Belgium onlyBidding Instructions - Technical Proposal
Bidders shall include in the Technical Proposal:
1. CV of the proposed candidate, clearly indicating relevant experience for the requirements, section 11 and qualifications, section 12 in the Statement of work (SoW).
2. Compliance matrix referring how the candidate meets each of the stated requirements (scope), section 2 and qualifications, section 12 of the SoW, justified by relevant (project) experience
Deadline Date: Monday 26 May 2025
Requirement: ACQ Digital Transformation Manager Support
Location: Off site, with onsite presence in Brussels (BEL) or the Hague (NLD) estimated at 1 day/week. This shall be factored into the offer.
Period of Performance: 2025 Base: 16 June 2025 (tentative) – 31 July 2025
2025 Option: 1 August – 15 December 2025
Required Security Clearance: NATO SECRET
1 INTRODUCTION
ACQ Digital Transformation (DT) includes all the transitional processes and activities when ACQ adopts technologies and digital-oriented business framing or changes its work-culture.
2 SCOPE OF WORK
In collaboration and as agreed with the DCOA BO or other Senior Staff as designated by the DCOA BO, the Contractor shall formulate and deliver:
• The 5-year ACQ digital transformation plan and underpinning implementation plan, focussed on the transverse technology adoption by internal (ACQ and NCIA staff) and external users (Suppliers) and cross-functional business change.
As part of this delivery, the Contractor (having as role ACQ DT manager for technology adoption and business change) will:
• Lead the ACQ digital transformation – strategy, benchmarks, milestones, and budget planning. Enable and manage the entire spectrum of ACQ technology adoption and business change.
• Oversee user experience of technologies employed in the execution of the ACQ processes – identify gaps, propose options and, in collaboration with the NCIA Business Applications Centre (NBAC), advise on feasible technology solutions, upcoming changes and innovations. Seek a middle ground between staying up-to-date, relevant, and productive.
• Coordinate all aspects of digital adoption, with intimate understanding of the ACQ processes and practices, and always looking out for the best and most efficient ways to implement the transformation. This includes: Receiving ACQ user’s requirements and feedbacks on the current technologies and user experience, and working with NBAC on the prospective digital solutions. Along those lines, actively search for new transformative solutions and tools maximizing ACQ delivery, enabling standardization, simplification, and automation in the ACQ process execution.
3 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The services under this SOW will be carried out Offsite with occasional travel (1x/week) to Agency premises in Belgium and The Netherlands. Access to the relevant NCIA networks and software will be established. The work will be conducted during normal office hours following the NCIA Brussels holidays calendar.
The Contractor will be providing support to a team that is under the supervision of the Deputy Chief Of Acquisition BO. The services shall be provided in an agile and iterative approach using regular meeting/deliverables. The content and scope of each period’s deliverables will be agreed with the DCOA-BO during the regular planning meetings.
4 DELIVERABLES AND PAYMENT SCHEDULE
Payments shall be dependent upon the successful acceptance of each deliverable or work and the validation as set out under Section 5. All Invoices shall be accompanied with a Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS, Annex A) signed by the Contractor and project authority.
The content and scope of each work item as described in the SOW will be agreed during the work- planning meetings as covered in Section 5. Each payment milestone cycle is planned for a duration of one calendar month. Payments will be made on monthly basis, and correspond to the progressive (monthly) maturity steps of the required deliverables.
In 2025, the following deliverables are expected from the service as set in this statement of work:
Deliverable 01 (Base): The 5-year ACQ digital transformation plan and underpinning implementation plan
Schedule: 16 June 2025 (tentative) - 31 July 2025
Acceptance Criteria: DCOA-BO written acceptance of the deliverable.
Payment (%): 100% of Clin 1 (Base Contract)
Deliverable 02 (Option): ACQ DT manager (technology adoption and business change) Scope
Schedule: 1 August 2025 – 15 December 2025
Acceptance Criteria: Payments will be made on monthly basis, and correspond to the progressive (monthly) maturity steps of the required deliverables subject to written DCOA-BO acceptance.
Payment (%): Monthly - 1/5 of option value
The payment shall be dependent upon successful acceptance of the Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS) – (Annex C).
Invoices shall be accompanied with a Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS) – (Annex C) signed by the Contractor and project authority.
5 COORDINATION AND REPORTING
There is a need to define a set of specific arrangements between the NCI Agency and the contractor that specifically defines the deliverables to be provided for the base Contract and Option, including defining the work items and requirements as well as their associated acceptance criteria.
This includes work planning, execution and review processes, which are detailed below:
1. Base Contract: Deliverable Planning, Execution and Review:
Kick-off meeting with DCOA-BO within 2 working days from CAW
Submit draft deliverables per the agreed dates for review by DCOA-BO
Integrate comments (if and as applicable) and submit final version of deliverables as defined in this Statement of Work.
2. Option: Deliverables Planning:
Objective: Plan the objectives for the upcoming monthly meetings and deliverables as defined under a deliverable as part of the base Contract.
Monthly Kick-off meeting: Conduct a monthly meeting with the contractor to plan the objectives of upcoming meetings and deliverables and review contractor’s performance to meet the agreed deliverables.
Backlog Review: Review and prioritise any backlog of tasks, issues, and improvements from previous work.
Assess each deliverables milestone cycle duration of one calendar month. State of completion and validation on a monthly basis per the work deliverables completion.
3. Deliverables Execution
Objective: Contractor to execute the agreed “work plans” with continuous monitoring and adjustments.
Regular meetings between NCI Agency and the contractor to review deliverable progress, address issues, and make necessary adjustments to the processes methodology. The Meetings will be physically in the office, or in person via electronic means using Conference Call capabilities, according to the NCI Agency project manager’s instructions.
Continuous improvement: Contractor to establish a continuous feedback loop to gather input from all stakeholders for ongoing improvements and their subsequent implementation depending on NCIA approval.
Progress Tracking: Contractor to use a shared dashboard or tool to track the status of the deliverables and any issues.
Quality Assurance/Quality Check: Contractor shall ensure that the quality standards agreed for the deliverables are maintained throughout the planned work.
Quality Control: NCIA to perform the Final Quality Control of the agreed deliverables and provide feedback on any issues.
4. Acceptance of the Deliverables
Objective: Review the deliverables and identify areas for improvement.
At the end of each month, there will be a meeting between the NCI Agency and the Contractor to review the outcomes against the acceptance criteria comprising the deliverables and agreed quality criteria.
Define specific actions to address issues moving forward.
6 SCHEDULE
The BASE period of performance shall be from CAW to 31 July 2025. Should NCIA choose to exercise the option, the period of performance shall be from CAW to 15 December 2025.
7 SECURITY
a. Contractor/Sub-contractor shall be aware of all security rules pertaining to the handling of NATO classified information. For this particular, project attention shall be given to the following regulations:
Personnel Security Clearance (PSC). Individuals who require access or may have access to information classified NC or above during the course of their duties shall have a PSC, at the appropriate level, which is valid for the duration of the authorized access. In addition, such individuals are required to: Have a need-to-know; Have been briefed on their security obligations in respect to the protection of NATO Classified Information; and have acknowledged their responsibilities either in writing or an equivalent method which ensures non-repudiation.
b. NCIA will provide access to relevant networks and resources as required by the project
8 CONSTRAINTS
All the documentation provided under this statement of work will be based on NCI Agency templates and/or agreed with the NCIA project manager.
All support, maintenance, documentation and required codes will be stored under configuration management and/or in the provided NCI Agency tools.
All developed deliverables, solutions, tools and code under this project will be property of the NCI Agency.
The agency requires that the Contractor assigns a single individual for the provision of these services.
9 PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS AND TRAVEL
The work will be carried out Off site, with onsite presence in Brussels (BEL) or The Hague (NLD) estimated at 1 day/week. All travel costs shall be included in the Offer and borne by the Contractor.
10 GENERAL PROVISIONS
Access to all relevant systems will be provided by NCI Agency.
Working environment is normal office environment, if and when at NCIA premises.
11 SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS
Close coordination of all activities with the NCI Agency DCOA BO as well as strict adherence to agreed timelines is fundamental.
12 CONTRACTOR’S PERSONNEL REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
[See Requirements]
13 GENERAL PROVISIONS
The contractor is expected to provide services within NCIA business hours.
NCIA Recognised Business hours/Holidays: NCIA-Brussels official holiday schedule applies and will be provided to the contractor.
NCIA Hours of Operations: Monday to Thursday 0830 – 1700 and Friday 0830 – 1500 (CET)
NCIA Furnished Property and Services: Access to relevant NCIA networks will be provided by NCIA if and as applicable and as agreed in meetings
Requirements
- The candidate must have a currently active NATO SECRET security clearance
12 CONTRACTOR’S PERSONNEL REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
Required:
- Having a keen understanding of the most relevant technical solutions, and be capable of identifying and introducing sustainable innovations.
- Displaying intimate business subject matter expertise, and understanding of the human perspective, including resistance to change.
- Proven experience in comparable work and projects in national administration or multinational organizations
- Experience and project management and process automation.
- Oracle ERP expertise
Desirable:
- Public procurement expertise
- Language Proficiency: A thorough knowledge of one of the two NATO languages, both written and spoken, is essential and some knowledge of the other is desirable. NOTE: Most of the work of the NCI Agency is onducted in the English language.
United States
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