Deadline Date: Thursday 19 December 2024
Requirement: Provide Systems Test Engineering support to BMD Programme
Location: The Hague, NL
Full Time On-Site: Yes
Time On-Site: 100%
Period of Performance: BASE 2025: (starting not later than 3 February to end March)
2025 Option 1: 01 Apr until 30 Jun 2025
2025 Option 2: 01 Jul until 30 Sep 2025
2025 Option 3: 01 Oct until 31 Dec 2025
2026 Quarterly Options: 1st Jan until 31st Dec 2026
2027 Quarterly Options: 1st Jan until 31st Dec 2027
2028 Quarterly Options: 1st Jan until 31st Dec 2028
Required Security Clearance: NATO SECRET
1. INTRODUCTION
The NCI Agency (NCIA) has been established with a view to meeting to the best advantage the collective requirements of some or all NATO nations in the fields of capability delivery and service provision related to Consultation, Command & Control as well as Communications, Information and Cyber Defence functions, thereby also facilitating the integration of Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, Target Acquisition functions and their associated information exchange.
As such the NCIA is nominated as the host Nation for managing the majorities of the main NATO projects and Programmes with support of NATO Internal Civilians (NICs) and Contractors.
2. BACKGROUND
The Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Programme has been established to provide NATO with a verified architecture providing the NATO Commander with the capability to defend NATO European populations, territory and forces against the full range of Ballistic Missile threats. The mission of the BMD Programme is to ensure the planning, development and fielding of a NATO BMD Capability in Tranches, which is intended to satisfy the military operational requirements through the implementation of technical, functional and non-functional requirements contained in the BMD NATO Staff Requirement. These requirements ensure interoperability and integration between the command and control of military armaments using the Battle Management Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (BMC3I) platform, NATO National sensors and weapons systems. The focus of the programme is on the delivery of the NATO common-funded BMC3I systems and services for BMD, based on BMD operational requirements. The BMD Programme is to ensure that the BMC3I systems and services, as designed, built, tested and delivered, are aligned with the operational requirements.
3. OBJECTIVES
One of the sections within the BMD Programme is the BMD Integration and Test Section (BITS). BITS plans and executes verification and validation related activities of the BMD BMC3I (ACCS, AirC2IS, NCOP, TOPFAS, ETEE FS, INTEL FS and others), including integration with national BMD systems and the active participation of the Bi-SCs. BITS also supports national IAMD exercise events, and carries out these activities both on-site and from the Integration Test Bed (ITB) facility in The Hague.
BMD Systems of Systems In-Service Support (BMD SoS ISS) is responsible for ensuring the fielded BMD capability remains operational and maintained.
BITS and BMD SoS ISS have requirements for individual subject matter experts to be embedded with the BMD programme on behalf of the NCIA to provide technical support for the on-going NSIP funded projects as well as the BMD SoS ISS and ACO Programme of Work (POW).
4. SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES
41. All of the defined deliverables are briefings, reports, designs (proof of concept demonstrators) or specifications with a well-defined NCI Agency-specified format.
4.2 Development of the deliverables will require working in an Integrated Project Team (IPT) fashion with the Purchaser staff (and other NCIA stakeholders) and to participate and provide expert support to the NCIA in the execution of scientific and engineering activities.
4.3 All deliverables are to be peer reviewed within the deliverable cycle. Input and guidance will be provided by NCIA in written form or/and during the targeted review meetings.
4.4 During the period of performance a Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS) shall be provided to the Purchaser. The Template is provided in the Annex C.
4.5 The Purchaser will confirm the acceptance by signing Delivery Acceptance Sheet.
4.6 The execution of this contract will be coordinated by the designated NCIA Project Manager
4.7 The contractor shall participate in a kick-off meeting within one working week after the signing of this contract.
This will be a virtual meeting executed via electronic means using Conference Call capabilities;
During this meeting the list of tests and activities will be reviewed and in case adjusted based on latest availability of NATO systems and/or national contribution; for 2026 option (if exercised) the list of test events will be provided whith the related notification; also in this case the list will be re-assed at kick-off meeting;
During the kick-off meeting, the contractor will provide and discuss a plan for executing the tasks under this statement of work. Purchaser and contractor will discuss the plan and amend where appropriate;
The contractor will provide email minutes containing, at least decisions and actions decided during the meeting.
4.8 The contractor shall participate in regular status meetings, preferably in-person (where possible) or via electronic means using Conference Call capabilities.
The rhythm for these meetings will be decided at the kick-off meeting;
The contractor will initiate these meetings and provide email minutes containing at least decisions and actions decided during the meeting.
4.9 The contractor shall support test leaders conducting operational tests on BMC3I systems (focusing on, but not limited to, ACCS, CSI, SEW+I, SEW+Sim, JRE Gateway/Router, Comms) as a BMD Systems Test Engineer and shall support BMD SoS ISS activities including support to obsolescence replacement, issues investigation and troubleshooting, support to ISS governance reporting and other support as required during the period of performance.
4.10 The following specific deliverables are expected from this statement of work:
D001: Test procedures (to be delivered at the end of each month for the test activities under preparation);
D002: Test event plans and execution (to be delivered at the end of each month for the test activities under preparation or execution);
D003: Test Reporting (to be delivered as required for completed test activities);
D004: Technical Reports (to be delivered as required and directed).
4.11 The deliverables described above will be provided, within the each period of performance, in an incremental manner in support of the following BMD PO planned projects, test events and activities, at a discretion of the purchaser:
This list of tests and activities can be reviewed and in case adjusted based on latest availability of NATO systems and/or national contribution
4.12 To be able to provide above mentioned deliverables, the contractor will have to perform below activities per deliverable.
D001: Test procedures
To establish the deliverable, the contractor will:
Support development of Test Cases / Procedures / checklists, cheat sheets and aides to support test execution;
Support development of a library of test cases / Procedures, including checklists, cheat sheets and aides to support test execution, and ad hoc test scenarios to verify requirements, in cooperation with peers and operators;
Keep this library up to date;
Dry run, update and validate candidate test cases at ITB, and when necessary at operational sites;
Perform any related activity within this scope as deemed appropriate and required to establish the deliverable.
This activity may require travel to NATO sites in Europe. The deliverable will be provided in a progressive way. Test scripts will be added by the contractor into the JIRA/TestRail library.
D002: Test event plans and execution
To establish the deliverable, the contractor will:
Support planning and executing BMC3I interoperability test events, and coordinate with test participants and stakeholders at ITB, and when necessary operational sites;
Participate in the development of verification requirements for the next BMD Architecture increment’s requirement set;
Ensure all test even results are properly captured in ITB issue management tools and sufficiently documented to allow further analysis;
Perform any related activity within this scope as deemed appropriate and required to establish the deliverable.
This activity may require travel to NATO sites in Europe. The deliverable will be provided in an incremental way. Validated and approved results will be added by the contractor into the JIRA/TestRail/Data warehouse library.
D003: Test Reporting
To establish the deliverable, the contractor will:
Contribute to the drafting of a technical or ad hoc test report (contents dependent upon tests executed);
Evaluate the validation status of all requirements within their assigned operational or technical area of expertise;
Report all defects and deficiencies related to their assigned requirement set observed during test, record them in ITSM or Observation & Issue Database, as appropriate;
Follow up on the observation and issue resolution and assist in the validation/verification thereof;
Perform any related activity within this scope as deemed appropriate and required to establish the deliverable.
Exceptionally, contribution to and drafting of a report outside the assigned operational or technical area of expertise, but within the contractor ’s general domain of expertise will be required.
This activity may require travel to NATO sites in Europe. The deliverable will be provided whenever a test report is expected.
D004: Technical Reports
To establish the deliverable, the contractor will:
Produce technical reports, within the contractor ’s area of expertise, related to any Air and Missile Defence system;
Participate in project milestones, briefings and any related stakeholder support activity required to complete the report;
Perform any related activity within this scope as deemed appropriate and required to establish the deliverable.
This activity may require travel to NATO sites in Europe. The deliverable will be provided whenever a technical report is requested.
4.13 The Contractor will provide:
A completed Monthly Work Report (MWR) as an internal deliverable to NCIA, annotating comprehensively and with precision the deliverables produced for the projects and activities supported
A quarterly Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS) providing a summarized description of the same deliverables as the MWR, including only the essential information necessary for contractual exchange purposes.
5. PAYMENT MILESTONES AND SCHEDULE
5.1 This requirement is for the delivery of the Products, associated with the projects and activities identified in Section Error! Reference source not found. above, which will be determined and agreed at the kick-off meeting in writing.
5.3 Payment will be provided at the end of the the period of performance (starting from 31-Mar-25) following NCIA acceptance of the related DAS.
Period 2025
2025 BASE: Performance period: 3 Feb - 31 Mar
Deliverables: D0001 – D0004
Due date: 31 Mar
2025 Option 1: Performance period: 1 Apr – 30 Jun
Deliverables: D0001 – D0004
Due date: 30 Jun
2025 Option 2: Performance period: 1 Jul – 30 Sep
Deliverables: D0001 – D0004
Due date: 30 Sep
2025 Option 3: Performance period: 1 Oct – 31 Dec
Deliverables: D0001 – D0004
Due date: 31 Dec
Payment will be done at the end of each period upon successful acceptance of the Monthly Work Report (MWR) and the Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS)
Period 2026
2026 Option 1: Performance period: 1 Jan - 31 Mar
Deliverables: D0001 – D0004
Due date: 31 Mar
2026 Option 2: Performance period: 1 Apr – 30 Jun
Deliverables: D0001 – D0004
Due date: 30 Jun
2026 Option 3: Performance period: 1 Jul – 30 Sep
Deliverables: D0001 – D0004
Due date: 30 Sep
2026 Option 4: Performance period: 1 Oct – 31 Dec
Deliverables: D0001 – D0004
Due date: 31 Dec
Payment will be done at the end of each period upon successful acceptance of the Monthly Work Report (MWR) and the Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS)
Period 2027
2027 Option 1: Performance period: 1 Jan - 31 Mar
Deliverables: D0001 – D0004
Due date: 31 Mar
2027 Option 2: Performance period: 1 Apr – 30 Jun
Deliverables: D0001 – D0004
Due date: 30 Jun
2027 Option 3: Performance period: 1 Jul – 30 Sep
Deliverables: D0001 – D0004
Due date: 30 Sep
2027 Option 4: Performance period: 1 Oct – 31 Dec
Deliverables: D0001 – D0004
Due date: 31 Dec
Payment will be done at the end of each period upon successful acceptance of the Monthly Work Report (MWR) and the Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS)
5.4 The payment shall be dependent upon successful acceptance of the Monthly Work Report (MWR) and the Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS) – (Annex B) including the EBA Receipt number.
5.5 Invoices shall be accompanied with a Delivery Acceptance Sheet (Annex B) signed by the Contractor and the NCIA POC.
6. SECURITY
7.1 Performance of the services described in this SOW require a valid NATO SECRET security clearance prior to the start of the engagement.
7. CONSTRAINTS
8.1 All the documentation provided under this statement of work will be based on NCIA templates or agreed with project point of contact.
8.2 All scripts, documentation and required code will be stored under configuration management and/or in the provided NCIA tools.
8. PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS
9.1 This is a deliverables-based contract.
9.2 The Contractor shall provide services ON SITE.
9.3 There may be requirements to travel to other sites within NATO for completing these tasks.
9.4 Travel costs are out of scope and will be borne by the NCIA separately in accordance to the provisions of the AAS+ Framework Contract.
9.5 The work depicted in this SOW is expected to be carried by a single contractor.
9. QUALIFICATIONS
[See Requirements]
Requirements
6. SECURITY
9. QUALIFICATIONS
The consultancy support for this work requires resource with a Software engineer qualifications and experience:
