The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) intends to issue an Invitation for Bid (IFB) for the provision of containerized, modular Data Center capabilities. Potential U.S. prime contractors must 1) maintain a professionally active facility (office, factory, laboratory, etc.) within the United States, 2) be pre-approved for participation in NATO Competitive Procurement (NCP), 3) be issued a Declaration of Eligibility (DOE) by the Department of Commerce (DOC), and 4) register with NCIA’s eProcurement tool, Neo: https://www.ncia.nato.int/business/procurement/neo-eprocurement If you have an NCIA DOE that can be used on other NCIA NCP opportunities, please submit the DOE to Mr. Pedro Mendes, Contracting Officer at the following E-mail address:
[email protected] If you do not have a DOE that can be used on other NCIA NCP opportunities, you will need a DOE from the Department of Commerce (DOC). Please follow the guidance under BECOMING ELIGIBLE TO BID. The reference for the IFB is IFB-CO-424239 and all correspondence concerning the IFB should include this reference. SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENT The scope of this requirement is the acquisition of Contractor Owned Contractor Operated (CO-CO) and/or NATO Owned – Contractor Operated (NO-CO) containerized, transportable, modular, and scalable solutions to host “Data Centre” on-premise and/or off premise capabilities, for traditional and high-density computing (primarily for Artificial Intelligence (AI) compute expansion), at TIER III level of redundancy, with self-contained cooling (air/water), Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS), and power generation options. The procurement framework will provide for global reach provisions across the NATO footprint, via several Industry providers who qualify for a place under the framework. Acquisition options include rental (Infrastructure as a Service – IaaS) as managed with provider-supplied equipment, and/or procurement of containers, depending upon the customer and site-specific requirements. Requirements at site level will be determined under the IDIQ framework via competed Task Orders, which will require compliance against an individual site Statement of Work (SOW) or Performance Work Statement (PWS) for outcome-based services and operations. For example, the scope may include, but is not limited to, the following: i. Holistic Power by the Hour; Availability (uptime/downtime) driven solutions ii. Defense-specific requirements such as TEMPEST certification, Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) protection, etc. iii. Compliance with minimum TIA942 Tier III standards, starting from 300 Kw power and cooling capacity and able to scale up as needed iv. Rental of SECURE commercial space to host purchaser owned/rented containers v. The provision of Energy as a Service (EaaS) vi. Individual Warranty provision vii. Individual operation and maintenance (O&M) and cleaning services for containers that have been rented or purchased viii. Commercial solutions for individual site pre-assessment services (i.e. assess sites for potential container requirements in the future, those not requiring (immediate rental/purchase) installation but identified and in planning for future requirements) covering such aspects as security, power and communications availability, civil works requirements and rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimates, logistics, permits required (e.g. power-gen), etc. ix. Identification of any site-specific technical constraints BECOMING ELIGIBLE TO BID NCP requires that the U.S. Government issue a DOE for potential U.S. prime contractors interested in this project. Before the U.S. Government can do so, however, the U.S. Government must approve the U.S. firm for participation in NCP. U.S. firms are approved for NCP on a facility-by-facility basis. The U.S. NCP application is a one-time application. The application requires supporting documentation in the form of 1) a company resume or capability statement indicating contracts completed as a prime contractor and 2) an annual report or set of financial documents indicating compilation, review, or audit by an independent CPA. The U.S. Government continues to accept the legacy NATO International Competitive Bidding (ICB) application for participation in NCP. U.S. firms can download a copy of the legacy ICB application from the following website: https://www.bis.gov/about-bis/bis-leadership-and-offices/SIES/business-opportunities-nato DOC is the U.S. Government agency that approves NCP applications. Please submit to the email address provided your application and supporting documentation (as attachments). If your firm is interested in a specific NCP project at this time, please also include the following in the TEXT of your email: - the title and/or solicitation number of the project - the name/phone/email of the company employee who should receive the bid documents After approval of your one-time NCP application, DOC will then know to follow up by issuing a DOE for the project. DOC will transmit the DOE to the NATO contracting agency. IMPORTANT DATES: Request a DOE (and, for firms new to NCP, submit the completed NCP application): 13 February 2026 NCIA distributes the IFB (planned): Q1 2026 Bid closing (anticipated): Release date +35 days Contract Award (estimated): Release date +60 days