Deadline Date: Monday 25 November 2024
Requirement: Voice and Video Conferencing Technician
Location: Mons, BE
Full Time On-Site: Yes
Time On-Site: 100%
Period of Performance: 2025 BASE: From Jan 1st to Dec 31st , 2025 with possibility to exercise the following options:
2026 Option: 1st January 2026 until 31st December 2026
2027 Option: 1st January 2027 until 31st December 2027
2028 Option: 1st January 2028 until 31st December 2028
Required Security Clearance: NATO Cosmic Top Secret
Bidding Instructions - Technical Proposal
Bidders shall submit a proposal clearly providing the following information:
a. CVs of the assigned resource(s) for the project. Each CV shall contain accurate contact details for reference person(s) for each of the listed professional experiences relevant to this Statement of Work.
b. The CVs shall clearly distinguish if the proposal is for Key Personnel (see 9.2) or not.
c. The proposed approach to address the required scope of work and the defined deliverables (maximum 10 pages, A4 size) with sufficient details to allow assessment for feasibility of the proposal. The proposed approach should address the minimum requirements in the Statement of Work (SoW).
1 INTRODUCTION
This Statement of Work (SoW) defines the objectives, scope of work and milestones required to be achieved by the company and the performance based contractor in regards to their role attached to the NDWC Personal Workspace team. The expectation from the deliverables is to support the team that is responsible to deliver the Voice and Video Conferencing service. Via this SoW. The defined deliverables of this SOW require the contractor to participate in most of the tasks that the day to day work mandates, in order to ensure the effective and efficient service operation. Practical arrangements are described below, in accordance with what the above-mentioned team applies on a daily bases.
2 BACKGROUND
NATO Digital Workplace Centre (NDWC), part of NCI Agency, provides simple yet innovative solutions that underpin the Digital Transformation of NATO by providing feature-rich Digital Workplace, which enable NATO staff members to connect, communicate, and collaborate.
Shared Workspace service area deliver the following user-facing services to NATO Commands, NATO Force structure and Nations in all 32 Allied Nations:
Workstream collaboration including email and instant messaging server backend and client frontend provisioning, management, operation and lifecycle across multiple separate networks of different classifications.
Voice and Video conferencing server backend and frontend devices and rooms, maintenance, management, operation and troubleshooting across multiple separate networks of different classifications
The services integrate with other services and enable NATO-specific functional applications higher up the software stack.
Through several on-going streams of work in Q4’24 and onwards, the services are rapidly evolving from using fully on-premise to a mixture of on-premise and public cloud technologies.
2.1 PURCHASER SUPPORT STRUCTURE
The Purchaser support structure is organized in three levels:
Level 1 support provided by virtual Centralized Service Desk;
Level 2 touch-labor and more specialized support provided by CIS Support Unit
Level 3 provided by centralized team of engineers.
3 OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this SoW is to define the requirements on the deliverables that the bidding company should provide.
The NATO Communications and Information Agency (further referred to as “Purchaser”) is seeking a qualified Service provider to provide efficient and effective deliverables that will be completed in form of tasks that include service operation support including but not limited to Incident and Service Request management, systems updates, troubleshooting and monitoring, participation in planned service improvement initiatives (those which will be referred as Service)for the Shared Workspace, V2 (Voice and Video) team.
With this SoW, the Purchaser aims to achieve the following objectives:
Leverage industry expertise and best practices in installation, configuration, monitoring and daily operation of commercial off the shelf (COTS) technologies and software in the collaboration area.
Ensure healthy and functional backend environment providing to the devices end users consume the services with the security and functional requirements.
Improve the fault tolerance and disaster recovery of the IT systems by implementing continuous service improvement initiatives, thus enhancing the overall business continuity.
Improve the maturity of the IT Operations by standardizing and optimizing activities and documenting procedures.
To achieve these objectives, the Purchaser is looking for qualified Level 3 support technicians with estimation that the contract period will require work effort that is equal to 2 people.
During performance of the contract, the Contractor personnel will act as part of the Purchaser’s IT support organization.
4 SCOPE OF WORK, ASSOCIATED DELIVERABLES AND PAYMENT MILESTONES
Considering the extended period of execution and the rapid evolution of the commercial technologies and their use in NATO, the execution of the work in this SoW is measured in work packages, where each work package is defined as deliverables produced by one person planned for a duration of one calendar month based on the monthly software and configuration item maintenance cycle of NCIA units (NCSC, NISC, etc..) and commercial vendors (Cisco, Poly, Microsoft, etc..). The detailed tasks in each work package will be determined before at the start of each period by the Purchaser’s authorized point of contact following the Scope of Work defined herein, and documented in writing.
4.1 SCOPE OF WORK
The SOW covers the following activities and tasks to be executed:
4.1.1 Incident Management
A) Provide prompt, professional, and effective resolution of technical issues (including incidents) escalated from Level 2 and (in some cases) Level 3 support and end users on all security domains for all encompassed Area of Responsibility (AOR) of the Service;
B) Liaise with other teams in troubleshooting technical issues at various levels (network, backend, frontend, firewalls)
C) Perform root cause analysis in order to reduce repeating/recurring technical issues
4.1.2 Request Fulfillment
A) Implement approved service requests and change requests (e.g. creation of new resources/configuration items, alteration of existing resources/configuration items).
4.1.3 Maintenance
A) Implement security measures (patches, updates, etc..) on the systems manually with no to minimal downtime.
B) Perform all administration and maintenance tasks required at the backend and frontend as a Subject Matter Expert to ensure the availability, continuity and optimum performance.
C) Bring the backend systems (and if software exists also frontend devices) to the latest software version released by the vendor and approved by NATO authorities
4.1.4 On-Call Duties
A) Certain periods of the contract period, to be decided by the unit manager, be ready and available after workhours during the week and the whole day during the weekend to be ready to provide support and resolve technical issues on all security domains for all encompassed Area of Responsibility.
4.1.5 Continual Service Improvement
A) Improve backend and frontend maintenance activities; monitoring tools and implementation of security measures resulting in minimal to no service interruption.
B) Continuously improve the quality and efficiency of IT services by monitoring and maintaining healthy backend and frontend environment thus reducing the need for support.
C) Identify and provide opportunities for continuous service improvements.
Activities and tasks mentioned above will either have combinations or single focus based on the requirements of the organization at each Work Package.
4.2 DELIVERABLES AND PAYMENT
The payment shall be dependent upon successful acceptance of the Delivery Acceptance Sheet– (Annex B).
Invoices shall be accompanied by the Certificate of Acceptance (Annex A) signed by the Contractor and Purchaser’s authorized point of contact.
The Purchaser reserves the possibility to exercise a number of options described herein, based on the same performance period deliverable cost, at a later time, depending on the priorities and requirements.
The following deliverables are expected from this statement of work are described below
4.2.1 BASE 2025: period of performance 01st Jan to 31st Dec 2025
Deliverable 01 – Incident Management & Request Fulfillment: The percentage of total configuration assets/systems comprising of both backend and front end that are updated to the latest version of the vendor released and NATO approved software / operating system / patch / antivirus definition, preset at the start of the Work Package.
Due Date: At the end of each work package
Acceptance Criteria: System reports verifying resolution of incidents and fulfilled service requests within SLA timelines at the percentage set at the start of the Work Package.
Payment Milestones: Percentage of the payment at the end of each Work Package based on the ratio and percentage set at the beginning of the Work Package not exceeding the cost ceiling. If not specifically set, default is 60% of the cost ceiling.
Deliverable 02 – Maintenance: Resolution of the given percentage (at the Work Package initiation phase of every month) of L3/L2 incidents and service requests assigned to service resolver group on the toolset (ITSM) within SLA resolution times
Due Date: At the end of each work package
Acceptance Criteria: Automated/system reports verifying the assets/systems comprising of both backend and frontend are updated to the latest version of the vendor released and NATO approved software are at the percentages (if compared to total) set at the start of the Work Package.
Payment Milestones: Percentage of payment at the end of the Work Package which the activity is fully delivered and it will be based on the quantity of weeks set at the beginning of the performance period. If not specifically set to a different value, default is 15% of the cost ceiling.
Deliverable 03 – Continual Service Improvement: The improvement percentage of the processes utilized in service support, preset at the start of the Work Package
Due Date: At the end of each work package
Acceptance Criteria: Proven decrease in the time or cost in execution of a process. Proven increase in the tangible delivered added value of a service like quantity, extra functions, etc.
Payment Milestones: Percentage of the payment at the end of each Work Package based on the ratio and percentage set at the beginning of the Work Package not exceeding the cost ceiling. If not specifically set, default is 10% of the cost ceiling.
Deliverable 04 - On Call: Fulfilling the requirements of on-call duties for the amount of weeks per performance period not exceeding 10 weeks per 52 weeks.
Due Date: At the end of the performance period
Acceptance Criteria: Cover the weeks being on-call and fulfill the on-call duties in the yearly plan (subject to updates),
Payment Milestones: Percentage of the payment at the end of each Work Package based on the ratio and percentage set at the beginning of the Work Package not exceeding the cost ceiling. If not specifically set, default is 15% of the cost ceiling.
Delivery Failures or Over Delivery: Depending on the achieved % of work assigned at the beginning of the Work Package and delivered amount, the difference will be reflected upon the payment of this particular line as deduction from the total payment for this Work Package. Please see the table below for examples.
Calculation of Payments in Less, Full and Over Delivery (Note that the table does not show in emails; please visit Workable for the complete table)
4.2.2 OPTION: period of performance 01 January 2026 – 31st December2026: Refer to 4.2.1 BASE 2025
4.2.3 OPTION: period of performance 01 January 2027 – 31st December 2027: Refer to 4.2.1 BASE 2025
4.2.4 OPTION: period of performance 01 January 2028 – 31st December 2028: Refer to 4.2.1 BASE 2025
5 SCHEDULE
This contract will be active immediately after signing of the contract by both parties.
The period of performance is from Jan 1 st to Dec 31st, 2025.
The Purchaser reserves the right to exercise the following additional options under the same conditions with price per sprint determined by applying the price adjustment formula as outlined in CO-115786-AAS+ Special Provisions article 6.5.:
Option 2026 – up to 12 work packages with period of performance from 01 January 2026 until 31 December 2026;
Option 2027 – up to 12 work packages with period of performance from 01 January 2027 until 31 December 2027;
Option 2028 – up to 12 work packages with period of performance from 01 January 2028 until 31 December 2028;
6 PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS
6.1 PLACE OF PERFORMANCE
The deliverables will be produced on-site at Purchaser’s premises in Braine L’Alleud, Belgium or in SHAPE, Mons, Belgium.
The working environment is a typical office working environment designated as Class II or Class I security area.
6.2 WORKING HOURS
The Contractor staff is expected to follow the Purchaser’s working hours—Monday to Thursday from 08h30 until 17h30 and Friday from 08h30 until 15h30 and observe Purchaser’s official holidays.
The Purchaser’s official holidays may differ from the public holidays in the Host Nation.
6.3 TRAVEL
Depending on Purchaser’s priorities, travel may be required to both NATO and non-NATO nations.
Travel arrangements will be the responsibility of the contractor and the expenses will be reimbursed in accordance with Article 5.5 of AAS Framework Contract and within the limits of the NCIA Travel Directive.
6.4 PURCHASER FURNISHED EQUIPMENT (PFE)
Purchaser will provide to the Contractor staff standard IT work position setup to allow access to the necessary networks, IT systems and tools.
The Contractor staff shall follow Purchases policies, procedures and take due care of the Purchaser furnished equipment.
6.5 ON CALL
Contractor staff is expected to be reachable via means accepted by NCIA. Response time will not be more than 5 minutes. The on-call hours are after work hours (17:30-08:30 next day) during the week, and whole day until the start of next business day during the weekend (Saturday 00:00 Sunday 00:00, Sunday 00:00 – Monday 08:30). Contractor staff will treat the public holidays as weekend if exists during the on-call period. There will be cases where the on-call week might overflow to the next Work Package. In this case, the work initiated in the Work Package will be accepted at the next one and paid at the delivery of the next work package.
7 REPORTING
At the beginning of each Work Package, the Purchaser shall create Work Package Assignment Template (Annex A) on the weight of each work Category and define if any specific tasks are associated that requires extra focus and share this with the Contractor.
Once Purchaser filled Work Package Assignment Template (Annex A) is delivered to the Contractor, if no response is received in 7 week days, it will be taken as the Contractor has accepted the requirements.
At the end of each Work Package, the Contractor shall report the completion and achievements to the Purchaser point of contact via email for each resource providing services under this SoW.
Contractor shall deliver Delivery Acceptance Sheet (Annex B) for Purchaser approval and signature for each resource providing services under this SoW.
7.1. QUALITY ASSURANCE CHECK
7.3.1 The deliverables shall be produced within the Work Package as requested and be of satisfactory quality to avoid re-work, ensure the achievement of the objectives stated herein (i.e. following vendor, industry and NATO best practices and requirements) and Work Package-specific tasks.
7.3.2 The Purchaser reserves the right to request change of Contractor personnel in case at least two Work Packages out of four consecutive Work Packages have non-satisfactory deliverables.
7.3.3 The Purchaser reserves the right to request change of Contractor personnel in case of non-compliance with requirements of this SoW, NCIA Code of Conduct and accepted social norms (e.g. unprofessional behavior, etc.).
7.3.4 The Purchaser reserves the right to terminate future Work Packages in case the Contractor fail to provide a suitable replacement person without any compensation for the upcoming Work Packages.
8 REQUIREMENTS
8.1 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
8.1.1 The contractor shall manage and be responsible for all Contractor personnel.
8.1.2 The Contractor’s personnel shall be knowledgeable and experienced in the nature of the tasks and activities of the Service.
8.1.3 The Contractor’s personnel shall possess valid Personal Security Clearances for the duration of the Contract performance.
8.1.4 The Contractor’s personnel shall be courteous and professional in dealing with NATO and Purchaser’s staff.
8.1.5 The Contractor’s personnel shall have sufficient knowledge in English language to allow smooth verbal and written communication.
8.1.6 The Contractor’s shall strive to lower the rotation of personnel and maintain the same staff working under this SoW.
8.1.7 The Contractor shall seek Purchaser’s approval prior to appointing new personnel to work under this Statement of Work.
8.1.8 The Purchaser will support the Contractor’s personnel with access to the IT systems as required. The Contractor shall submit requests for change of Contractor’s personnel at least 30 days in advance.
8.1.9 The Contractor shall handle the Purchaser’s furnished equipment (PFE) with due care.
8.1.10 The Contractor shall operate the equipment following the manufacturer’s requirements.
8.1.11 The Contractor shall minimize the impact to the end users during the execution of the work.
8.1.12 The Contractor shall bring immediately to the attention of the Purchaser Point of Contact any issues preventing the execution of the work.
8.1.13 The Contractor’s personnel will report to and receive guidance from Purchaser Point of Contact on-site, Service Owner and assigned immediate supervisor.
8.1.14 The Contractor’s personnel shall follow local site procedures to obtain physical unescorted access to the assigned work position and logical access to the networks in scope.
8.1.15 The Contractor’s personnel shall liaise with other Purchasers’ support teams as necessary.
8.1.16 The Contractor’s personnel shall use the Purchaser Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) ticketing system following the Purchaser’s procedures and observe relevant KPIs.
8.2 CONSTRAINTS
8.2.1 All the deliverables provided under this statement of work will be based on Purchaser templates or agreed with the Purchaser’s Point of contact.
8.2.2 All scripts, documentation, etc. will be stored under configuration management and/or in the provided Purchaser tools and systems.
8.2.3 Part of the work will involve handling classified networks, therefore, a valid security clearance at NATO COSMIC TOP SECRET or NATO Secret in progress of upgrade to NATO Cosmic Top Secret level is required for the Contractor’s staff undertaking this project.
8.2.4 Due to the high security profile of the work to be carried out, there is a requirement for traceability and accountability, the criticality of the information Contractor’s staff will have access to (mailboxes, user accounts, Skype phones, etc..) demands that all the 12 Work Packages during the performance period must start and end with the same staff as long as there are no grounds for rotation or termination.
8.3 SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS
[See Requirements]
9 GOVERNANCE
9.1 PURCHASER’S KEY ROLES
The following personnel is considered Key personnel in the context of this SoW:
Service Owner – the person accountable for the end-to-end delivery of the IT services. Unless decided otherwise, the Service Owner is the Purchaser’s designated representative to sign the acceptance documents under this SoW.
Service Delivery Manager – the person responsible for delivering the assigned IT service(s) on a day-to-day basis.
Service IT Operations lead – the person responsible for the Level 3 support engineering team.
The Service IT Operations lead will provide technical guidance to the Contractor’s personnel.
Same person may perform more than one role.
9.2 CONTRACTOR’S KEY ROLES
The Contractor shall assign a project (or service) manager for the duration of the work under this SoW.
The Contractor’s Project Manager shall be the single point of contact for any matters related to this SoW.
The Contractor shall strive to maintain the same person for as long as possible.
The Contractor shall seek Purchaser’s approval prior to appointing new Project Manager. When the reasons to appoint a new Project Manager are beyond Contractor’s control, the Contractor shall inform the Purchaser at least 30 days in advance.
9.3 ESCALATION
For matters related to this SoW except contractual matters, the Contractor shall follow the escalation procedures as follows:
The first point of contact is the Purchaser’s site point of contact.
The first escalation point is the Purchaser’s Service Delivery Manager.
The second escalation point is the Purchaser’s Service Owner.
The Contractor shall escalate all contractual matters as per the Contract General and
Special provisions to the Purchaser Contracting Officer and inform the Service Owner.
Requirements
8.3 SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS
To efficiently and effectively deliver the Service, the Contractor personnel shall possess at a minimum qualifications and skills in the following areas:
