RFP-ACT-SACT-26-60 Financial Accountant_IPSAS SME - REOPENED.pdf

NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANISATION

HEADQUARTERS SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER TRANSFORMATION

7857 BLANDY ROAD, SUITE 100

NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, 23551-2490

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

RFP-ACT-SACT-26-60

Financial Accountant / IPSAS SME

Re-Opened http://www.act.nato.int/

BIDDING INSTRUCTIONS

1. General

a. This is a Firm Fixed Price Level of Effort contract in accordance with the HQ SACT General Terms and Conditions;

b. HQ SACT General Terms and Conditions Dated 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 (FFP) 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 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:

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

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

c. Working in the required field of study and legally authorised to operate in the country and countries 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 on this requirement must be citizens of a NATO member nation.

e. The Contractor Company must hold a Facilities Security Clearance (FSC) at NATO or National SECRET or above IAW AC/35-D/2003-REV5 and ACT D 070-001.

1) If the bidder does not have an active FSC at the time of bidding and/or there is a national process that precludes issuing an FSC until award, the bidder may indicate this within the proposal in lieu of providing the FSC information.

2) If the bidder is successful, however, any contract award shall be on a provisional basis and final award will not be approved until the NSA/DSA has provided an assurance that the bidder has been granted an FSC at the required level.

3) The bidder is not expected to manage any materials at the facility during the bidding period or project delivery in this case.

4) Bidders are requested to investigate national FSC procedures and advise the anticipated approval timeline within the proposal.

f. Invited by HQ SACT to participate in this quick turn restricted bidding process.

5. Duration of Contract

a. The contract awarded shall be effective upon date of award.

b. Period of Performance: Contract award – 31 December 2026 with one 12-month option period.

c. Option periods shall be exercised at the sole discretion of the HQ SACT Contracting Officer, based on satisfactory work performance, availability of funding, and ongoing evolving requirements.

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. Bid Closing Date

Bids shall be received at HQ SACT, Purchasing and Contracting Office, no later than 26 June 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.

9. 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.

10. 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 26 June 2026 @ 0900 hours) Eastern Standard Time, Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

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

1) The bidder’s full name, address, Point of Contacts, Telephone, Fax number;

Internet site.

2) Compliance statement (See Enclosure#2);

3) CV and completed Annex A for proposed candidate.

b. Price Proposal shall be submitted as an Excel Spreadsheet and:

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

2) Prices shall be on a Firm Fixed Price Basis and include any relevant discount schedule.

3) Price proposal may be provided as supplemental PDF document if excel workbook cannot be signed – but should be submitted together with the excel workbook.

11. 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-26-60_Tech_ABC Inc. / RFP -ACT- SACT-26- 60_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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

A bid withdraw will be annotated on the Contract Award Report.

14. 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. HQ SACT reserves the right conduct pre-award discussions with proposed key personnel to accurately assess identified technical competencies. Discussions will be limited to scope of this RFP and the evaluation criteria identified.

c. Proposals shall be evaluated and awarded taking into consideration of 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. (Compliant/non-compliant).

3) Technical factors / pricing factors rated the following:

Technical / Price = 70/30 (Best Value) mailto:hqsact.techproposal@nato.int mailto:hqsact.priceproposal@nato.int

4) The overall proposed hourly rates and the total hours indicated in the solicitation will be the basis of the Price Evaluation.

5) Technical clarifications as determined may be conducted.

6) Acceptance of HQ SACT General Terms and Conditions.

15. Proposal Clarifications

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

16. Award

a. HQ SACT intends to award a firm fixed price level of effort contract(s) to the Offeror(s) whose proposal(s) represents the Best Value offer to NATO. Partial awards are NOT authorized.

b. HQ SACT will collect information from references provided by the Offeror regarding 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.

17. Surge Capability:

A surge capability requirement is included to have a contract vehicle in place should emerging circumstances require a quick and temporary increase in contractor support (LOE or Deliverable) to meet new requirements within the scope of the existing Statement of Work. The Supplier shall be prepared to provide support services per labour category described above. The contractor shall be prepared to evaluate requirements and submit a price proposal for any new in scope requirement for consideration by HQ SACT. Surge proposals will be evaluated by the Contracting Officer for fair and reasonable pricing and should be developed based upon the same pricing structure as the original contract proposal. The rate for surge effort shall not exceed the base/option year rate. Surge requirements will be incorporated by formal contract modification. Requests for pricing are made on a non-committal basis and do not constitute a formal commitment by HQ SACT to contract for additional work; supplier will not be reimbursed costs for preparing price proposals or other related expenses in response to a surge request. HQ SACT surge efforts will not exceed 50% of the annual contract value or 50% of the cumulative contract value. Requests to surge from other organizations outside of HQ SACT are not counted against the HQ SACT when calculating the surge tolerances

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. Proposed Candidates

If successful, contractor company must notify HQ SACT of any special accommodations or requirements of its personnel for on-site support.

20. 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.

21. Points of Contact

(PLEASE INCLUDE ALL BELOW ON ALL CORRESPONDENCE)

Tonya Bonilla, ACT Contracting Officer, 757-747-3575; Tonya.bonilla@nato.int Inga Love, ACT Contract Specialist; inga.love@nato.int mailto:Tonya.bonilla@nato.int mailto:inga.love@nato.int

Enclosure 1: Proposal Content / Checklist

PROPOSAL CONTENT / CHECKLIST

Table of Contents

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

□ Compliance Statement.

□ Key Personnel CV

□ Annex A – Completed Compliance Matrix

□ Price Proposal (Excel worksheet – Enclosure 4 - provides mandatory price proposal format)

Enclosure 2: Compliance Statement

COMPLIANCE STATEMENT TO SEALED BID RFP-ACT-SACT-26-60

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.

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 second PDF proposal for pricing if the excel workbook is provided as well.

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) – Contractor Support; Financial Accountant / IPSAS SME

1. Background Allied Command Transformation (ACT) contributes to preserving peace, security, and the territorial integrity of Alliance member states by leading Warfare Development at Strategic Command level to enhance NATO posture, structures, forces, capabilities, and doctrines.

Within ACT, the Staff Advisory Group (SAG) supports senior leadership. The Office of Budget and Finance (BUDFIN) is the executive agent for ACT on all matters of budget and finance policy and execution, covering HQ SACT and supporting ACT entities (including JALLC, JATEC, JFTC, JWC, STRE, SEE). The Treasury & Accounting function provides accounting operations, compliance, reporting, and consolidated financial statement support.

2. Contract Type and Place of Performance

• Contract Type: Firm-Fixed Price (FFP), Level-of-Effort (LOE), services contract.

• Place of Performance: On-site at HQ SACT.

3. Period of Performance

From date of contract award through 31 December 2026 with one 12 – month option period, 1 January 2027 – 31 December 2027.

4. Objective Provide on-site expert financial accounting services to BUDFIN Treasury & Accounting to ensure accurate, timely accounting operations; support IPSAS implementation and training; support centralized accounting strategy/system upgrade activities; and support preparation of ACT consolidated annual financial statements, including audit liaison and follow-up.

5. Scope of Services The Contractor shall provide a certified technical accountant to perform the tasks in Section 6 in direct support of the Section Head (Treasury & Accounting), BUDFIN, HQ SACT.

Services shall be delivered as LOE on-site and include coordination across ACT entities as required to execute ACT-wide accounting and reporting responsibilities.

6. Tasks The Contractor shall:

1. Support development, implementation, and compliance with policies, directives, and international accounting standards.

2. Contribute to ACT-wide IPSAS accounting policy/directives; participate in ACT IPSAS implementation activities.

3. Draft/update accounting-related guidance, briefing notes, and reports, ensuring alignment with NATO financial rules/regulations and ACT implementing directives (as applicable).

4. Contribute to development and delivery of training on accounting and IPSAS-related standards across ACT entities.

5. Provide hands-on support, and continual improvement of daily accounting operations and systems, including accounting, audit support, budgeting support (as required), and reporting.

6. Ensure accuracy and timeliness of general ledger activities, cash management, financial statements inputs, and bank reconciliations.

7. Conduct/coordinate monthly and quarterly reconciliations, closure activities, and supporting documentation.

8. Prepare and coordinate the ACT consolidated annual financial statement process, including consolidation of working papers and coordination with subordinate HQs/reporting entities.

9. Contribute to ACT End-of-Year Guidance for ACT Commands and MWA activities, as tasked.

10. Ensuring calls of funds from NATO Member Nations (including, as applicable, NCSEP and NSIP) are properly accounted for and reconciled.

11. Execute/assist periodic cash verifications; document results and corrective actions where required.

12. Support fixed asset inventory accounting: recording oversight, records maintenance, and proper accounting treatment for acquisitions/retirements within means and capabilities.

13. support evidence provision and responses on financial and performance audits

14. Track and contribute to closure of audit recommendations; report status to BUDFIN leadership.

15. Provide recommendations related to reimbursable services and SLAs; define requirements for external service providers regarding accounting and asset management performed by

ACT.

7. Reporting

a. The Contracting Officer will assign a Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative

(COTR) to administer all technical contract details. The Contracting Officer has final authority (in consultation with the COTR) to determine if the contract/SOW should be amended, extended, modified or cancelled for evolving requirements, new tasking, and/or technical non-performance.

b. The COTR will be Ms. Mireille Van Decraen, HQ SACT Acting Head of Accounting, Treasury and Travel Operations

1. The COTR’s written approval of work reported, and products submitted is mandatory for contractor invoices to be successfully processed.

2. The contractor shall submit a report every two working weeks to the COTR and the Contracting Officer, detailing progress on the SOW for the reporting period.

3. The report shall include, but not be limited to, the following information:

a. Summary of work and status of tasks undertaken during the reporting period;

b. Current or anticipated problems/deficiencies and recommended solutions.

8. Minimum Qualifications

The Contractor shall meet, at minimum:

• University Degree in finance/accounting/audit (or professional qualification/accreditation from an IFAC member body such as CPA/ACCA/CIPFA or national equivalent), or national government equivalent certification or credentials with six years post related experience.

• English proficiency equivalent to SLP 3333 (or demonstrably equivalent professional fluency).

• Minimum 10 years’ demonstrated experience in developing plans, policies and processes for the finance and/or accounting field.

• Minimum 10 years’ demonstrated experience in developing and presenting analysis and control of mission information, functions, processes, and objectives to achieve reasonable assurance that the entity is operating efficiently and effectively.

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience demonstrated in the analyses and preparation of financial statements in the private or public sector.

• Minimum of 5 years' experience demonstrated knowledge and expertise of accounting principles, procedures and standards in the application of IPSAS.

• Demonstrated ability to support the implementation of IPSAS.

• Demonstrated experience in the implementation of intangible accounting policies, procedures and registers

• Active NATO or National SECRET security clearance.

12. Working Conditions and Travel

• Normal NATO office environment and normal working conditions.

• No travel is anticipated with this requirement.

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

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

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

Annex B

Requirements Matrix

Contractor’s technical proposals will be assessed in terms of the qualifications of both the company and individual proposed to perform the work. Résumés will be measured against each of the criteria specified below in order to ascertain whether the individual has adequate qualifications to be considered compliant. (HQ SACT reserves the right to conduct technical discussions of nominated candidates).

Examples of how detailed knowledge levels were attained are expected. Ultimately Contractor companies shall clearly demonstrate by providing unequivocal reference to where company/key personnel meet the criteria set forth in this solicitation (please include page number, reference to

CV or links as applicable).

Best Value Criteria for Financial Accountant / IPSAS SME

Company Name:

Proposed Candidate Name:

Proposed Candidate’s Nationality (identify if multiple citizenship & nation):

Note: Each candidate within this category must have their own compliance matrix.

Item Compliant Non-Compliant

Minimum of one past performance citation within the last seven years to show that the company has successfully completed work that is similar to or directly traceable to the requirements outlined in this SOW

Demonstrated proficiency in English as defined in STANAG 6001 (Standardized Linguistic Profile (SLP) 3333 - Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) or equivalent.

Active NATO or National SECRET (or higher) security clearance

Contractor Company holds an Active Facilities Security Clearance (FSC)

Valid NATO Nation passport with no travel restrictions to NATO nations

High level proficiency in the use of the Microsoft Office Tool suite and collaborative software

Minimum of 70 Points in the Subject Matter Expert Criteria

Key personnel citizen of NATO member nation (Nationality must be indicated to include other citizenships)

Item Range Point values assigned based on level of knowledge/experience in relation to the tasks contained in the SOW – not solely on the number of years’ experience.

Failure to provide exact reference (page, paragraph, line #, ref to

CV) to where experience can be validated will result is disqualification.

ANY SCORE OF ZERO IS

NONCOMPLIANT

Page, Paragraph and Line Number referencing where candidates meet the criteria and how.

Score (100 pts possible)

University Degree in finance/accounting/audit (or professional qualification/accreditation from an IFAC member body such as CPA/ACCA/CIPFA or national equivalent), or national government equivalent certification or credentials with six years post related experience.

No Degree or professional qualification – 0 points

University Degree Only in Finance/Accounting or Audit – 5 points

Qualification / Accreditation from IFAC member body only – 5 points

National government equivalent certification with six years post related experience – 5 points

University Degree and Accreditation from IFAC member body – 10 points

University Degree and Accreditation from IFAC member body and six years post related experience – 15 points

Minimum 10 years demonstrated experience in developing plans, policies and processes for the finance and/or accounting field.

<10 years – 0 points 10 -13 years: 1-5 points

14-16 years: 6-10 points 17+ years – 11-20 points

Minimum 10 years’ demonstrated experience in developing and presenting analysis and control of mission information, functions, processes, and objectives to achieve reasonable assurance that the entity is operating efficiently and effectively.

<10 years – 0 points 10 -13 years: 1-5 points

14-16 years: 6-10 points 17+ years – 11-20 points

Minimum of 5 years’ experience demonstrated in the analyses and preparation of financial statements in the private or public sector.

<3 years – 0 points 3-5 years: 1-5 points

6-10 years: 6-10 points 10+ years: 11-15 points

Minimum of 5 years' experience demonstrated knowledge and expertise of accounting principles, procedures and standards in the application of IPSAS.

<3 years – 0 points 3-5 years: 1-5 points

Demonstrated ability to support the implementation of IPSAS.

<3 years – 0 points 3-5 years: 1-5 points

Demonstrated experience in the implementation of intangible accounting policies, procedures and registers

<3 years – 0 points 3-5 years: 1-5 points