D -- NATO Notification of Intent to Issue an Invitation for International Competitive Bidding for the Provision of NATO Network Control Center Support Services (Mons, Belgium)

The NATO Communication and Information Systems Services Agency (NCSA) intends to advertise for International Competitive Bidding (ICB) on works and services within the framework of the NATO Military Budget Committee (MBC). Eligible firms will be invited to bid on the provision of consultant services in support of the operation of Communication and Information Systems (CIS) for the NATO Network Control Center (NNCC) located at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The primary place of work is SHAPE headquarters in Mons, Belgium. NCSA is serving as the contracting agency for this project, which was authorized by the MBC. NCSA intends to use the two envelope bid procedure. Partial bidding is not authorized. The estimated value of this project is not available at this time. The total estimated man-hours is 16,500. The reference for this project is IFIB-NCSA-NCHQ-08-001 and all correspondence in relation to this procurement shall refer to this reference. The U.S. Department of Commerce will be using the same reference. SCOPE OF PROJECT The requirement is for provision of manpower to support the NNCC in the management of NATO CIS for NATO operations and exercises. The services shall be rendered by consultants in possession of a valid NATO SECRET clearance. The contractor is responsible for ensuring that the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO) forwards to the NATO contracting agency the NATO clearance certifications for all personnel assigned to the contract. The IFIB package will contain material at the level of NATO UNCLASSIFIED. NCSA will post the solicitation documents on the following website: http://www.nato.int/ncsa/business.htm BIDDING PROCEDURE The U.S. Department of Commerce does not serve as the contracting agency for NATO projects. Its role is to approve for bidding those firms of NATO-member nations with a facility located within the United States. Only firms approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce will be allowed to bid. Please visit the following website for instructions on applying for approval to bid on NATO projects: http://www.bis.doc.gov/defenseindustrialbaseprograms/OSIES/NATOprograms/index.htm A firm that has been approved for bidding on NATO projects must request that the U.S. Department of Commerce issue a Declaration of Eligibility (DOE) for each project on which the firm wishes to bid. The DOE is used to nominate the firm to the Bidders List for a particular project. The U.S. Department of Commerce forwards the DOE to the NATO contracting agency. The NATO contracting agency will not accept requests for nomination received directly from firms. As provided for under MBC rules, nominations to the bidders list will continue to be accepted by the NATO contracting agency after the IFIB is issued and until the bid closing date. IMPORTANT DEADLINES 1. Deadline for requesting Declaration of Eligibility: 12 February 2008 2. Estimated RFP release date: 25 February 2007 3. Estimated bid closing date: 07 April 2007