Requirement: Support NIRIS Testing
Location: Remote, with occasional on-site work at NCIA The Hague (NLD)
Cost Not to Exceed: 56,475 EUR
Period of Performance: 15 July 2026 - 31 December 2026
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
Introdcution:
- The NATO Information and Communication Agency (NCIA) located in The Hague, The Netherlands, is the Interoperability Assurance Authority for NATO.
- In light of this responsibility, the C2 Service Centre is looking for a service contract which can provide NCIA with testing and quality assurance support for the continued maintenance, validation and evolution of the Networked Interoperable Real-Time Information Services (NIRIS) software.
The list below defines the overarching objectives of the engagement and establishes the intended outcomes that the Contractor is expected to achieve through the delivery of the different work packages described in this document. These objectives serve as the guiding principles against which all deliverables shall be measured. The Contractor is expected to align their approach, methodology, and resource planning with these objectives throughout the duration of the engagement.
Under the direction and guidance of the Solution Architect, Service Delivery Manager, Test Manager, and Project Manager, the services to be provided are related to the testing, validation, verification, quality assurance, and test automation of NIRIS software modules. It is envisioned that these services shall be provided by one experienced software test engineer.
- Develop, update, and maintain NIRIS test cases, test scenarios, test scripts, and test data in accordance with agreed requirements, priorities, technical direction, release planning, and project objectives.
- Perform manual, automated, functional, regression, integration, and system testing to support the continued maintenance, validation, and evolution of the NIRIS software baseline.
- Support the full software testing lifecycle of NIRIS, including test analysis, test design, test implementation, test execution, defect reporting, retesting, regression testing, and test documentation.
- Develop, update, and maintain automated test scripts and test automation assets to improve test coverage, repeatability, maintainability, and regression testing capability.
- Support integration and verification activities to ensure that developed, updated, or maintained NIRIS software components operate correctly within the wider NIRIS system and in line with agreed interface, interoperability, and operational requirements.
- Analyse, investigate, document, and report software defects, test failures, anomalies, and quality issues identified during testing, integration, verification, release preparation, or operational support activities.
- Support the verification of defect fixes and software changes by performing retesting, regression testing, and validation against agreed acceptance criteria and requirements.
- Develop, update, and maintain test documentation, including test plans, test cases, test execution reports, defect reports, regression test evidence, automation documentation, and other project deliverables as required.
- Contribute to virtual and in-person meetings, reviews, planning sessions, sprint ceremonies, technical discussions, test coordination activities, and release readiness reviews with NCIA stakeholders and project team members.
- Ensure that all testing activities, test artefacts, automated scripts, defect reports, and associated deliverables comply with applicable NCIA testing standards, quality requirements, configuration management practices, and agreed project procedures.
- Update and expand the produced test assets, automated test scripts, test data, and documentation as necessary to accommodate new, revised, or emerging requirements throughout the duration of the engagement.
- Support the improvement of NIRIS software quality, reliability, maintainability, interoperability, and operational readiness by providing structured testing, clear test evidence, and timely feedback to the project team.
The Contractor shall provide the following deliverables classified per service:
NIRIS Test Case Development, Maintenance and Test Baseline Management
Deliverable: Updated and maintained NIRIS test case baseline.
- Output: Updated, maintained, and improved NIRIS test cases covering agreed functional, technical, regression, integration and release-related test scenarios. The deliverable includes the development and maintenance of manual and automated test cases required to support NIRIS baseline development, defect verification, regression testing, release preparation, User Acceptance Testing, and operational validation activities. Test cases shall be developed or updated in accordance with agreed requirements, user stories, defects, change requests, release priorities, and project planning. The test case baseline shall include, where applicable, test cases for agreed NIRIS capabilities such as CESMO integration, historic track data capabilities, RTS subscription mechanisms, interface behaviour, configuration changes, interoperability scenarios, and other functionality included in the agreed release scope.
- Outcome: NIRIS testing remains structured, repeatable, traceable, auditable, and aligned with the agreed requirements, work items, release priorities, and operational use cases. The maintained test case baseline supports consistent verification of NIRIS functionality across development, integration, regression, acceptance, and release preparation activities. It also reduces testing ambiguity by ensuring that test cases clearly define the required preconditions, test steps, expected results, pass/fail criteria, assumptions, and dependencies.
- Acceptance Criteria: Assigned test cases are created, reviewed, updated, or maintained in accordance with agreed requirements, priorities, sprint planning, release scope, or work package timeframe. Test cases clearly define preconditions, test steps, expected results, pass/fail criteria, assumptions, and dependencies where applicable. Test cases are stored and maintained in the agreed test management, issue tracking, configuration management, or project repository environment. Test cases are traceable to relevant requirements, user stories, defects, change requests, release objectives, or operational scenarios where applicable. Obsolete, duplicated, incomplete, or no longer applicable test cases are identified and updated or proposed for removal. Test cases are reviewed and updated where required following software, configuration, interface, or requirement changes. Test cases are suitable for execution in the agreed development, integration, test, release, or acceptance environment. Test cases support manual, automated, regression, integration, interface, interoperability, or release-related testing where applicable. Test case updates are made available for review within the agreed timeframe. Test case limitations, blocked areas, or missing dependencies are documented and communicated when required.
- Test Case Completion Rate (%): Percentage of assigned test cases created or updated within the agreed sprint, release, or work package timeframe. Target: ≥ 90%
- Test Case Review Acceptance Rate (%): Percentage of submitted test cases accepted without major rework. Target: ≥ 90%
Security
- Performance of the services described in this SOW require a valid NATO SECRET security clearance prior to the start of the engagement.
Each contractor personnel must meet the following requirements:
- At least 5 years of professional experience in software testing and quality assurance, with a focus on complex software systems, networked applications, or distributed environments.
- Proven ability to communicate effectively in English, both orally and in writing, in a clear, structured, and professional manner.
- Demonstrated experience in working within Agile/Scrum environments, including participation in sprint planning, test planning, sprint execution, defect triage, sprint reviews, and release preparation activities.
- At least 3 years of professional experience in designing, writing, executing, and maintaining manual test cases, including functional, regression, integration, interface, and release-related test scenarios.
- At least 3 years of experience in defect identification, defect reporting, retesting, regression testing, and defect verification using issue tracking and test management tools.
- At least 2 years of experience testing RESTful services, APIs, messaging systems, or data exchange interfaces, including verification of request/response behaviour, data processing, data filtering, and error handling.
- At least 2 years of experience testing Web GUI, REST API, and command-line interfaces, preferably for networking products or interface-heavy software systems.
- At least 2 years of experience working with interoperability testing, including testing of data exchange, message handling, configuration, integration with external systems, or multi-system test environments.
- At least 2 years of professional experience working with test automation frameworks, such as Robot Framework, Gauge, Cucumber, Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or similar.
- At least 1 year of professional experience with scripting or programming languages used to support test automation, test execution, troubleshooting, or environment configuration, such as Java, Python, Linux Bash, Ansible, or similar.
- At least 1 year of professional experience working with containerized or virtualized test environments, including Docker, or equivalent technologies.
- Demonstrated experience using development, testing, and configuration management tools such as Jira, Zephyr, GitLab, CI/CD pipelines, artifact repositories, or equivalent tools.
- Demonstrable experience in preparing and maintaining test documentation, including test plans, test cases, test execution reports, defect reports, verification evidence, regression reports, and release readiness inputs.
- Experience in defining test scenarios, acceptance criteria, validation approaches, or verification evidence for software deliverables.
- Demonstrable ability to troubleshoot and support issue analysis on Windows Server and Linux-based operating systems, including basic knowledge of IP addressing, routing, DNS, HTTP/HTTPS, Active Directory, certificate management, and service configuration.
- Demonstrable knowledge or experience in interoperability and data exchange standards, particularly within defence. Knowledge of Tactical Data Links, including Link 16, Link 22, OTH-Gold, JREAP, VMF, DIS, AIS, CESMO, or similar standards, is highly desirable.
- Experience working with distributed systems and multi-component architectures, including integration and testing across multiple data sources, services, interfaces, or external systems.
- Familiarity with secure testing practices, controlled test environments, information handling requirements, and working within regulated or accredited environments.
- Possession of relevant technical or testing certifications, including ISTQB, TMap, Microsoft, Red Hat, CompTIA, Cisco, or equivalent certifications, is desirable.
- The Contractor personnel must be a national of a NATO member nation.
