NATO International Competitive Bidding (ICB): Provision of Transport Core Services (TCS)

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) intends to issue an Invitation For Bids (IFB) for the provision of Transport Core Services (TCS) to replace the transmission bearer services that support the High Speed Core (HSC) of the NATO Enterprise, currently delivered under a Leased Transmission (LTX) contract. The HSC interconnects the three core sites of the NATO Communications Infrastructure (NCI): Mons, Belgium; Lago Patria, Italy; and Evere, Belgium. 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 International Competitive Bidding (ICB), and 3) be issued a Declaration of Eligibilty (DOE) by the U.S. Government. The reference for the IFB is IFB-CO-14797-TCS and all correspondence concerning the IFB should reference this number. The NCI Agency plans to award a single contract for the entire scope of work. No partial bidding will be allowed. Award of the contract is planned to be made on a Firm Fixed Price Basis. The NCI Agency invites prospective bidders to review the requirement summary and provide, on a voluntary basis, any comments that the industry might have regarding the planned schedule, commercial conditions, options, or any other aspects of the requirement. Any such comments should be provided to the NCI Agency prior to 30 September 2020. Please note that this is not a formal clarification requests process and that the NCI Agency is under no obligation to respond to any of the comments received from industry. The IFB package will contain only UNCLASSIFIED material. However, participation at the Site Survey may require personnel security clearances of SECRET. (No information on the Site Survey is available at this time.) SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENTS Please see attached. BECOMING ELIGIBLE TO BID NATO ICB 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. firm must be approved for participation in NATO ICB. U.S. firms are approved for NATO ICB on a facility-by-facility basis. The U.S. NATO ICB application is a one-time application. The application requires supporting documentation in the form of 1) a company resume 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. U.S. firms can download a copy of the U.S. NATO ICB application from the following website: http://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/other-areas/strategic-industries-and-economic-security-sies/nato-related-business-opportunities The Department of Commerce is the U.S. Government agency that approves NATO ICB applications. Please submit to the email address provided your application and supporting documentation (as attachments). If your firm is interested in a specific NATO ICB 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 NATO ICB application, the Department of Commerce will then know to follow up by issuing a DOE for the project. The Department of Commerce will transmit the DOE to the NATO contracting agency. IMPORTANT DATES: Request from DOC that a DOE be issued (and, for firms new to NATO ICB, submit the completed one-time NATO ICB application): 28 September 2020 NCI Agency issues IFB (planned): end of September 2020 Bid Closing (target): not later than December 2020 Contract Award (target): not later than June 2021