NATO Business Opportunity: Endpoint Protection Enhancement

Active

Contract Opportunity

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) intends to issue an Invitation for Bid (IFB) for Endpoint Protection Enhancement.

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 International Competitive Bidding (ICB), 3) be issued a Declaration of Eligibility (DOE) by the Department of Commerce (DOC), and 4) register with the NCI Agency’s eProcurement tool, Neo: https://www.ncia.nato.int/business/procurement/neo-eprocurement

Contractor personnel will be required to work unescorted in Class II Security areas. Therefore, access can only be permitted to cleared individuals. Only companies maintaining the appropriate personnel clearances will be able to perform the resulting contract.

The NCI Agency plans to issue a IFB using the ICB Procedure for Best Value evaluations. The successful bid will be that bid that offers the best value in accordance with predefined evaluation criteria prescribed in the IFB. The top-level criteria weighting will be 70% Technical and 30% Price. A single, firm-fixed price contract is planned for the entire scope of work.

The reference for the IFB is IFB-C0-423331-EPPE and all correspondence concerning the IFB should include this reference.

SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENTS

Project Objective and Scope

The scope of this project is to Enhance & Sustain End Point Protection with the aim to deliver an uplift of the endpoint cyber security protection capabilities throughout the NATO Enterprise. It will centralize the capabilities that are currently managed in a decentralized fashion to improve the quality, coherency, visibility, and efficiency of the management lifecycle. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) will be introduced as a new function, and gaps in the implementation of the existing endpoint security baseline will be addressed.

Scope of Work

1. Technical and procedural implementation of a (to be competed) state-of-the-art EDR tool.

2. Centralization of existing Trellix-based Endpoint Protection policy servers and management capability.

3. Unification and uplift of the existing Endpoint Protection capability footprint. This includes covering gaps in implementation, configurational uplifts and improved SIEM/SOAR integration.

4. Unification and uplift of the existing Endpoint Protection Capability footprint. This includes covering gaps in implementation, configuration uplifts and improved SIEM/SOAR integration.

5. [Optional] Enhancement of iOS mobile device protection through (to be competed) EDR and forensics functions as well as improving SIEM/SOAR integration.

The requirements listed above will need to be integrated into the existing cybersecurity footprints, services, and procedures. Implementation is foreseen NATO-enterprise wide and for several networks, with an estimated 80,000 endpoints (allowing future scalability). The heterogeneous nature of the environments results in requirements and constraints such as implementing in on­premise, cloud-based, and air-gapped environments. Bidders will be allowed to propose distinct solutions to cover all domains, though they will be encouraged and rewarded for efficiencies and unifications.

The Period of Performance is anticipated to start in Q3 2025 and end in Q3 2028. This timeline represents the anticipated duration; adjustments may be made as per the requirements of the solicitation process and subsequent contractual agreement.

BECOMING ELIGIBLE TO BID

NATO ICB 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 NATO ICB. U.S. firms are approved for NATO ICB on a facility-by-facility basis.

The U.S. NATO ICB 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.

U.S. firms can download a copy of the U.S. NATO ICB application from the following website:

https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/other-areas/strategic-industries-and-economic-security-sies/nato-related-business-opportunities

DOC is the U.S. Government agency that approves NATO ICB applications. Please submit to the email address provided your application and supporting documentation (as attachments). If your firm is interested in a specific NATO ICB 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 NATO ICB 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 NATO ICB, submit the completed one-time NATO ICB application): 12 November 2024

NCI Agency distributes the IFB (planned): 16 December 2024

Bid closing (anticipated): 31 May 2025

Contract Award (estimated): 30 September 2025

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