NATO Business Opportunity: eAirC2 Data Platform, Governance, and Usage

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) intends to issue an Invitation for Bid (IFB) for eAirC2 Data Platform, Governance, and Usage. 

To bid on this project, potential U.S. prime contractors must 1) maintain a professionally active facility (office, factory, laboratory, etc.) within the United States, 2) be pre-approved for participation in NATO Competitive Procurement (NCP), 3) be issued a Declaration of Eligibility (DOE) by the Department of Commerce (DOC), and 4) register with NCIA’s eProcurement tool, Neo: https://www.ncia.nato.int/business/procurement/neo-eprocurement 

Execution of the proposed Contract will require Contractor personnel to access and work at NATO Class II security areas. These individuals will need to hold personnel security clearances of NATO SECRET. The Contract award will not be delayed to allow Contractor personnel to obtain missing clearances.

The reference for the IFB is IFB-CO-42602163-eAirC2 and all correspondence concerning the IFB should include this reference.

SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENT

Scope of Work:

Following the 2024 NATO Summit and recommendations from the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD), the North Atlantic Council (NAC) agreed to the establishment of an enhanced Air Command and Control (eAirC2) Complex Armament Program (CAP). Delivery of the eAirC2 capability is managed by the independent Program Office (iPO).

The purpose of the eAirC2 capability is to enable NATO to manage all types of air operations over the SACEUR area of responsibility and to integrate air traffic control, surveillance, air mission control, airspace management and force management functions.

The eAirC2 capability must be able to support the delivery of multi-domain surveillance, detection and assessment, integrated with the space and cyberspace domains, and supported by resilient data-centric, interoperable command and control systems enabling multi-domain activities and operations.

A key component of the eAirC2 capability is the Data Platform, which is the subject of this procurement and which the NCIA supports under the guidance of the iPO. This Data Platform is expected to incrementally integrate data products across the NATO Command Structure (NCS) and the NATO Force Structure (NFS) to enable data-centric governance and usage as NATO transitions to a data centric architecture.

Procurement Approach:

The NCIA hereby provides notification of its intent to solicit competitive proposals for the provision of a Data Platform. The NCIA intends to adopt a Best Value competitive dialogue evaluation methodology to procure a single Data Platform solution through the following sequential three steps:

Step 1 – Pre-Qualification and Establishment of Competitive Range:
The objective of this step is to select up to three proposals from Industry. These suppliers will be awarded a firm-fixed price Contract (“Development Contract”) from the NCIA in the amount of EUR 3,000,000 to support a competitive dialogue phase of nine months (Step 2).

In response to this IFB, Bidders will be requested to submit answers to a Questionnaire and an initial Technical Proposal providing pertinent details of the Data Platform product proposed. NCIA will assess bid submissions against evaluation criteria defined in the IFB (pass/fail compliance and best value scoring of the initial Technical Proposal and Questionnaire elements) to determine the three suppliers who will proceed to Step 2 of the process.

Step 2 – Competitive Dialogue and Product Assessment:
The objective of Step 2 is to engage with the selected three suppliers over a nine-month competitive dialogue period. During these nine months, the suppliers will be required to install their proposed solutions at the NCIA facilities in The Hague, The Netherlands, and support the NCIA’s evaluation of their products against a total of six technical use cases which will be defined in the IFB.

Step 3 – Best and Final Offer (BAFO) and Final Product Selection:
The objective of Step 3 is to select the final Data Layer solution and award a follow-on contract (“Delivery Contract”) to the sole winning supplier.

During the early stages of the competitive dialogue process, the NCIA will provide the three suppliers with an additional Request for Proposal (RFP) for BAFO which will include the requirements of the Delivery Contract and the evaluation criteria (Best Value Score) against which the NCIA’s final determination will be made. The Delivery Contract is envisaged to be awarded for a period of performance of three years with optional follow-on years and will include deployment of the selected product, security accreditation, implementation of additional Data Layer functionalities (where required), product maintenance and In Service Support (ISS).

Anticipated Schedule:

NCIA will work under accelerated timelines for bidding, evaluation, and contract award and envisages the following schedule:

IFB Release Mar 2026
Bidder’s Conference (virtual) Mar/Apr 2026
Step 1 Bid Closing May 2026
Step 1 CAW Jul 2026
Step 2 EDC Jul/Aug 2026
Step 3 BAFO Closing May 2027
Step 3 CAW Jul 2027

BECOMING ELIGIBLE TO BID

NCP 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 NCP.  U.S. firms are approved for NCP on a facility-by-facility basis. 

The U.S. NCP application is a one-time application.  The application requires supporting documentation in the form of 1) a company resume or capability statement 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.

The U.S. Government continues to accept the legacy NATO International Competitive Bidding (ICB) application for participation in NCP. U.S. firms can download a copy of the legacy ICB application from the following website:

https://www.bis.gov/about-bis/bis-leadership-and-offices/SIES/business-opportunities-nato 

DOC is the U.S. Government agency that approves NCP applications. Please submit to the email address provided your application and supporting documentation (as attachments). If your firm is interested in a specific NCP 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/email of the company employee who should receive the bid documents

After approval of your one-time NCP 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:

Request a DOE (and, for firms new to NCP, submit the one-time NCP application): 12 March 2026

NCIA distributes the IFB (planned): 16 March 2026

Bid closing (anticipated): 08 May 2026

Contract Award (estimated): 24 July 2026