NCI Agency Director of Acquisition Jennifer Upton said: "This is a major step toward expanding the Agency's cooperation ecosystem. Our aim is to diversify the NATO supply chain to make NATO more resilient and maintain the Alliance's technological edge."
Through this enhanced cooperation with not-for-profit organizations, the Agency has more access to specialized skills, expertise and innovation along the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA).
At the same time, NATO will benefit from faster project delivery. NATO's perspective will also be brought into the work of the participating not-for-profit organizations across the NATO nations.
The framework complements existing cooperation and contracting processes with industry. NFPs will support the NCI Agency in its scientific programme of work, research and development studies, capability requirements, blueprints, change management or project and service provision assurance. To ensure integrity of NCI Agency procurements, organizations participating in the NFPF are excluded from participation in any tier of NCI Agency procurements addressed to industry and vice-versa.
The NFPF cooperation model is a two-step contracting procedure:
Step 1: An agreement is signed between the NCI Agency and the not-for-profit organization to participate in the framework, subject to the provision of the NFPF Declaration of Eligibility (NFPF DoE) by the NATO country of origin.
Step 2: Competitions for NFPF Task Orders will be conducted amongst the NFPF Agreement holders to support specific NCI Agency requirements.
The NCI Agency intends to launch the first NFPF competitions upon signature of the first five NFPF Agreements.
For more information about the framework, visit the dedicated section on the Agency's website.