braine-l'Alleud, The Hague, Oeiras), with progressive extension to remote infrastructures.
The consultancy shall perform the following tasks:
- Support OH&SMS implementation across NCIA.
- Develop policies, procedures, and templates aligned with ISO 45001:2018.
- Conduct internal audits and prepare NCIA for external certification audits.
- Develop a 3‑year certification roadmap.
This statement of work describes the key requirements for the implementation of the H&S Management System within NCIA based on ISO45001:2015, plus the necessary support in embedding the Management System within the Agency. The success of the implementation of the Management System will be according to performance metrics that have to be defined and agreed. This statement of work details the additional support that will be sought from a third party supplier. See sections 5, 6 and 7 for detailed information.
Timescale and Performance Location:
- The successful implementation and deployment of the Occupational Health and Safety Management System should be achieved by Q3 2026. However, benefits have to be visible from the beginning of the implementation phase. It is part of the task of the Contractor to ensure that the realization of benefits is delivered systematically throughout the implementation period.
- Prioritization of tasks are to be fully taken into account when writing the implementation plan.
- The implementation of the Occupational Health and Safety Management System will be first focused on NCIA main campuses/locations (Brussels, The Hague, Mons, Oeiras and Brain L'Alleud) and, progressively deployed to places where NCIA staff work and/or has property especially technical infrastructure which can be in remote locations. The scope of the certification is yet to be discussed as well as the H&S Management System future evolution.
- Weekly Reports: Summary of completed work, upcoming changes, key risk monitoring.
- Monthly Reports: Progress against WP milestones, objectives, targets, and KPIs.
- Meetings: Kick-off meeting at project start, plus regular progress meetings between contractor's SME, CQO, and OH&S Manager.
- Consultant: Responsible for executing all activities under each WP, ensuring timely delivery, maintaining agreed quality standards, and providing all required reports.
- Agency (CQO/Agency OH&S Manager): Responsible for reviewing and approving deliverables, providing timely feedback, and ensuring effective coordination with relevant stakeholders.
Annex A: NCI agency health & safety policy statement:
Through the way we work and behave, our civilian, military and Interim Workforce Capacity (IWC) staff will be protected from the risks of occupational injury or ill health so far as is reasonably practicable.
NCI agency health & safety policy
Our policy will be delivered by:
NCI agency health & safety policy
- It is our intent to demonstrate an ongoing and determined commitment to improving health and safety at work throughout our organization.
- We will aim to ensure the health and safety at work of our civilian, military, IWC staff, NATEXs and Interns working with all relevant stakeholders, based on Host Nation standards.
- This policy reflects our commitment to ensuring that health and safety at work is paramount to our business and recognizes that effective health and safety management actively contributes to our success.
- NCI Agency Directive on Health and Safety. Adequate resources will be provided to ensure all our civilian, military and IWC staff are aware of the Directive and the Policy Statement and committed to its effective implementation.
- Communication and consultation. There will be active, open communication and consultation between our civilian, military and IWC staff at all levels. Health and Safety Committees will be established at each main location. Health and safety will be integrated into our communications, wherever appropriate.
- Roles and responsibilities. Roles and responsibilities for health and safety will be defined at all levels within the Agency. Every individual has a responsibility to work safely and to not compromise the health and safety of others. Senior management will ensure that: Adequate resources are provided for health and safety; Health and safety risks are adequately assessed, controlled and monitored; All staff are actively involved on matters that affect health and safety.
- Hazard identification. We will identify our workplace health and safety hazards and will inform our civilian, military and IWC staff as appropriate. We will require other stakeholders to identify health and safety hazards that may impact on our work activities.
- Health and safety training. All relevant staff will receive adequate information, instruction and training on the health and safety issues that affect them, and the safe working practices which should be followed.
- Behaviour and culture. Senior management will demonstrate leadership in health and safety by supporting the systems put in place. All staff will be empowered to raise health and safety concerns at all levels.
- Risk assessment and management. The Agency will endeavor to put in place a system to assess the risks associated with health and safety hazards in the workplace. All civilian, military and IWC staff will be actively involved in identifying health and safety hazards that affect their work. All staff have a responsibility to work in line with Agency procedures to prevent, reduce and control risks to an acceptable level and reduce the potential for incidents and accidents in accordance with the hierarchy of controls set out in the AD. We will require stakeholders to identify health and safety risks that may impact our work activities.
- Incident investigation. We will record all accidents, incidents and near misses and investigate, where appropriate, to drive improvement in our health and safety management. We will learn from such events and take corrective action to avoid any recurrence.
- Measuring performance. We will set targets and objectives. We will actively and openly, review and report on our health and safety performance. Improvement plans will be put in place to support the delivery of these targets and objectives.
- Health and safety management system. We will implement a health and safety management system which will: comply with NATO Regulations; aim to meet standards for health & safety management systems; and continuously seek to improve our health & safety performance.
- Stakeholders and contractors. We will engage and collaborate with stakeholders and contractors to ensure: health and safety capability and competence fulfil our expectations; health and safety performance is monitored & action taken where necessary; third party work activities have minimal health and safety impact on our work activities.
- Work related health. We will assess our occupational health risks and inform all staff. We will take action to prevent, reduce or control occupational health risks to an acceptable level and reduce the potential for ill-health, including assessing our employees' fitness for work. Health surveillance will be carried out in line with NATO requirements.
Our policy will be delivered by:
- Generating a culture which does not tolerate threats to health & safety
- Ensuring the real involvement of all our civilian, military and contractor staff.