RFP-ACT-SACT-26-67.pdf

NATO UNCLASSIFIED

RFP-ACT-SACT-26-67

Norfolk, Virginia | USA

HQ Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Purchasing and Contracting Section Office of Budget and Finance

Request for Proposal

Commercial-off-the Shelf (COTS) Event Management Software Platform

BIDDING INSTRUCTIONS

1. General

2. Classification

3. Definitions

4. Eligibility

5. Duration of Contract

6. Exemption of Taxes

7. Amendment or Cancellation

8. Bidder Clarifications

9. Bid Closing Date

10. Bid Validity

11. Content of Proposal

12. Proposal Submission

13. Late Proposals

14. Bid Withdrawal

15. Bid Evaluation

16. Proposal Clarifications

17. Award

18. Disputes

19. Communications

20. Points of Contact Enclosure 1: Proposal Content / Checklist Enclosure 2: Compliance Statement Enclosure 3: Mandatory Price Proposal Excel Spreadsheet

ANNEX A: STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

ANNEX B: REQUIREMENTS MATRIX

BIDDING INSTRUCTIONS

1. General

a. This is a Firm Fixed Price Services contract in accordance with the HQ SACT General Terms and Conditions.

b. HQ SACT General Terms and Conditions Dated 15 January 2026 are applicable to this procurement and can be located on the ACT Website at;

WWW.ACT.NATO.INT/CONTRACTING under Contractor Information.

c. Contract Award is contingent upon funding availability; Partial bidding is NOT allowed.

2. Classification

This Request for Proposal (RFP) is a NATO UNCLASSIFIED document.

3. Definitions

a. The “Prospective Bidder” shall refer to the entity that has indicated thereon its intention without commitment, to participate in this RFP.

b. The term “Bidder” shall refer to the bidding entity that has completed a bid in response to this RFP.

c. The term “Contractor” shall refer to the bidding entity to whom the contract(s) is awarded.

d. The term “Contracting Officer” designates the official who executes this RFP on behalf of HQ SACT.

e. “Contracting Officer`s Technical Representative” or “COTR” is the official who is appointed for the purpose of determining compliance of the successful bid, per the technical specifications.

f. The term “HQ SACT” shall refer to Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation.

g. The term “ACT” shall refer to Allied Command Transformation.

h. The term “NATO” shall refer to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

i. The term “days” as used in this RFP shall, unless otherwise stated, be interpreted as meaning calendar days.

4. Eligibility

a. This RFP is open to governmental or commercial entities:

http://www.act.nato.int/CONTRACTING

b. Established in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization Alliance member nation.

c. Working in the required field and legally authorised to operate in the country and state in which this contract is to be performed, at the time of bidding. Has performed the desired past performance including size, cost and scope, as described in this

RFP.

d. All proposed key personnel identified to work on this requirement must be citizens of a NATO member nation.

5. Duration of Contract

a. The contract shall be effective on contract award.

b. Implementation and Transition Period. Following contract award, the Contractor may commence implementation, onboarding, configuration, migration, administrative setup, training, and other activities necessary to achieve operational readiness. The Kick-Off and Implementation Plan shall be provided within ten (10) business days after contract award, or as otherwise agreed by the Contracting Officer.

c. Period of Performance: 1 January 2027 – 31 December 2027 with four potential option periods, 1 January 2028 – 31 December 2028, 1 January 2029 – 31 December 2029, 1 January 2030 – 31 December 2030, 1 January 2031 – 31 December 2031

6. Exemption of Taxes In accordance with the agreements (Article VIII of the Paris Protocol dated, 28 August 1952) goods and services under this contract are exempt from taxes, duties and similar charges.

7. Amendment or Cancellation

a. HQ SACT reserves the right to amend or delete any one or more of the terms, conditions or provisions of the RFP prior to the date set for bid closing. A solicitation amendment or amendments shall announce such action.

b. HQ SACT reserves the right to cancel, at any time, this RFP either partially or in its entirety. No legal liability on the part of HQ SACT shall be considered for recovery of costs in connection to bid preparation. All efforts undertaken by any bidder shall be done considering and accepting, that no costs shall be recovered from HQ SACT. If this RFP is cancelled, any/all received bids shall be returned unopened, per the bidder’s request.

8. Bidder Clarifications

a. Prospective Bidders should seek clarification at their earliest convenience. Any explanation regarding the meaning or interpretation of this RFP, terms, clause, provision or specifications, shall be requested in writing, from the Contracting Officer.

All Contracting Officers listed on this RFP must receive such requests via email for clarification no later than 31 August 2026.

b. Information in response to all inquiries / requests for clarification to a prospective bidder shall be furnished to all prospective bidders at the following link:

http://www.act.nato.int/contracting as a Question-and-Answer addendum. All such addendums and any necessary solicitation amendments shall be incorporated into this RFP. Verbal Interpretations shall not be binding.

9. Bid Closing Date

Bids shall be received at HQ SACT, Purchasing and Contracting Office, no later than 17 September 2026, 0900 hours, Eastern Standard Time, Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

No bids shall be accepted after this date and time. No hard copy proposals will be accepted. Please see Proposal Submission (paragraph 12) for more details.

10. Bid Validity

a. Bids shall remain valid for a period of one hundred and twenty days (120) from the applicable closing date set forth within this RFP. HQ SACT reserves the right to request an extension of validity. Bidder shall be entitled to either grant or deny this extension of validity. HQ SACT shall automatically consider a denial to extend the validity as a withdrawal of the bid.

b. HQ SACT will not accept supplier proposals prepared, in whole or in part, by means of generative artificial-intelligence (AI) tools, including and without limitation to chatbots, such as Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (Chat GPT), or other language generating tools. HQ SACT reserves the right to screen applications to identify the use of such tools. All applications prepared, in whole or in part, by means of such generative or creative AI applications may be rejected without further consideration at HQ SACT’s sole discretion, and HQ SACT reserves the right to take further steps in such cases as appropriate.

11. Content of Proposal

The proposal shall consist of two (2) separate documents (Technical / Price) sent via e-mail as per the instructions. No hard copy proposals will be accepted. The E-mailed documents shall be received no later than 17 September 2026, 0900 hours, Eastern Standard Time, Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

The company description portion of its technical proposal shall be limited to 5 pages.

a. Technical Proposal shall be a Signed PDF document and contain:

1) A table of contents for the entire proposal (See Enclosure #1):

2) The bidder’s full name, address, Points of Contact, Telephone, Fax number;

Internet site;

http://www.act.nato.int/contracting

3) Compliance statement (See Enclosure#2);

4) Company description and supplementary relevant information; and

5) Compliance matrix (See Annex B).

b. Price Proposal shall be

1) Submitted in U.S. Dollar Currency. Contractor may request payment post award in alternate currency based on agreed conversion rate.

Prices shall be on a Firm Fixed Unit Price Basis.

12. Proposal Submission

a. Proposals shall be separate e-mail submissions to:

Technical proposal: hqsact.techproposal@nato.int

Price proposal: hqsact.priceproposal@nato.int

b. E-mail subjects shall include the solicitation information along with company name (for example: RFP-ACT-SACT-26-67_Tech_ABC Inc. / RFP-ACT- SACT-26- 67_Price_ABC Inc.). Allow sufficient time in sending your submission should you encounter e-mail size challenges.

c. No verbal bids or verbal modifications or telephonic bids shall be considered.

d. It is the ultimate responsibility of a prospective bidder prior to submission that all proposal submissions are reviewed to ensure they meet the technical, contractual and administrative specifications and that offers meet the limitations and expressed conditions.

13. Late Proposals

a. It is solely the bidder`s responsibility that every effort is made to ensure that the proposal reaches HQ SACT prior to the established closing date and time. No late bids shall be considered.

b. A delay in an e-mail exchange due to server or size restrictions does not constitute a delay by NATO.

14. Bid Withdrawal

A bidder may withdraw their bid up to the date and time specified for bid closing. Such a withdrawal must be completed in writing with attention to the HQ SACT Contracting Officer.

mailto:hqsact.techproposal@nato.int mailto:hqsact.priceproposal@nato.int

15. Bid Evaluation

a. The evaluation of bids and determination as to the responsiveness and technical adequacy or technical compliance, of the products or services requested, shall be the responsibility of HQ SACT. Such determinations shall be consistent with the evaluation criteria specified in the RFP. HQ SACT is not responsible for any content that is not clearly identified in any proposal package.

b. Proposals shall be evaluated and awarded taking into consideration the following factors:

1) Successful administrative submission of bid packages as requested in paragraph 11 and as listed in this RFP.

2) Successful determination of compliance on mandatory criteria. (Compliant/non-compliant).

3) Technical factors / pricing factors rated the following:

a. Technical / Price = 70/30

4) Technical clarifications as determined may be conducted.

5) Acceptance of HQ SACT General Terms and Conditions.

16. Proposal Clarifications

During the entire evaluation process HQ SACT reserves the right to discuss any bid, clarify what is offered and interpret language within the bid to resolve any potential areas of concern.

17. Award

a. HQ SACT intends to award a firm fixed price services contract to the Bidder whose proposal(s) represents the Best Value offer to NATO. Partial bids will not be considered.

b. HQ SACT may collect information from references provided by the Bidder on its past performance. Contractors must provide authorization to contact references.

c. HQ SACT reserves the right to negotiate minor deviations to the listed General Terms and Conditions to this RFP.

18. Disputes

Disputes will be settled between the bidder and the Contracting Officer by mutual agreement through negotiation, while respecting and observing NATO regulations and policies.

19. Communications All communication related to this RFP, between a prospective bidder and HQ SACT shall only be through the nominated HQ SACT Contracting Officer. Designated contracting staff shall assist the HQ SACT Contracting Officer in the administrative process. There shall be no contact with other HQ SACT personnel regarding this RFP.

Such adherence shall ensure Fair and Open Competition with equal consideration and competitive footing leverage to all interested parties.

20. Points of Contact

(PLEASE INCLUDE ALL BELOW ON ALL CORRESPONDENCE)

Margaret Anderson, ACT Contracting Officer, Margaret.anderson@nato.int Michael DiProspero, ACT Contracting Officer, Michael.diprospero@nato.int Robert McMaster, ACT Contracting Specialist, Robert.mcmaster@nato.int

Enclosure 1: Proposal Content / Checklist

PROPOSAL CONTENT / CHECKLIST

Table of Contents

□ Bidder’s name, address, POC, Contact numbers, email address.

□ Compliance Statement.

□ Technical Proposal.

□ Price Proposal (Excel worksheet – Enclosure 3 - provides mandatory price proposal format)

Enclosure 2: Compliance Statement

COMPLIANCE STATEMENT TO RFP-ACT-SACT-26-67

It is hereby stated that our company has read and understands all documentation issued as part of this RFP. Our company proposal submitted in response to the referenced solicitation is fully compliant with the provisions of this RFP and the intended contract with the following exception(s); such exemptions are considered non-substantial to the HQ SACT solicitation provisions issued.

Note: Any requested deviations/adjustments or considerations regarding HQ SACT General Terms and Conditions must be identified here - at the time of bidding -for consideration by the Contracting Officer.

Clause Description of Minor Deviation

(If applicable, add another page)

Company:

Signature:

Name &Title: Date: ________________

Company Bid Reference:

Bidder’s proposal must be based on full compliance with the terms, conditions and requirements of the RFP and all future clarifications and/or amendments. The bidder may offer variations in specific implementation and operational details provided that the functional and performance requirements are fully satisfied. In case of conflict between the compliance statement and the detailed evidence or explanation furnished, the detailed evidence/comments shall take precedence/priority for the actual determination of compliance. Minor or non-substantial deviations may be accepted. Substantial changes shall be considered non-responsive.

Enclosure 3: Mandatory Price Proposal Excel Spreadsheet

Pricing shall be submitted using the excel workbook provided. Bidders may elect to submit a PDF proposal for pricing in addition to the required excel workbook.

Proposals not submitted in the proper format will not be considered.

Formulas have been added for convenience; however, it is the company’s responsibility to ensure that the formulas are correctly reflecting your expected bid proposal value.

ANNEX A: STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

Statement of Work for

Commercial-off-the Shelf (COTS) Event Management Software Platform

Introduction

HQ SACT requires a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) event management software platform to support planning, registration, attendee engagement, event application functionality, abstract management, e-commerce/payment processing, reporting, and administrative control for HQ SACT conferences and events. The requirement is intended to preserve continuity of service while allowing the market to propose compliant enterprise solutions.

Use by Other NATO Entities

This solicitation and any resulting contract awarded under RFP-ACT-SACT-26-67 are issued by Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) and are intended to satisfy HQ SACT requirements only. Other NATO entities located within the United States may, at their sole discretion and subject to the availability of funding and the possession of appropriate contracting authority, use the results of this competition as the basis for establishing their own separate contract(s) with the successful contractor. Subject to the scope and capabilities competed under this solicitation, each NATO entity may establish a separate contract for only those capabilities and quantities required to meet its own operational needs.

Any such contract established by another NATO entity shall be a separate contractual instrument between that entity and the contractor. All costs, funding obligations, contract administration, technical oversight, performance management, invoicing, modifications, option exercises, and any other contractual responsibilities shall rest solely with the issuing NATO entity. HQ SACT shall have no liability, responsibility, or obligation for the administration or funding of contracts awarded by another NATO entity under this arrangement.

Background and Scope of Work

Current operational use includes a central event registration capability, an attendee mobile/web hub, on-site arrival/check-in capability, abstract management, e-commerce gateway/payment functionality, and administrative support for users across the command. The selected supplier shall provide a complete, auditable, secure, and supportable solution capable of sustaining these functions throughout the contract term.

HQ SACT is seeking a solution that provides the minimum platform capabilities:

1. Enterprise event management licence or equivalent administrative platform, including role-based user administration and cross-event reporting.

2. Event registration management, including unique configuration of event registration sites, registration workflows, confirmation messaging, cancellation management, attendee data fields, waitlists, and per-event reporting.

a. Create, configure, publish, and manage multiple events simultaneously.

b. Provide an intuitive, user-friendly interface for both event administrators and participants.

c. Generate unique web links for each event registration page.

d. Enable administrators to distribute event registration links to prospective participants by email.

e. Allow administrators to insert and display images, logos, and other approved visual content on event webpages.

f. Allow participants to upload required documents during the registration process (e.g. jpeg

g. Support the registration and management of 1,000-15,000 participants annually, with the capability to expand capacity as operational requirements increase.

h. Generate customizable registration, attendance, participant, and event-related reports.

i. Allow generated reports and data to be filtered, sorted, exported, and otherwise manipulated to meet reporting and analysis requirements.

j. Ensure that event webpages and registration links are accessible through commonly used web browsers without requiring participants to install additional software.

3. Attendee Hub or equivalent mobile/web event application, including agendas, speaker information, attendee profiles, document links, session visibility controls, messaging functions, push notifications, surveys/feedback, speaker management database, and engagement analytics.

4. On-site arrival/check-in capability, including the ability to price basic and premium options separately, identify any hardware/scanner/badge printer requirements, and state whether relevant hardware is included or must be rented separately.

5. Abstract management or equivalent submission, review, approval, and reporting capability.

6. E-commerce gateway and payment processing capability for collection of conference or event fees, including pricing of gateway, merchant, transaction, chargeback, refund, reserve, and remittance arrangements.

7. Reporting and analytics, including registration consumption, attendee hub consumption, payment reports, survey results, check-in/session attendance reports where applicable, and export to common formats such as Excel or CSV.

8. Administrative support and customer care, including business-hours account support and emergency event support options available 24/7 and worldwide.

Ser Description QTY

Required Unit of Measure Notes

1 Enterprise platform licence / administrative platform

1 Annual License Must include access rights, administration, user roles, and cross-event functionality.

2 Event registrations 15,000 Per Registration Quote included quantity and overage rate.

3 Attendee Hub / event app (web app)

3,000 – 6,000

Per Registration or named attendee

Quote both tiers to allow HQ SACT to select the most economical capacity.

4 On site event badging / check-in capability 3,000 – 5,000

Per registration or attendee

Quote Basic and Premium separately and identify hardware requirements.

5 E-commerce gateway / payment gateway capability

2 Gateway / account Identify whether gateways, merchant instances, currencies, and payment accounts are included.

6 Abstract management 1 Annual License Submission, review, approval, and reporting capability.

7 Payment processing platform

1 Annual Platform/transaction service

Quote platform fee, transaction percentage, fixed fees, reserve/remittance terms, chargeback handling.

8 Implementation, migration, onboarding and training

1 Lot Quote all one-time activities and assumptions.

9 Optional event-day support / on-site support / hardware rental

As required

Option/day/event Quote optional support and hardware with clear rates.

Taskings

The contractor shall provide:

1. Implementation and Transition Requirements:

a. An implementation plan identifying major milestones, customer inputs, configuration tasks, testing, administrator training, payment setup, migration activities, and go-live readiness criteria.

b. Identify how existing active and historical event data would be preserved, exported, migrated, or otherwise made available.

c. Identify any planned service interruption, blackout period, or customer action that may affect registration, payment collection, access to event data, or event support.

d. Identify whether migration from an incumbent platform can be completed without loss of active event registration capability.

e. Propose a continuity plan for any event occurring during the implementation or transition window.

NATO UNCLASSIFIED

2. Payment Processing

a. Describe available payment processing options, including whether payments are processed through the supplier’s in-house merchant services, third-party payment gateways, or customer-controlled merchant accounts.

b. Describe account ownership, bank account access requirements, remittance cycle, currency options, reserve requirements, chargeback process, refund process, reporting, and reconciliation support.

c. Identify all transaction fees, payment processing rates, fixed per-transaction charges, monthly/annual fees, gateway fees, currency conversion fees, and any additional charges associated with late payment, withheld funds, chargebacks, or disputed transactions.

d. Confirm whether registrations may be linked to multiple payment instances or currencies and whether funds can be segregated by event or purpose.

e. Provide a sample proceeds/remittance report and sample transaction audit report with any proprietary data removed.

3. Security, Privacy and Data Protection

a. Provide a description of hosting location(s), data residency, data segregation, backup, incident notification, access control, MFA, encryption, and audit logging capabilities.

b. Confirm whether all customer data can be hosted and processed in NATO Nations or otherwise identify any non-NATO nation processing, support, subcontractor, or storage arrangement.

c. Describe compliance with applicable data protection obligations and provide relevant security attestations, certifications, penetration testing summaries, or independent assurance reports, where available.

d. Identify any artificial intelligence, automated profiling, attendee matching, biometric, facial recognition, or image verification functionality and whether such functionality may be disabled.

e. Confirm that HQ SACT retains ownership and control of event data and that data can be exported in a usable format at contract end or upon request.

4. Provide a link to a demo video to the application which highlights main features of the event management software within the submitted technical proposal. The demo should clearly identify and demonstrate what is included in the price and what is available at additional cost.

5. Provide reasonable transition assistance to a successor platform and maintain service continuity during the agreed exit period.

Deliverables

Deliverable Timing/Frequency Kick-Off and Implementation Plan Within 10 business days after contract award, or as otherwise agreed.

Configuration workbook/requirements checklist

Prior to platform configuration.

Payment processing setup plan Prior to activation of any payment functionality.

Administrator training materials and session(s)

Prior to go-live.

Go-live readiness confirmation Prior to first event under the awarded contract.

Monthly Usage Report Monthly, or upon request.

Transaction/remittance report Per event or payment cycle where payment processing is used.

End-of-contract data export plan Upon request or no later than 60 days before contract end.

Submission Instructions

1. Submit one technical quotation and one priced quotation by the RFP closing date stated in the bidding instructions.

2. The technical proposal shall demonstrate understanding of the requirement, compliance with the minimum capabilities, implementation plan, security/privacy approach, payment processing construct, customer support model, and risks/assumptions.

3. The priced proposal shall use the pricing template at Annex B and shall include base year and each option year pricing. Any discount offered, price escalation, usage threshold, or overage rate must be stated clearly.

4. Bidders shall not include assumptions that conflict with NATO procurement, funding, or contract authority requirements. Any proposed terms that require automatic renewal, mandatory multi-year commitment, unilateral price increases, or customer acceptance of supplier terms shall be clearly identified for review.

5. Bidders shall identify any third-party products, subcontractors, processors, or payment partners that are necessary to fulfil the requirement.

6. Provide a link to a demo video to the application which highlights main features of the event management software within the submitted technical proposal. The demo should clearly identify and demonstrate what is included in the price and what is available at additional cost.

Type of Contract and Period of Performance.

a. Type of Contract. This is a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) services contract.

b. Period of Performance. Base Period: 1 January 2027 – 31 December 2027 with four potential option periods; 1 January 2028 – 31 December 2028, 1 January 2029 – 31 December 2029, 1 January 2030 – 31 December 2030, 1 January 2031 – 31 December 2031

ANNEX B: REQUIREMENTS MATRIX

The Technical Proposal, including the required demonstration video, will be evaluated in accordance with the following grading criteria and evaluation factors:

Functional Capability &

Demonstration

Security

Privacy

Implementation & Transition

Payment Processing & Financial

Controls

Support

Training

Total

Rating Meaning 35 20 15 15 15 100

Outstanding Significantly exceeds requirements with multiple strengths and low risk

35-29 Points 20-17 Points

15-13 Points 15-13 Points 15-13 Points

100-85

Good Meets requirements with strengths that outweigh weaknesses

28-22 Points 16-13 Points

12-10 Points 12-10 Points 12-10 Points

84-65

Acceptable Meets requirements with no significant deficiencies

21-15 Points 12-9 Points

9-7 Points 9-7 Points 9-7 Points

64-45

Marginal Partially meets requirements;

notable weaknesses or elevated risk

14-8 Points 8-5 Points

6-4 Points 6-4 Points 6-4 Points

44-25

Unacceptable Fails to meet requirements 7-0 Points 4-0 Points

3-0 Points 3-0 Points 3-0 Points

24-0

Criteria

Functional Capability & Demonstration

Registration & Ticketing Marketing & Emails Attendee Engagement Integrations

Security & Privacy Encryption/Compliance Authentication Access Control Data Collection/Retention/Third-party Sharing

Implementation & Transition

Data Migration System integration User Adoption Workflow Efficiency

Payment Processing & Financial Controls

Budget Management Fees/Hidden Charges Checkout Flow Payment Variety

Support & Training Support Channels Training Materials Feedback/Support Ticket Service Level Agreements