NCIA Request for Information (RFI)

E-INVOICING SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES

(INBOUND & OUTBOUND)

RFI-191957

NCIA/ACQ/2026/07737

Friday, 25 September 2026

NCIA Request for Information (RFI) To: Industry Partners

1. The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) is conducting market research to identify qualified vendors and gather input on potential solutions to support the upcoming acquisition for commercially available electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) solutions and managed services supporting both Accounts Payable (AP) and Accounts Receivable (AR) processes.

2. To that end, we are issuing the attached Request for Information (RFI) 191957 to solicit feedback from capable and interested industry partners.

3. This RFI is issued for planning purposes only and is not a request for bids. It is part of NCIA’s effort to ensure it has a clear understanding of the marketplace, available capabilities, and potential acquisition strategies.

4. We value your insight and invite you to:

a. Share relevant corporate capabilities and experience;

b. Review and comment on our draft requirements (Annexes A and B) with a view in providing recommendations for improving performance outcomes, competition, and efficiency; and identifying any risks or concerns that should be considered during planning.

5. Submission instructions and additional details can be found in the enclosure to this RFI.

6. Only companies from a NATO member country can participate in or respond to this RFI (https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/nato_countries.htm).

7. Should you have any questions or need clarification, please contact Mihaela Croitoru at RFI-191957-e-Invoicing@ncia.nato.int

8. We thank you in advance for your time and input, and we look forward to engaging with you as we shape this potential acquisition.

For the Chief of Acquisition:

Mihaela Croitoru Principal Contracting Assistant https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/nato_countries.htm mailto:RFI-191957-e-Invoicing@ncia.nato.int

Enclosure:

• Request for Information with Annexes A, B and C

• Distribution List

Distribution List

1. NATO Delegation (Attn: Infrastructure Adviser)

1. Albania 12. Greece 23. Poland

2. Belgium 13. Hungary 24. Portugal

3. Bulgaria 14. Iceland 25. Romania

4. Canada 15. Italy 26. Slovakia

5. Croatia 16. Latvia 27. Slovenia

6. Czechia 17. Lithuania 28. Spain

7. Denmark 18. Luxembourg 29. Sweden

8. Estonia 19. Montenegro 30. Türkiye

9. Finland 20. Netherlands 31. United Kingdom

10. France 21. North Macedonia 32. United States

11. Germany 22. Norway

2. All NATEXs

Table of Contents

A. Introduction B. Purpose C. Background D. Objectives E. Submission Instructions F. Industry Engagement G. Disclaimer H. Use of Information Provided through Responses I. Evaluation and Next Steps J. RFI Point of Contact Annex A – Requested Information Annex B – Draft Future Requirements and Objectives Annex C – Indicative ACO Organisations, Commands and Locations

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

A. Introduction

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) is conducting market research to better understand commercially available electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) solutions and managed services supporting both Accounts Payable (AP) and Accounts Receivable (AR) processes.

NCIA is considering the implementation of an e-invoicing capability initially supporting NCIA business processes and operating environments. However, the envisaged solution should be designed as a scalable NATO Enterprise capability that may subsequently be extended to other NATO organisations, commands and entities, including Allied Command Operations (ACO), Allied Command Transformation (ACT), International Military Staff (IMS) and their subordinate commands and locations.

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to engage with industry and obtain information on available solutions, implementation approaches, service delivery models and current market practices.

This RFI is issued solely for information gathering and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quotation (RFQ), Invitation to Tender (ITT), or any commitment by NCIA to procure products or services.

Information received through this RFI may be used to:

• Better understand commercially available solutions and managed services

• Assess current market capabilities and best practices

• Understand implementation approaches and operational models

• Identify potential risks and key success factors

• Develop a future Statement of Work (SOW) and procurement strategy

• Identify respondents that may be invited to participate in follow-up demonstrations and discussions

NCIA welcomes responses from software vendors, managed service providers, systems integrators and other organisations with relevant experience.

B. Purpose

The objective of this RFI is to better understand how commercially available electronic invoicing solutions can support an international organisation operating across NATO’s 32 member countries, as well as NATO headquarters, commands, missions and operations located in other geographical locations inside and outside of the 32 member countries.

NCIA is seeking information regarding:

• solution capabilities

• implementation approaches

• interoperability and standards support

• deployment and operating models

• security models

• compliance strategy, monitoring and implementation procedures

• commercial models

• lessons learned from previous implementations

Respondents are encouraged to provide practical recommendations based on their implementation experience, including considerations they believe should be addressed during a future procurement.

C. Background

As electronic invoicing requirements continue to evolve globally, NCIA is exploring how commercially available solutions could improve interoperability, automation and regulatory compliance while supporting future business needs.

The future solution is required to support multiple invoice standards and formats, electronic invoicing networks, infrastructure and platforms and integration mechanisms while remaining sufficiently flexible to accommodate future regulatory and technological developments.

At this stage, NCIA has not selected a preferred technical approach or deployment model. Through this RFI, the organisation wishes to better understand available market offerings before defining detailed functional, technical and contractual requirements.

Recognizing that the electronic invoicing marketplace continues to evolve rapidly, NCIA welcomes industry feedback to validate and refine its current understanding of future business, functional and technical requirements.

Respondents are encouraged to describe not only the capabilities of their solution, but also the implementation approaches, operational models and architectural recommendations they believe would be most appropriate for NCIA.

NATO operates across 32 member nations as well as other entities outside those nations, each with differing electronic invoicing and procurement requirements. While the Peppol network provides the principal interoperability framework for Business-to- Government (B2G) electronic invoicing across approximately 13–14 NATO member nations, several others mandate or rely on alternative national e-invoicing platforms and clearance networks. NCIA therefore seeks solutions that provide broad international interoperability through Peppol, while also supporting, or demonstrating a clear roadmap to support, the national e-invoicing networks and regulatory requirements of the remaining NATO member nations. Respondents should clearly identify their current capabilities, geographic coverage and planned enhancements to ensure compliance with evolving international e-invoicing mandates.

Current Operating Environment

The following information is provided to assist respondents in understanding NCIA’s current operating environment. It is intended to provide context for this market research and should not be interpreted as a detailed technical specification or statement of future requirements.

The current environment is characterised by:

• An Oracle E-Business Suite R12.2.10 (EBS) ERP on premise environment, expected to evolve over time as part of ongoing digital transformation initiatives, and the following functionalities:

o EBS Accounts Payables including APRO on-premise o EBS Accounts Receivables o EBS iSupplier Portal o More4Apps AP Invoice Wizard o EBS E-Business Tax

• A supplier community with varying levels of digital maturity and electronic invoicing capabilities with approximately:

1. NCIA:

o 35,200 inbound invoices per year o 2,900 outbound invoices per year o 6,700 active suppliers

2. Main ACO HQs AP invoices per year 2025:

HQ NR_INVOICES

SHAPE 9694

JFC Brunssum 6677

AIRCOM 2971

JFC Naples 2772

LANDCOM 1652

MARCOM 1266

• A combination of electronic and non-electronic invoice exchange mechanisms, including structured electronic invoices and multiple file formats (PDF/JPG/PNG/CSV or XML Invoice files).

The future solution should support integration with the current enterprise application landscape while remaining sufficiently flexible to accommodate future changes to business systems and technology platforms.

Where relevant, respondents are encouraged to identify any assumptions they have made regarding NCIA’s operating environment and to indicate which additional information they would typically require during a future procurement or implementation phase.

Potential NATO Enterprise Expansion

The solution should also be capable of supporting future onboarding of additional NATO organisations and commands, including ACO, ACT and IMS.

The NATO organisations, commands and locations potentially covered by this expansion are listed in Annex C.

Respondents should explain how their proposed solution could accommodate additional entities and locations, including different organisational structures, systems, invoice volumes and national e-invoicing requirements, while maintaining a common and scalable technical approach.

The proposed solution should allow new NATO organisations, commands or locations to be onboarded with limited bespoke development.

D. Objectives

Through this RFI, NCIA wishes to:

• Understand commercially available electronic invoicing solutions / services

• Identify suitable architectural and deployment approaches

• Understand implementation methodologies and supplier onboarding practices

• Assess interoperability, security and compliance capabilities

• Obtain indicative commercial information

• Identify implementation risks and lessons learned

• Gather information to support the development of a future Statement of Work

E. Submission Instructions

1. Interested parties are invited to respond in accordance with the instructions below:

a. Submit responses via the email address in section J no later than 12:00 hours Central European Time (CET) on 06 November 2026.

b. Responses should be submitted in PDF or Word format and must not exceed 20 pages, including:

i. Responses to Annex A and comments on Annex B excluding:

i. Cover page

ii. Company brochures or product literature (if included)

iii. Attachments such as past performance references

* Respondents are encouraged to keep responses concise and focus on practical implementation experience. Generic marketing material should be kept to a minimum.

c. Use the following subject line for submission

i. “Response to RFI-191957-e-Invoicing – [Company Name]”

ci. All responses should address the items listed in Annex A – Requested Information.

cii. Respondents are also encouraged to review and comment on the high-level requirements in Annex B.

F. Industry Engagement

1. Following evaluation of the written responses, NCIA may invite a limited number of respondents to participate in interactive demonstrations and follow-up discussions.

Respondents will be contacted if such a demonstration is desirable to make further arrangements. Respondents are requested to await further instructions after their submissions and are requested not to contact directly any NCI Agency staff other than the POC identified in Section J.

2. Demonstrations are intended solely to improve NCIA’s understanding of available solutions and implementation approaches and will not constitute part of any future evaluation process.

G. Disclaimer

1. This RFI is for planning and informational purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or obligation on the part of the NCIA. The NCIA does not intend to award a contract based on responses to this RFI. Respondents are solely responsible for all costs incurred in responding to this RFI. The NCIA will consider and analyse all information received from this RFI and may use these findings to develop a future solicitation. The NCIA will consider all responses as confidential commercial information and will protect it as such.

2. NCIA reserves the right, at any time, to cancel this informal market survey, partially or in its entirety. No legal liability on the part of NCIA for payment of any sort shall arise and in no event will a cause of action lie with any prospective participant for the liability of any costs incurred in connection with the preparation of documentation or participation in response hereto. All effort initiated or undertaken by prospective informal market survey participants shall be done considering and accepting this fact.

H. Use of Information Provided through Responses Confidentiality of Responses

The NCIA may incorporate industry comments and responses, in part or in whole, into a future release of a solicitation. Should respondents include proprietary data in their responses that they do not wish to be disclosed to the public for any purpose, or used by NCIA (except for internal evaluation purposes), they must:

a. Mark the title page with the following legend:

This document includes data that shall not be disclosed outside NATO and shall not be duplicated, used, or disclosed – in whole or in part – for any purpose other than for NCIA internal evaluation purposes, unless otherwise expressly authorised by [insert company name]. This restriction does not limit the NCIA’s right to use information contained in this data without restriction if it is obtained from another source. The data subject to this restriction are contained in sheets [insert numbers or other identification of sheets]

b. Mark each sheet of data it wishes to restrict with the following legend:

Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this document.

I. Evaluation and Next Steps Responses received through this RFI will be reviewed to better understand the marketplace and to assist NCIA in refining its future requirements.

The information received may be used to:

• Refine business and technical requirements

• Develop a future Statement of Work (SOW)

• Identify potential procurement strategies

• Identify respondents that may be invited to participate in solution demonstrations

Participation in this RFI or any subsequent demonstration does not guarantee inclusion in any future procurement process.

J. RFI Point of Contact

1. Contracting Officer – Mihaela Croitoru

2. Email – RFI-191957-e-Invoicing@ncia.nato.int mailto:RFI-191957-e-Invoicing@ncia.nato.int

Annex A – Requested Information

1. Company Profile Please provide:

• Company overview

• Headquarters and geographic presence

• Years in operation

• Relevant experience

• Public sector and international organisation experience

• Primary point of contact

2. Solution Overview Please describe:

• Overall solution / service

• Core capabilities

• Deployment model

• Typical customer profile

• Key differentiators

3. Functional Capabilities Describe how your solution supports:

Accounts Payable

• Electronic invoice receipt

• Validation

• PO matching

• Non-PO invoices

• Exception handling

• Approval workflows

• ERP integration

• Interaction with Suppliers

Accounts Receivable

• Invoice creation

• Multiple formats

• Delivery

• Acknowledgements

• Exception handling

4. Interoperability Describe:

• Supported interoperability frameworks and standards (e.g. Peppol, EN16931, UBL, UN/CEFACT CII, EDIFACT, cXML)

• Supported invoice formats and document specifications (including Peppol BIS and national Core Invoice Usage Specifications (CIUS), where applicable)

• Supported transport mechanisms and connectivity (e.g. Peppol Access Point, AS2, AS4, APIs, SFTP, EDI)

• Country and jurisdiction coverage, identifying:

o NATO member nations currently supported o National e-invoicing networks supported (e.g. SDI, KSeF, RO e-Factura, FACe, Chorus Pro, GİB e-Fatura, NAV, myDATA, cXML/EDI/Ariba)

• Regulatory compliance, including support for current mandatory B2G and B2B e-invoicing requirements and relevant tax authority reporting obligations

• Future compliance roadmap, including planned support for additional countries, networks, standards and regulatory changes, together with indicative delivery timescales

5. Technical Architecture

• Architecture

• APIs

• Integration

• ERP connectivity

• Hosting

• Identity Management

• Scalability

6. Security

• Security architecture

• Encryption

• Audit logging

• Disaster recovery

• Business continuity

• Security certifications

7. Implementation

• Implementation approach

• Typical timeline

• Customer onboarding

• Supplier onboarding

• Training

• Support

Also describe:

• Typical implementation risks

• Lessons learned

• Any significant assumptions you have made based on the information provided in this RFI, and any additional information that would typically be required to design or implement a solution

8. Commercial Information Provide non-binding indicative pricing information regarding:

• Licensing model

• Subscription costs

• Transaction-based fees

• Implementation costs

• Integration costs

• Support and maintenance costs

• Optional services

A Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) estimate is sufficient. Please detail any assumptions.

9. Product Roadmap

• Future functionality

• Compliance strategy and roadmap

• AI capabilities

• Integration roadmap

10. Risks, Recommendations and Feedback Based upon your experience implementing electronic invoicing solutions / services, NCIA welcomes your views on the following:

Risks and Considerations:

o Please identify any significant risks, challenges or considerations that NCIA should take into account when planning, procuring or implementing an electronic invoicing solution / service o Where possible, please include recommendations for mitigating these risks

Recommendations o Please provide any recommendations that you believe would assist NCIA in developing a future Statement of Work and procurement strategy o This may include:

Critical success factors Common implementation challenges Lessons learned Capabilities that are commonly overlooked Recommended implementation approaches

Feedback on Annex B o Please review the draft objectives contained in Annex B and provide comments on:

Any objectives that should be modified, removed or expanded Any objectives that may unnecessarily restrict competition or increase implementation complexity Any additional objectives that should be considered Any alternative approaches that NCIA should evaluate

11. Demonstration Please indicate your willingness to participate in a follow-up demonstration.

The demonstration may include:

• AP processing

• AR processing

• Supplier onboarding

• Exception handling

• Reporting

• Administration

• ERP integration

Please indicate:

• Recommended duration

• Suggested agenda

• Technical prerequisites

Annex B – Draft Future Requirements and Objectives

The following draft requirements and objectives represent NCIA’s current understanding of its future electronic invoicing capability. They are provided solely to encourage discussion and market feedback and should not be interpreted as final or mandatory requirements.

Respondents are encouraged to review these draft requirements and provide recommendations, identify potential risks or constraints, and suggest alternative approaches where appropriate.

Business Objectives The future solution should support:

• Accounts Payable

• Accounts Receivable

• Process automation

• Supplier interoperability

• Reporting

• Auditability

• Regulatory compliance

Functional Objectives NCIA is interested in capabilities supporting:

• Inbound and outbound electronic invoicing

• PO and Non-PO invoice processing

• Multiple invoice standards

• Workflow automation

• Exception management

• Reporting and dashboards

Technical Objectives NCIA is interested in solutions that:

• Support internationally recognised interoperability standards

• Integrate with enterprise ERP platforms

• Minimise bespoke integrations

• Provide secure API-based connectivity

• Support scalable and resilient architectures

• Accommodate future business and regulatory requirements

Respondents are encouraged to recommend the most appropriate architecture for an organisation such as NCIA.

Security Objectives The future solution should support recognised industry practices for:

• Information security

• Identity and access management

• Encryption

• Audit logging

• Business continuity

• Disaster recovery

Innovation NCIA is interested in understanding how automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence may improve invoice processing, compliance, exception handling and operational efficiency.

The high-level requirements of the solution / service are described below:

Note: This is a Draft and is subject to change.

• The solution must cover both Procure to Pay (P2P) (inbound) and Order to Cash (O2C) (outbound) end-to-end processes for Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Government (B2G), including International Public Sector Entities within all NATO Contributing Nations.

• The solution must cover Legal invoices, Core invoices and Commercial invoices.

• The solution must include e-reporting to tax authorities in any format or specifically as Standard Audit File for Tax (SAF-T).

• The solution must leverage Machine Learning (ML) and AI driven technologies as from the moment that the e-invoice is received / sent.

• The solution must cover the IPSAS mandated accrual concept, and have the possibility to itemize the invoice through ML or AI technologies to match against the Purchase Orders / Sales Agreements.

• The solution must allow a seamless integration with the current on-premise ERP system (e.g. through API-based connectivity) and future cloud ERP.

• The solution must be relevant and supported for the next five years and incorporate all relevant regulatory evolutions.

• The solution should include e-billing for Business-to-Consumer (B2C) transactions and Government-to-Consumer (G2C) transactions. The term e-billing refers to electronic generation of bills for consumers and governments.

• The solution should include the functionality to align with the upcoming ViDA (VAT in the Digital Age) EU Initiative, termed Integrated Digital Trade.

• The solution could coexist with our existing imaging tool (APRO) or provide imaging as part of the solution.

Out of Scope:

• Financial documents that do not reflect a commercial transaction, accompanied by a “request for payment”, such as bank statements and waybills

• Asymmetric e-invoicing, where buyers retain the right to request a printed version of the invoice, which shall then be recognized as the legally valid original invoice.

• Electronic invoices, supplemented by legally significant paper-based summary invoices as components of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) ecosystem, are scanned, printed or archived by recipients. In instances where only the paper version is maintained as the “new” de facto original and assumes the role of the primary document.

• Invoices that are entirely digital, but do not meet tax compliance requirements due to deficiencies in integrity, authenticity, and readability.

Annex C – Indicative ACO Organisations, Commands and Locations

This Annex provides an indicative list of Allied Command Operations (ACO) headquarters, commands, forces, missions and supporting entities that may be considered for future onboarding to the electronic invoicing capability.

The inclusion of an organisation, command or location in this Annex does not constitute a commitment to include it in the initial implementation. The final scope and onboarding sequence will be confirmed during any future procurement or implementation phase.

No. Organisation, command or entity Acronym Location 1 Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers

Europe SHAPE Mons, Belgium

2 Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum JFCBS Brunssum, the Netherlands

3 Allied Joint Force Command Naples JFCNP Naples, Italy 4 Allied Joint Force Command Norfolk JFCNF Norfolk, United States 5 Joint Support and Enabling Command JSEC Ulm, Germany 6 Headquarters Allied Land Command LANDCOM İzmir, Türkiye 7 Headquarters Allied Maritime Command MARCOM Northwood, United

Kingdom 8 Headquarters Allied Air Command AIRCOM Ramstein, Germany 9 NATO Communications and Information

Systems Group NCISG Mons, Belgium

10 NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force Headquarters

NAEW&CF

HQ

Geilenkirchen, Germany

11 NATO Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Force

NISRF Sigonella, Italy

12 Standing Joint Logistics Support Group Headquarters

SJLSG HQ Ulm, Germany

13 Headquarters Kosovo Force HQ KFOR Pristina, Kosovo

14 Headquarters NATO Mission Iraq HQ NMI Baghdad, Iraq

15 NATO Headquarters Sarajevo NHQSa Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Annex C – Indicative ACO Organisations, Commands and Locations