RFI-ACT-SACT-19-25_Land_C2.pdf

HQ Supreme Allied Commander Transformation

RFI-ACT-SACT-19-25

Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation

Norfolk Virginia

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

This document contains a Request for Information (RFI) Call for Industry input to NATO’s Future and Next Generation Land Command and Control Capabilities.

Suppliers wishing to respond to this RFI should read this document carefully and follow the guidance for responding.

HQ Supreme Allied Commander Transformation RFI 19-25

General Information

Request For Information No. 19-25

Project Title Request for industry input to NATO’s Future and Next Generation Land Command & Control Capabilities

Due date for submission of requested information

29 April 2019

Contracting Office Address NATO, HQ Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) Purchasing & Contracting Suite 100 7857 Blandy Rd, Norfolk, VA, 23511-2490

Contracting Points of Contact 1. Ms Tonya Bonilla e-mail : tonya.bonilla@act.nato.int Tel : +1 757 747 3575

2. Ms Catherine Giglio e-mail : catherine.giglio@act.nato.int Tel :+1 757 747 3856

Technical Points of Contact 1. Simon Purton, e-mail : simon.purton@act.nato.int Tel : +1 757 747 3681

2. Stefan Holland, e-mail : stefan.holland@act.nato.int Tel : +1 757 747 3202

1 - INTRODUCTION

1.1 Summary. Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) in order to engage with industry.

The intention is to establish the art-of-the-possible and state-of-the-art with respect to technologies and products in the area of NATO Land Operations Command and Control in order to support NATO Governance decision-making on Common-Funded Capability Development.

1.2. This request for information does not constitutes a commitment to issue a future request for proposal (RFP). The purpose of this request is to involve industry through collaboration, in an examination of future capabilities related to the Land Command and Control with a focus on the technologies and commercial products. HQ SACT has not made a commitment to procure any of the items described herein, and release of this RFI shall not be construed as such a commitment, nor as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement will be required or sought.

Further, respondents are advised that HQ SACT will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in responding to this RFI. The costs for responding to this RFI shall be borne solely by the responding party. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any subsequent RFP if issued in the future.

2 – GENERAL BACKGROUND: ACT Framework for Collaborative Interaction

(FFCI)

2.1 ACT has implemented a Framework for Collaborative Interaction (FFCI) to increase opportunities for industry and academia to contribute to ACT capability development efforts through collaborative work. Such collaboration enables HQ SACT, and NATO as a whole, to benefit from industry/academia models, advice, capabilities and experience in the course of this work. In addition to the benefits HQ SACT gains from such projects, this collaborative effort will provide industry / academia with an improved understanding of NATO’s capability requirements and the associated issues and development challenges to be addressed by HQ SACT.

Potential collaborative projects are on specific topics that are of mutual interest to both parties but shall be restricted to collaborations in non-procurement areas.

Several mechanisms have been already developed to support the initiation of collaborative projects between industry/academia and ACT ranging from informal information exchanges, workshops, studies or more extensive collaboration on research and experimentation.

2.2 Depending on the level and type of interaction needed for a collaborative project, a specific agreement may be needed between parties. The FFCI agreement for any specific project, if required by either party for the project to proceed, will range from “Non-disclosure Agreements” (NDA) for projects involving exchange of specific information to more extensive “Declaration of Mutual Collaboration” (DOMC) to address intellectual property and other issues.

2.3 More extensive information on the ACT FFCI initiative can be found on the ACT web site being developed to support FFCI projects at http://www.act.nato.int/ffci.

2.4 No FFCI agreement is required to respond to this RFI.

3 - DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAMME

3.1 Programme Vision

3.1.1 The Future Land Command and Control’s vision can be described as:

Supreme Allied Commander Europe requires Allied Joint Force and Land Commanders to be provided with flexible, interoperable and scalable Land Command and Control capability to plan, execute, and assess full-spectrum operations at Tactical, Operational and Strategic-levels.

3.1.2 NATO’s Land Command and Control capability will mainly support the NATO Command and Force Structures. The effect and benefits are identified as:

Supporting the Allied Joint Force and Land Commanders in the decision making process;

Enabling and improving effective command and control of NATO Land Forces, including planning support, targeting and interoperability capabilities;

Improving information exchange with the Joint Force (Air, Maritime, Special Operations Forces, etc.);

Provide the Recognized Ground Picture within the Joint Operations Area;

and

Support to Battlespace Management for Land forces within the Joint Operations Area to minimise the risk of collateral damage and fratricide.

3.1.3 The NATO Future Land C2 programme is currently at the stage to define the programme and to describe the future state of the capability. This is NATO’s Capability Requirements definition stage within the new NATO Common-Funded Capability Delivery Governance Model. The new NATO Common-Funded Capability Delivery Governance Model includes decision points on the:

Requirement (via the Operational Requirements Statement) – the Programme Mandate;

Viability of a capability-based programme to satisfy the requirement (via the Capability Requirements Brief) – the Programme Brief and Vision; and

Establishment of a programme to deliver capabilities and to drive the transformational change – the Programme Plan.

3.1.4 Amongst other aims, the Capability Requirements Brief is intended to determine the viability of a range of potential courses of action to address the requirement, including consideration of the possibility of “Adopt”-ing a solution (from Nations), “Buy”-ing (acquiring a solution from Industry), or “Create”-ing (developing a solution bespoke to NATO). Courses of action allow meeting the requirement through any of the NATO-recognised lines of development including: doctrine, organisation, training, materiel (including software), leadership, personnel, facilities and interoperability. The viability of the courses of action comprises an assessment of the effectiveness, affordability, and risks (including technical maturity).

3.1.5 To achieve the aims of the Capability Requirements Brief, a Request for Information is necessary to determine relevant technologies and products that exist within Commercial market (as part of the consideration of “Buy”). This request is intended to identify prospective (sub-) systems or products, for which the team may need to conduct additional in-depth discussions. This is not a formal request for submissions as part of a procurement; it is intended to determine whether any possible systems or products exist, which should be identified in the development of the Capability Requirements Brief.

3.2 Intent/Objectives.

To support the transformational change of how Land Command and Control will be doing business in the future, a Capability Requirements Brief needs a robust assessment of potential courses of action across the Adopt, Buy, and Create. This Request for Information is intended to provide industry an opportunity to provide data that would allow NATO to determine potential benefits they might receive from a product or service.

3.3 Expected benefits to respondents

Industry participants will have the chance to expose NATO participants to state of the art technologies and products.

3.4 Expected input from industry/academia.

Expected input to this RFI is industry perspective on relevant current and future technologies and products.

4 - REQUESTED INFORMATION

4.1 What is the name of your product?

4.2 Please give a brief overview of your product’s capabilities and technical maturity. If your product is a software solution, provide an overview of the system’s architecture.

4.3 Why do you think that your product could be used by NATO to enhance its Land Command and Control capability to plan, execute, and assess full-spectrum operations at Operational and Strategic-level?

4.4 Does your product enable enhanced information exchange between different levels of command, and if so, please briefly explain how this is undertaken?

4.5 If we have follow-on questions, to whom should we direct them?

4.6 Answers to the RFI.

The answer to this RFI may be submitted by e-mail to the Points of Contact listed above.

4.7 Follow-on.

4.7.1 The data collected in response to this RFI will be used to develop a report to inform the Future Land C2 Capability Programme. The data collected will be used to provide an assessment to support a decision as to whether NATO should pursue an Adopt, Buy, or Create approach to Future Land Command and Control.

4.7.2 Provision of data, or lack of, will not prejudice any respondent in the event that there is a competitive bidding process later as part of NATO Common-Funded Capability Development.

4.8 Handling of Proprietary information. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and clearly marked as such. HQ SACT will treat proprietary information with the same due care as the command treats its own proprietary information, and will exercise due caution to prevent its unauthorized disclosure. Please be advised that all submissions become HQ SACT property and will not be returned.

4.9 Questions. Questions of a technical nature about this RFI announcement shall be submitted by e-mail solely to the above-mentioned POCs. Accordingly, questions in an e-mail shall not contain proprietary and/or classified information.

Answers will be posted on the HQ SACT P&C website at:

www.act.nato.int/contracting-procurements.

4.10 Response Date. 29 April 2019

4.11 Summary. This is a RFI only. The purpose of this RFI is to involve industry/academia, through collaboration, in an examination of future capabilities related to the Land Command and Control with a focus on the technologies and commercial products. HQ SACT has not made a commitment to procure any of the items described herein, and release of this RFI shall not be construed as such a commitment, nor as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement will be required or sought. It is emphasised that this is a RFI, and not a RFP of any kind.

Tonya Bonilla ACT Contracting Officer - Allied Command Transformation (ACT) NATO/HQ SACT Tel: (757) 747-3575, E-mail: tonya.bonilla@act.nato.int