2025-0255 Support for Engineering Voice Network (CTS) - FRI 29 Aug

Deadline Date: Friday 29 August 2025

Requirement: Support for Engineering Voice Network

Location: Mons BE

Full Time On-Site: Yes

Time On-Site: 100%

Not to Exceed: 2025 BASE: 12500 EUR/ work package (max. 3 Work Packages total NTE 37500)

OPTIONS: Max. 12 packages (Price per work package will be determined by applying the price adjustment formula as outlined in COAAS Special Provisions article 6.5)

Period of Performance: 2025 BASE: From October 6th 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

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 Network as a Service team. The expectation from the deliverables is to support the team that is responsible to deliver the Network Voice and Video services 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

The NATO Infrastructure Service Centre (NISC) provides generic domain independent technical functionality that enables and facilitates the operation and use of Information Technology resources. NISC services (including: subject matter expertise; acquisition; project management operations and maintenance; and disposal) are provided in the following technical domains: Network Services (to include routing switching and transmission services) infrastructure hosting storage and processing infrastructure networking HW and SW management databases and web platform services as well as identity management. Services are provided throughout the lifecycle to both internal and external customers in both static and deployable settings.

The Network as a Service (NaaS) Area of Responsibility (AoR) spans all network infrastructure hardware Network Function Virtualization (NFV) elements as well as software services management and licensing components enabling the provisioning deployment network management maintenance lifecycle and vendor management of the on-premises cloud and multi-cloud network infrastructure services and connectivity.

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 Network as a Service 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 Voice Network engineer with estimation that the contract period will require work effort that is equal to 1 resource.

During performance of the contract the Contractor personnel will act as part of the Purchasers 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 Purchasers 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.

F) 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 Purchasers 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 06th October to 31st Dec 2025: Max. 3 work packages as described in the table below. Number of work packages is estimated. Actual number of work packages will be adapted on the PO depending on actual starting date.

01 Incident Management & Request Fulfillment: 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

Cost Ceiling: 12500 EUR (Default 7500 EUR)

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 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 60% of the cost ceiling.

02 Maintenance: 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

Cost Ceiling: 12500 EUR (Default 1875 EUR)

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.

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

Cost Ceiling: 12500 EUR (Default 1250 EUR)

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 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 10% of the cost ceiling.

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

Cost Ceiling: 12500 EUR (Default 1875 EUR)

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 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.

Delivery Failure 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.

Examples of Calculation of Payments in Less Full and Over Delivery

Work package payment ceiling: 12500 EUR

01 Incident Management & Request Fulfillment:

Work package weight: 60%

Work Package Weighted Payment: 7500

Work package Month delivered: 40%

Amount to be paid 1 month: 5000

02 Request Fulfilment:

Work package weight: 15%

Work Package Weighted Payment: 1875

Work package Month delivered: 25%

Amount to be paid 1 month: 1875

03 Continuous Service Improvement:

Work package weight: 10%

Work Package Weighted Payment: 1250

Work package Month delivered: 8%

Amount to be paid 1 month: 1000

04: On-Call

Work package weight: 15%

Work Package Weighted Payment: 1875

Work package Month delivered: 15%

Amount to be paid 1 month: 1875

4.2.2 OPTION: period of performance 01 January 2026 31st December2026 Refer to Table 1

4.2.3 OPTION: period of performance 01 January 2027 31st December 2027 Refer to Table 1

4.2.4 OPTION: period of performance 01 January 2028 31st December 2028 Refer to Table 1

5. SCHEDULE

This contract will be active immediately after signing of the contract by both parties.

The period of performance is from Oct 6th 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 COAAS 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 Purchasers premises in 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 Purchasers working hoursMonday to Thursday from 08h30 until 17h30 and Friday from 08h30 until 15h30 and observe Purchasers official holidays.

The Purchasers official holidays may differ from the public holidays in the Host Nation.

6.3 TRAVEL

Depending on Purchasers 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 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.

7.1. 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 Contractors personnel shall be knowledgeable and experienced in the nature of the tasks and activities of the Service.

8.1.3. The Contractors personnel shall possess valid Personal Security Clearances for the duration of the Contract performance.

8.1.4. The Contractors personnel shall be courteous and professional in dealing with NATO and Purchasers staff.

8.1.5. The Contractors personnel shall have sufficient knowledge in English language to allow smooth verbal and written communication.

8.1.6. The Contractors shall strive to lower the rotation of personnel and maintain the same staff working under this SoW.

8.1.7. The Contractor shall seek Purchasers approval prior to appointing new personnel to work under this Statement of Work.

8.1.8. The Purchaser will support the Contractors personnel with access to the IT systems as required. The Contractor shall submit requests for change of Contractors personnel at least 30 days in advance.

8.1.9. The Contractor shall handle the Purchasers furnished equipment (PFE) with due care.

8.1.10. The Contractor shall operate the equipment following the manufacturers 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 Contractors personnel will report to and receive guidance from Purchaser Point of Contact on-site Service Owner and assigned immediate supervisor.

8.1.14. The Contractors 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 Contractors personnel shall liaise with other Purchasers support teams as necessary.

8.1.16. The Contractors personnel shall use the Purchaser Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) ticketing system following the Purchasers 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 Purchasers 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 level is required for the Contractors 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 Contractors staff will have access to (voice mailboxes voice user accounts VTC Accounts and VTC Sessions of VIPs 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 PURCHASERS 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 Purchasers 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.

Section Head the person responsible for the engineering cell.

Same person may perform more than one role.

9.2 CONTRACTORS KEY ROLES

The Contractor shall assign a project (or service) manager for the duration of the work under this SoW.

The Contractors 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 Purchasers approval prior to appointing new Project Manager. When the reasons to appoint a new Project Manager are beyond Contractors 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 Purchasers site point of contact.

The first escalation point is the Purchasers Service Delivery Manager.

The second escalation point is the Purchasers 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.

• Part of the work will involve handling classified networks therefore a valid security clearance at NATO COSMIC TOP SECRET level is required for the Contractors staff undertaking this project.

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:

• Advanced proficiency and 3 years experience with Cisco Voice Technologies: Problem solving strong knowledge of Cisco Voice Technologies such as Cisco CUCM Cisco CUBE Cisco UCCX Diagnose and resolve technical issues support software and basic associated network related problems.
• Advanced proficiency and 3 years experience with Telecommunication Technology including TDM: Knowledge of managing call distribution lists voice mailboxes ISDN TDM technologies troubleshooting on Legacy TDM PABX integration to Cisco Voice Technologies
• Intermediate proficiency and 2 years experience with Virtualized server platform products: Good knowledge in managing VMWare vSphere and VMWare vCenter
• Intermediate proficiency and 2 years experience with Communication Systems integration with PKI and Active Directory: Good knowledge in AD and PKI integration with Cisco products
• Intermediate proficiency and 2 years experience with monitoring platforms and protocols: Good knowledge of monitoring platforms such as nGeniusOne CA Performance management CA Spectrum
• Basic proficiency and 1 years experience with Scripting: Basic knowledge in Java Script Python or similar scripting languages
• Intermediate proficiency and 2 years experience with Networks: Knowledge in troubleshooting basic network issues (including boundary protection devices) on servers and end users; Splunk log monitoring and analysis nGeniusOne monitoring and analysis.
• Intermediate proficiency and 2 years experience with Exercise/Military Operations Support (desirable): Knowledge and experience either working with or being in the military IT capacity specialized on Telephony service products (Cisco legacy PABX etc..) delivering support of exercises or operations; Knowledge of use case scenarios of Telephony service products (Cisco legacy PABX etc..) in exercise and operations as well as day to day operational requirements of military bodies
• Intermediate proficiency and 2 years experience with Remote Support Units (desirable): Knowledge and experience either working with or being in a remote support unit IT capacity specialized on Telephony service products (Cisco legacy PABX etc..) delivering support to daily activities exercises or operations; Knowledge of use case scenarios of Telephony service products (Cisco legacy PABX etc..) in remote support units exercise and operations support as well as remote units supporting day to day operational requirements support of military bodies