NATO Notification of Intent to Invite Bids for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Programme for the New NATO HQ

The NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A), on behalf of the NATO Headquarters Project Office, intends to invite bids for the acquisition of Technical and MAnagement Support NC3A is serving as the NATO contracting agency for this project, which is being funded through the Civil Budget Committee. NC3A intends to use Best Value Procedures. The succesful bid pursuant to this IFB will be that bid which is the best value for money offered in accordance with pre-established evaluation criteria. The estimated value of this project is not available at this time. The reference for the IFB is IFB-CO-12566-NNHQ. The U.S. Department of Commerce will be using the same reference. The NC3A has a preference for firms with experience and experienced personnel, in implementing large scale ICT solutions for building construction projects such as hotels, conference centres and office buildings of substantial size. Commercial experience coupled with government / military exposure is favourably considered. Because of the need to provide impartial and objective advice and evaluation to the new NATO Headquarters Project Office, the successful bidder on this solicitation is barred from performing any implementation work on the new NATO Headquarters building and may not have any relationship with firms performing implementation of the new NATO Headquarters building either organisationally or contractually. The winner of this contract may not be in a position of financial gain, in fact or appearance, with any firm working on the architecture, construction, or supporting services aspects of the new NATO Headquarters building. It is planned to place a single contract with one contractor. No partial bidding will be allowed. The IFB package will contain only NATO Unclassified material. Contract personnel, however, will be required to have a security clearance of NATO SECRET at the time of the contract award. Failure to have the appropriate clearance of personnel at the scheduled award date may result in disqualification of the otherwise successful bidder. 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. BIDDING PROCEDURE Before a firm can be nominated to the bidders list for this procurement, it must first 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. Please visit the following website for a copy of the NATO ICB application: 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. A DOE is used to nominate a 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: 16 June 2008 2. Anticipated date that the contracting agency will distribute the IFB: June 2008 3. Anticipated closing date for receipt of bids: August 2008 4. Anticipated contract award date: 01 October 2008 5. The resulting contract is expected to continue through 2014.