NATO Business Opportunity: Alliance Future Surveillance and Control (AFSC) Engineering Support

Active

Contract Opportunity

The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) intends to implement International Competitive Bidding (ICB) for the provision of Contracted Engineering Support (CES) for the project entitled “Alliance Future Surveillance and Control (AFSC) Development Stage Phase 1.”

To qualify to bid on this project, a U.S. prime contractor must

1) maintain a professionally active facility (office, factory, etc.) in the United States

2) hold a DOD Facility Security Clearance at the level of SECRET or higher

3) be pre-approved for participation in NATO International Competitive Bidding (ICB)

4) be issued a Declaration of Eligibility (DOE) by the U.S. Government

5) be registered in the NSPA Source File:

https://eportal.nspa.nato.int/Registration/OnlineRegistration.aspx?lng=en

In most cases, the consultants will be expected to work remotely, but they may occasionally be requested to work on site at the NSPA HQ premises located in Capellen, Luxembourg and must hold a personal SECRET clearance.

The reference number for this contract is IFB-AFSC-PP-2025-056.

The contractor and its subsidiaries, any entities under the contractor’s common control, affiliates, and sub-contractors shall have no involvement whatsoever in any future AFSC implementation projects.

Partial offers will not be accepted.

BACKGROUND

In early 2024, based on the outcomes and recommendations from industry-led studies assessing the availability and feasibility of potential solutions to fulfil the AFSC Capability Requirements, the North Atlantic Council approved the AFSC Technical Concept and its incremental implementation. This concept outlines a vision where surveillance assets, tactical control assets, and effectors can connect seamlessly and respond dynamically to changing operational situations and where manned and unmanned systems are able to act in synergy leveraging manned-unmanned teaming capabilities. This AFSC System of Systems will be able to operate across all environments, from benign, to contested, and into denied battlespace, ensuring a lower risk to the manned assets.

The expected retirement of NATO’s Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) fleet around 2035 led NATO to initiate the AFSC Concept Stage with the aim to define a new generation of surveillance and control capabilities. Based on the outcomes and recommendations of studies conducted in the Concept Stage, NSPA has defined an AFSC Technical Concept for a distributed multi-domain Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) and wide-area surveillance system of systems employing a wide range of systems and platforms integrated through a robust and adaptive interoperability architecture to allow a variety of flexible system configurations in future multi-domain operations. Following the anticipated completion of the AFSC Concept Stage in December 2025 will be an immediate start of the Development Stage in January 2026.

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

The contractor shall provide Contracted Engineering Support (CES) services to the Project Office to support the initial AFSC Development Stage Phase 1 (2026-2028) activities with a wide range of engineering skills and expertise covering the following technical areas: Cyber; Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR); Requirements Management; Systems Architecture Development; Modular Open Systems Approach; Space Operations; Communications; Tactical Data Links; Data Exchange and Interoperability; Modelling and Simulation; Airworthiness; and Lifecycle Cost Management.

BIDDING PROCEDURE

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. Government must approve the U.S. firm 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:

https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/other-areas/strategic-industries-and-economic-security-sies/nato-related-business-opportunities

The Department of Commerce (DOC) 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/FAX/email of the company employee who should receive the bid documents

After approval of your one-time NATO ICB 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

U.S. firms must request a DOE (and, for U.S. firms new to NATO ICB, submit the one-time NATO ICB application) by: 13 May 2025

IFB issued (target): mid-June 2025

Bid closing: TBD

Contract start date (anticipated): 01 January 2026

Duration: 3 years (with an option to extend services by a further two years, if required

Attachments/Links