RFI_-_eAirC2_System_Integration_and_Application_Marketplace.pdf

PP.A2(07.25)

NCIA Pre-competitive Engagement Calling Notice - Request for Information (RFI)

ENHANCED AIRC2 – SYSTEM INTEGRATION & APPLICATIONS

MARKETPLACE

RFI-CO-42632900-eAirC2

NCIA/ACQ/2026/16791

Thursday, 22 October 2026

NCIA Pre-competitive Engagement Calling Notice -

Request for Information (RFI)

To: Industry Partners

1. The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) is conducting pre-competitive market engagement as market research to gather input on potential solutions to support the upcoming acquisition for eAirC2 Systems Integration and Applications Marketplace.

To that end, we are issuing the attached Request for Information (RFI) RFI-CO-42632900-eAirC2 and holding a dedicated workshop at NATO Edge to solicit feedback from capable and interested industry partners.

2. This Calling Notice RFI is issued for planning purposes only and is not a request for bids.

It is part of NCIA’s effort to engage early to inform and ensure it has a clear understanding of the marketplace, available capabilities, and potential acquisition strategies.

3. We value your insight and invite you to review and comment on our draft high level problem statement (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.

4. Feedback can be provided in writing in accordance with submission instructions and/or by attending a dedicated industry engagement Enhanced AirC2 – System Integration & Applications Marketplace Workshop at NATO Edge, taking place on 17-19 November in Izmir (Türkiye), where NCIA will respond to clarifying questions and invite comments from participants.

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) or attend a dedicated workshop.

7. Should you have any questions or need clarification, please contact Katharina Schwarz at CO-42632900-eAirC2@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 engagement and potential acquisition.

For the Chief of Acquisition:

Katharina Schwarz Principal Contracting Officer

Katharina Schwarz

Digitally signed by Katharina Schwarz Date: 2026.10.22 15:05:53 +02'00'

Enclosure:

Request for Information with Annexes A and B 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

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

A. Introduction B. Submission Instructions C. Industry Engagement D. Disclaimer E. Use of Information Provided through Responses F. RFI Point of Contact Annex A – Requested Information Annex B – Problem statement

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

A. Introduction

1. The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) is conducting pre-competitive market engagement as market research to gather input on potential solutions to support the upcoming acquisition for eAirC2 Systems Integration and Applications Marketplace.

To that end, we are issuing the attached Request for Information (RFI) RFI-CO-42632900-eAirC2 and holding a dedicated workshop at NATO Edge to solicit feedback from capable and interested industry partners.

2. This Calling Notice RFI is issued for planning purposes only and is not a request for bids.

It is part of NCIA’s effort to engage early to inform and ensure it has a clear understanding of the marketplace, available capabilities, and potential acquisition strategies.

B. Submission Instructions

1. Interested parties are invited to respond in accordance with the instructions below or provide feedback during Industry Engagement:

a. Submit responses via the email address in section E no later than 12:00 hours Central European Time (CET) on 03 December 2026.

b. Responses should be submitted in PDF or Word format and must not exceed 15 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

c. Use the following subject line for submission

i. “Response to RFI [RFI Number] – [Company Name]”

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

e. Respondents are also encouraged to review and comment on the draft problem statement in Annex B .

C. Industry Engagement

1. Planned industry engagement will take place in the form of Enhanced AirC2 – System

Integration & Applications Marketplace Workshop at NATO Edge, taking place on 17-19 November in Izmir (Türkiye).

2. During the workshop NCIA will brief the high-level problem statement and the user story (Annex B), respond to clarifying questions and invite comments from participants, based on the questions shared (Annex 1) in the open forum as well as in bilateral meetings (schedule allowing).

3. More information on NATO Edge attendance and registration is available on event’s official website - https://www.natoedge.nato.int/ .

D. 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 recovery 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.

E. Use of Information Provided through Responses

1. 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.

F. RFI Point of Contact

1. Katharina Schwarz, Principal Contracting Officer

2. CO-42632900-eAirC2@ncia.nato.int

Annex A – Requested Information

The programme is taking the opportunity to provide the market with insight into emerging thinking and strategy on two key projects under design and development during the programme’s current tranche. The programme actively welcomes market feedback to test and refine the approaches to ensure deliverability and attractiveness to the market before launching any formal acquisition and commercial activity.

Insights provided in response to the RFI, and during participation in the workshop will inform future market engagement approaches for the Systems Integration and eAirC2 Applications Marketplace projects.

Respondents are encouraged to provide the following information in their response:

a. Company Information

i. Legal Business Name

ii. Address

iii. Website

iv. Primary Point of Contact

v. Email address

b. Responses to the below questions

Systems Integration Project

1. Systems Integration Scope – In your experience, what integrations capabilities does your organisation believe must be delivered by the market, and which must be retained by NATO?

2. Architecture & Technical Feasibility – What are the principal technical and organisational challenges you foresee in establishing and sustaining a modular, open and multi-supplier ecosystem for eAirC2, and how would you propose addressing them?

3. Market Availability & Delivery Capability – What experience does your organisation have integrating third-party or multi-vendor products and services within modular architecture in secure environments?

4. Deployment, Sustainment & Continuous Evolution – What are the risks and opportunities you foresee with scaling Systems Integration as the number of applications, suppliers and operational deployments increases?

5. Commercial & Risk Appetite – What commercial, contractual, technical and delivery risks would your organisation anticipate in acting as System Integrator where the Data Platform is provided and/or operated by another supplier? How should responsibilities, liabilities and interfaces be allocated to make such a model workable?

6. Commercial Model & Contracting – In your experience, what commercial and contractual model would best support Systems Integration?

7. Performance & Incentivisation – What performance measures, reporting and incentives would you propose to demonstrate value and drive continuous improvement?

8. Intellectual Property - What intellectual property, data-rights, licensing or other commercial considerations could constrain your ability to integrate third-party solutions, transition between suppliers, or reuse and evolve delivered capabilities?

eAirC2 Applications Project

1. Marketplace Scope – What types of applications, capabilities or services would your organisation consider suitable for acquisition through an eAirC2 marketplace, and which would be less suitable? Please explain the reasons for your assessment. Please refer to the application areas referenced in the eAirC2 Applications Project Description above.

2. Supplier Qualification & Barriers to Entry – eAirC2 seeks to access an ecosystem of eAirC2 applications, reducing any unnecessary barriers for entry. What supplier and application-level qualification or assessment requirements would your organisation consider appropriate and proportionate for participation in the marketplace? Are there any risks or barriers to entry you foresee in a marketplace approach?

3. Acquisition & Contracting – What acquisition, contracting or licencing requirements would help your organisation compete and deliver applications efficiently through the marketplace?

4. Dependency Management – In your experience, how should responsibilities, dependencies and risk be allocated between NATO, the System Integrator and individual application or capability suppliers?

c. Questions or Concerns

i. Risks, concerns, or barriers

ii. Suggestions for risk mitigation or enhancing competition

Annex B – Problem statement

Note: This is a DRAFT and subject to change. The NCIA is seeking industry feedback.

1. Background

The purpose of the eAirC2 capability is to enable NATO to seamlessly manage all types of air operations over the SACEUR1 Area of Responsibility, and beyond, integrating air traffic control, surveillance, air mission control, airspace management (i.e. airspace control and coordination) 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, supported by resilient data-centric, interoperable command and control systems enabling multi-domain activities and operations.

The programme to deliver eAirC2 capability follows an agile, multi-tranche approach in which NATO and Industry bring together an integrated data layer with an ecosystem of eAirC2 applications and rely on System Engineering and System Integration capabilities to enable coherence and interoperability. This approach allows new applications, technologies and capabilities to be integrated and deployed rapidly so that the capability keeps pace with evolving technology, emerging threats and changing operational requirements.

The programme is currently delivering within Tranche 1, focussed on laying the foundation for the eAirC2 capability technically, programmatically and commercially.

2. Problem Statements eAirC2 must integrate an evolving set of capabilities delivered by multiple industrial partners while maintaining architectural coherence, consistent technical standards, interoperability and operational assurance.

The integrated data layer provides the data-centric foundation for the eAirC2 capability, while the System Engineering function establishes the architecture, requirements baseline and configuration control against which eAirC2 applications are developed.

Systems Integration Without a dedicated System Integration capability each capability risks being integrated in a different way, resulting in duplicated effort, inconsistent processes, unclear responsibilities and inconsistent verification and acceptance. Over time, this increases cost and complexity, slows capability delivery and makes architectural coherence harder to maintain as new capabilities, technologies and industry partners are introduced.

The System Integration Project seeks to address this challenge by establishing a common and governed integration capability with clearly defined responsibilities for NATO and Industry.

eAirC2 Applications The eAirC2 capability requires agile access to capability, accessing an ecosystem of eAirC2 applications. The eAirC2 Applications Project seeks to establish a commercial mechanism such as a marketplace, to explore, access and procure applications in a more dynamic, accelerated manner to meet user needs.

3. Systems Integration Project Description and Future Opportunities

The System Integration Project will enable the deployment of eAirC2 applications on the integrated data layer in a NATO cloud environment. As eAirC2 evolves, capabilities will be delivered by multiple industrial partners and technology providers. The System Integration capability will ensure that these contributions work together as part of a coherent, secure and operationally effective system, aligned with NATO’s architecture, requirements and operational needs.

Systems Integration is intended to operate as a long-term, evolving capability. Tranche 1 will establish the System Integration strategy, commercial approach and route to market, with the full operational capability being progressively developed and integration activity executed in future tranches of the programme.

The emerging strategy and analysis to date indicates the need and preference for industry involvement in the execution of the System Integration capability, however the scope boundaries, commercial model and acquisition approach is under development.

4. eAirC2 Applications Project Description and Future Opportunities

The eAirC2 Applications Project seeks to establish an accelerated and agile commercial route to accessing capability. A marketplace concept is under consideration as a mechanism to offer a sustained route for acquiring and evolving eAirC2 applications. The marketplace would provide NATO with the mechanism to identify, assess and acquire existing capabilities from multiple suppliers, creating a faster route from operational need to capability whilst maintaining competition and supporting continuous capability updates.

The applications the programme is initially targeting are in the areas of air operations planning and tasking, airspace coordination, air command and control and air battle management, integrated air and missile defence, air surveillance and air situational awareness, and applied simulation, training and exercise support.

Systems Integration would provide the integration capability through which eAirC2 applications acquired from the marketplace are integrated into the eAirC2 environment, within NATO-defined architectural, security and interoperability and technical requirements. This is intended to support a modular, multi-supplier ecosystem while maintaining coherent end-to-end integration.

The detailed design of the marketplace, including the onboarding, assessment, procurement, licencing and integration responsibilities is currently in process. Use of the marketplace is intended from Tranche 2 of the programme (earliest January 2028).