N -- NATO Notification of Intent to Invite Bids for International Competitive Bidding to Upgrade/Replace NATO Static Satellite Ground Terminals

The NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A) intends to advertise for International Competitive Bidding (ICB) on works and services within the framework of the NATO Security Investment Program. Eligible firms will be invited to bid for the upgrade and replacement of NATO Satellite Ground Terminals (SGTs). NATO has identified a requirement to upgrade its static satellite communications anchor facilities in order to better support ongoing and future missions and to significantly reduce operating costs. The overall capability sought will be achieved through consolidating anchor capacity at a small number of sites. These sites will be designed and constructed to operate efficiently across a broad range of traffic conditions and under a variety of operational environments. High levels of availability, supportability, and maintainability are required throughout the expected system life. The project will establish two new multi-antenna Satellite Ground Stations (SGSs) on the sites of existing NATO SGTs in Belgium and Italy and upgrade two of the existing SGTs in Greece and Turkey. A comprehensive overarching management capability will provide the means for staff in the NATO Network Control Centers to control and monitor all operationally relevant elements at the sites, thus facilitating further reductions in manning at the anchor sites. The combination of the SGSs, the upgraded SGTs and their associated management capability will be collectively referred to as the NATO SATCOM Anchor Component. The project to be presented in the Invitation for Bids (IFB) will lead to the creation of a basic contract for immediate implementation, with options for additional procurement of more of the same type of systems and for contractor logistics support services. NC3A is serving as the contracting agency for this project, which was authorized by the NATO Infrastructure Committee. NC3A intends to use Best Value Procedure, in which both price and technical criteria are assessed in order to rank the submitted bids. The successful bid pursuant to this IFB will be that bid that provides the best value for the money applying evaluation criteria of 50% price and 50% technical. The estimated value of this project is not available at this time. The reference for the IFB is IFB-CO-12343-SGS. The U.S. Department of Commerce will be using the same reference. Bidders will be required to declare a bid validity of 12 months from the closing date for the receipt of bids, supported by a bid guarantee of Euro 100,000 ($146,000). Should the selection and award procedure extend beyond 12 months after the bid closing date, firms will be requested to extend the validity of their bids and bid guarantee accordingly. Bidders may decline to do so, withdraw their bid and excuse themselves from the bidding process without penalty. The IFB package, including the functional and technical performance specifications applicable to the bidding and the contractual documents, has a security classification of NATO UNCLASSIFIED, with the exception of the security-related requirements, which will be provided in annexes with a NATO RESTRICTED classification. Bidders will be required to submit any bid response material classified higher than NATO RESTRICTED through the U.S. Mission to NATO. The successful contractor will be required to handle and store classified information up to the level of NATO SECRET and only companies maintaining the appropriate facility clearance will be eligible to bid on this project. In addition, contractor personnel visiting or working on operational NATO sites will be required to hold individual security clearances of at least NATO SECRET. Bidders will be given the opportunity to visit all of the operations sites covered by the project and to attend a bidders conference; bidders representatives for these events will also be required to hold at minimum a 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. Bidders will be required to quote for the provision of the subject capability to include hardware, software, documentation, testing, on-site training and transition on-site support. Warranties will also be included for maintenance and support of the systems. Fixed price quotations will be required covering the total of the contract line items including optional contractor logistics support services. The bidders will also be required to quote for further optional elements covering supply, installation, and integration of additional quantities of the same equipment. Bidders will be required to optimize their solutions considering efficiency, maintainability and supportability aspects in addition to performance, cost and schedule factors. The purchaser will evaluate bids received using best value procedures in which both price and technical criteria are assessed to determine the best overall solution. The price element will encompass both investment and CLS prices. The technical element will consider the quality of the engineering solution; supportability, including maintainability and efficiency aspects; overall project management, including the prospective supplier quality, experience and competence to undertake the work; and, finally, the bidders approach to managing risks within the project. The solicitation will require the that bidders guarantee that the radio frequencies specified are compatible with the regulations and controls of the nations and that national frequency clearances will be obtained as appropriate. Bidders shall consider that the IFB encompasses infrastructural civil works on two of the sites, for which the contractor will need to employ civil work subcontractors familiar with civil works for large electronics installations and based in the nations where the civil works are to be performed in order to facilitate full compliance with local legislative and inspection requirements. The solicitation will include a requirement for prospective bidders to demonstrate their ability to undertake this project and to demonstrate that they have experience with the provision of a similar type of system. GENERAL PROJECT OVERVIEW The extent of work required varies site by site but, broadly, the appointed contractor will be responsible for the following: - Providing a detailed design covering all aspects of the anchor capability - Meeting all of the regulatory, safety, environmental and any other prudent codes - Preparing the sites including removal of any material that is not relevant to providing the required capability and restoring the land and surrounding to a suitable natural state on completion - Building the system, providing all necessary equipment with the exception of specified items provided by the purchaser and accomplishing the work on schedule. This includes conforming to best practices of workmanship, quality, appearance and safety. - Developing and subsequently successfully executing a test program in order to confirm the performance of each important subsystem and to demonstrate that NATO requirements are fully met - Providing initial on-site training courses at the SGSs and developing formal training courses, including provision and installation of suitable training simulators, for subsequent delivery by the NATO CIS School in Latina, Italy - Optionally, providing a range of contractor logistics support services for a period of up to 20 years for the SGS sites and up to 10 years for the upgraded SGT sites. Reminder: All contractor personnel having access to NATO classified information or working at operational NATO sites will be required to hold individual security clearances of NATO SECRET. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Modems Electronic Protection Measures (EPM) modems, provided to the contractor as Purchaser Furnished Equipment (PFE), will be installed under separate project arrangement at two sites (F13 and F14); these are to be integrated into the contractor solution. The contractor will also be required to install and integrate further quantities of these modems at all Anchor Component sites, with the equipment necessary being similarly provided as PFE. The contractor will be required to select, supply and install new bandwidth-efficient FDMA modems at all Anchor Component sites. The new bandwidth efficient modems will also be capable of providing communications service in modes that are compatible with legacy FDMA modems. The contractor will be required to provide interfaces suitable for the purchaser to install and operate additional unspecified modems as required to support specific users and to develop new military SATCOM services. Control and Monitoring The Advanced SATCOM Network Monitoring and Control (ASNMC) will be used, initially, to effect power control of the SGTs and of NATO Transportable SGTs; future enhancement planned for ASNMC include a spectrum monitoring capability. An initial ASNMC equipment fit will be installed at two sites under separate project arrangements, expected to be F13 and F14 but subject to confirmation; these installations are to be integrated into the contractor solution in order to facilitate power control of all links serviced by the upgraded Anchor Component. The contractor will also be required to install and integrate further quantities of ASNMC equipment at all Anchor Component sites, with the equipment necessary being similarly provided as PFE. In addition, the contractor will be required to provide a centralized facility, at all anchor sites, for monitoring and, as necessary, control of all operationally relevant elements. This facility is to be extended to NATO Network Control Centers such that a similar range of elements can be monitored and a defined range of control functions can be executed. SGS Site Infrastructure Although the current project is essentially confined to providing X-band solutions, the establishment of NATO SGSs is seen as the first step in creating a broader NATO Teleport facility. Thus, the contractor will be required to use the available land at the SGSs efficiently and to ensure that the facilities are designed and constructed in a way that will facilitate such future expansion and enhancements. Antennas: The SGS sites are to be equipped with as many as 5 X-band low PIM antennas. Broadly, larger antennas will be required to provide robust services in the most demanding environments supplemented by smaller antennas for use at low-to-medium traffic levels and in unstressed environments. Antennas will be equipped with a suitable range of transmitters to variously deliver services efficiently and to accommodate stress. Physical Security: The contractor will be required to provide and upgrade as necessary a full range of robust physical security measures at the SGS sites. This will include perimeter fences, access controls, perimeter lighting and site surveillance sytems. Civil Works Participation: In order to facilitate full compliance with local legislative and inspection requirements for civil works in Belgium and Italy, the contractor will be required to employ an architectural and engineering subcontractor and a civil works subcontractor familiar with designing and constructing large electronics installations and respectively accredited in each country to perform the required range of work. F1 Kester: The Kester site is situated to the west of the village of Kester, about 25 km west of the Brussels ring road. At the Belgian SGS, the contractor must furnish all that is necessary to transform the existing site by demolishing and subsequently replacing the existing terminal, site buildings and facilities, including physical security elements and contingency power facilities. F14 Lughezzano: The Lughezzano site is about 520 meters above sea level at the end of a south-facing valley, north of Verona. For the capability required at the Italian site, the successful bidder will retain the existing antenna and the principal site structures, but must provide everything else needed. This includes limited refurbishment of the legacy antenna, radome replacement and extensive upgrades to the contingency power facilities at the site. SGT Upgrade Work Upgrades at the NATO SGTs will be focused on achieving operational efficiencies and life extensions. The refurbishments sought will improve reliability and compatibility with the SGSs and extend their life for another 10 years. Although there are some layout, configuration and equipment differences between the two sites, a broadly similar range of work is envisaged at both sites. The existing legacy antenna will be retained at both sites and some limited refurbishment will be required. In addition, specific items identified for upgrade include changing the transmitter for an efficient, reliable and supportable alternative, compatible with what is selected for the SGSs, replacing the existing radomes, and upgrading the site contingency power facilities. NATO SGT F11 is situated near Atalanti in Greece on a site overlooking the Evian Gulf. Nato SGT F13 is situated in Oglananasi, nears Izmir in Turkey in the vicinity of the new Izmir civil airport. Both sites are in rural areas but are served by generally good access roads. Warranty It is envisaged that upgrades will be introduced and commissioned progressively leading to final acceptance based around a full system test of remote operational capabilities. Warranty support will be required at each of the sites covering the period from the provisional site acceptance to full system acceptance. A full system warranty will then be required for a period of one year from full system acceptance. Site Visits The purchaser will provide an opportunity for bidders to visit each of the Anchor Component sites and the NATO CIS School. These visits will be scheduled soon after the IFB package is issued. A full bidders conference will be scheduled shortly thereafter providing opportunities to clarify bidding requirements as necessary and to respond to any issues raised during site surveys. Bidders representatives for all of these events will be required to hold at least a NATO SECRET security clearance. BIDDING PROCEDURE Before a firm can be nominated to the bidders list for this procurement, it must be approved for participation in NATO International Competitive Bidding (ICB). The U.S. Department of Commerce is authorized to approve for participation in NATO ICB those firms with a facility located within the United States. Once approved, the firm will be nominated to the bidders list. Please visit the following website for instructions on applying for approval to participate in NATO ICB: http://www.bis.doc.gov/defenseindustrialbaseprograms/OSIES/NATOprograms/index.htm A firm that has been approved for participation in NATO ICB 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 U.S. Embassy, which uses the DOE to nominate the firm to the bidders list. The NATO contracting agency will not accept requests for nomination received directly from firms. Firms that the U.S. Embassy nominates to the Bidders List will be contacted directly by the NATO contracting agency when the IFB has been issued. IMPORTANT DEADLINES 1. Final date to request a Declaration of Eligibility from the U.S. Department of Commerce: 13 February 2008 2. Anticipated date that NC3A will issue the IFB: March 2008 (pending the availability of an interface design document addressing the interfaces between this project and the ASNMC project) 3. Anticipated closing date for receipt of bids: June 2008 4. Anticipated contract award date: September 2008 5. Project completion: 48 months after effective date of contract