NATO Business Opportunity: Integration and Commissioning of the RACCOON Initial Capability

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) intends to issue a solicitation for the integration and commissioning of the initial instance of a CIS capability codenamed RACCOON.

RACCOON is intended to provide highly available and resilient data services, including communications and collaboration, as well as virtual desktop infrastructure for end users.

To bid on this contract, potential U.S. prime contractors must 1) maintain a professionally active facility (office, factory, laboratory, etc.) within the United States, 2) be pre-approved for participation in NATO Competitive Procurement (NCP), 3) hold a Facility Security Clearance (FCL) at the level of SECRET or higher, 4) be issued a Declaration of Eligibility (DOE) by the Department of Commerce (DOC), and 5) register with NCIA’s eProcurement tool, Neo: https://www.ncia.nato.int/business/procurement/neo-eprocurement 

The reference for the solicitation is NCP-CO-424385-RACCOON and all correspondence concerning the solicitation should include this reference.

DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENT

Objective:

RACCOON will implement a private cloud, consisting of one management domain and two workload domains, isolated from each other, and operating at the same security classification level, using Broadcom VMWare Cloud Foundation (VCF). This private cloud will evolve over time, in terms of number of nodes. These nodes will be operated as a VCF fleet, hereafter referred to as the RACCOON cluster.

This initial RACCOON cluster will be limited to two (2) nodes (as the first two VCF instances in the VCF fleet). It will deliver the foundational capability for the provision of services to a number of endpoints. The provision of these endpoints, with quantities also evolving over time, will be covered under other follow-on projects under the same overarching program.

Scope:

Together with the first two (2) nodes of the RACCOON cluster, the scope includes one (1) Reference, Testing and Validation (RTV) node, and one (1) Service Operating Centre (SOC) and its associated Cybersecurity Operating Centre (CSOC). The latter will constitute an endpoint on its own, including end user devices (EUD) for the administrators of the capability. The RTV will be a scaled-down RACCOON node to support testing and verification activities during implementation and during operation.

The capability will be implemented in accordance with an existing High Level Design (HLD), which is derived from an interim CIS Design and Security Architecture (iCDSA). The iCDSA forms the basis for Security Accreditation. The supporting hardware, software, and bearer networks specified in the HLD are currently in procurement and, alongside the HLD document itself, will be provided to the successful Bidder as Purchaser-Furnished Items (PFI).

The physical rooms at static facilities and/or relocatable shelters, intended to host the RACCOON nodes, the RTV Node and the SOC/CSOC endpoint, will also be provided as PFI. They will be provided with all the power, cooling, rack space, desk space and associated furniture, and physical security required for the integration. A detailed description of them will also be provided to the successful Bidder as PFI. Site Surveys will be conducted following Contract Award, as required.

The scope of the works in this procurement includes, but it is not limited to:
1) the production of the low-level design (LLD) based on the PFI;
2) the physical and logical integration and configuration of the initial RACCOON cluster, the RTV, and the SOC and CSOC, as a fully functional system;
3) the system commissioning activities, i.e. testing and verification, security accreditation, and operational acceptance.

In terms of cybersecurity, the scope includes, but it is not limited to, the integration and commissioning of endpoint protection, firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems and data guards, as well as other cybersecurity modules developed by external contracts, in particular, but not limited to, PKI, Logs Aggregation and On-line Vulnerability Assessment; and cryptographic equipment, all as PFI.

The Core Nodes, the RTV node and the SOC/CSOC endpoint will be located in different NATO Nations’ territory in Europe.

Key Deliverables:

The key deliverables of this procurement are:
• The first two (2) nodes of the RACCOON cluster, integrated and operational;
• One (1) RTV node, integrated and operational;
• One (1) SOC and CSOC endpoint, integrated and operational;
• All the Technical Management and Engineering efforts required for the successful integration and commissioning of the above;
• All the associated documentation, e.g. the Low Level Design (LLD) and the As-Built documentation, ILS documentation, etc;
• All the required Project Management efforts for the successful integration and commissioning to occur in the contractual time, cost and scope;
• All the required Quality Assurance Management efforts to guarantee the highest quality standards in the delivered capability.

BECOMING ELIGIBLE TO BID

NCP requires that the U.S. Government issue a DOE for potential U.S. prime contractors interested in this project. Before the U.S. Government can do so, however, the U.S. Government must approve the U.S. firm for participation in NCP.  U.S. firms are approved for NCP on a facility-by-facility basis. 

The U.S. NCP application is a one-time application.  The application requires supporting documentation in the form of 1) a company resume or capability statement indicating contracts completed as a prime contractor and 2) an annual report or set of financial documents indicating compilation, review, or audit by an independent CPA.

The U.S. Government continues to accept the legacy NATO International Competitive Bidding (ICB) application for participation in NCP. U.S. firms can download a copy of the legacy ICB application from the following website:

https://www.bis.gov/about-bis/bis-leadership-and-offices/SIES/business-opportunities-nato 

DOC is the U.S. Government agency that approves NCP applications. Please submit to the email address provided your application and supporting documentation (as attachments). If your firm is interested in a specific NCP project at this time, please also include the following in the TEXT of your email:

- the title and/or solicitation number of the project
- the name/phone/email of the company employee who should receive the bid documents

After approval of your one-time NCP application, DOC will then know to follow up by issuing a DOE for the project.  DOC will transmit the DOE to the NATO contracting agency.  

IMPORTANT DATES:

Request a DOE (and, for firms new to NCP, submit the one-time NCP application):28 October 2026

NCIA distributes the solicitation (planned): 03 November 2026

Bid closing (anticipated): 11 December 2026

Contract Award (estimated): 31 March 2027