NATO BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY: AIR COMMAND AND CONTROL INFORMATION SYSTEM INCREMENT 2 (AIRC2IS INC2) DEFENSE DESIGN ANALYSIS (D2A) SIMULATION TOOL

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) intends to issue an Invitation for Bid (IFB) for Provision of the Air Command and Control Information System Increment 2 (AirC2IS Inc2) Defence Design Analysis (D2A) Simulation Tool for the future NATO Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) and Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) Planning capability.

NCIA will be hosting an Industry Day in the week of 09 March 2026 on Webex. To participate, please indicate your interest by email to

42602799-AirC2ISInc2-D2A@ncia.nato.int 

stating the name of your firm, telephone number, e-mail address, and company POC. Please express your interest as soon as practicable and NLT 04 March 2026.

To bid on this project, 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 

The reference for the IFB is IFB-42602799-AirC2ISInc2-D2A and all correspondence concerning the IFB should include this reference.

SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENT

The full AirC2IS Inc2 project will provide a system to enhance the BMD planning capabilities for the Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) mission, through the delivery of a unified, integrated tool suite composed of a Planner including AirC2IS functional services and a D2A simulation-based application.

The present IFB’s scope consists of the capability’s D2A portion.

The AirC2IS Inc2 D2A project will be conducted in 3 structured phases, each estimated to last for one year:

Phase 1 will execute a Risk Reduction activity, to analyze if the underlying data is feasible to model the BMD and IAMD resources, work with operational users on workflows and HMI concepts and to produce an initial prototype, based on modification of existing tools rather than a bespoke development, and interface with the existing AirC2IS Increment 1 system.

Phases 2 and 3 will develop and implement all requirements allocated to the D2A service, including but not limited to, functionality to execute static analysis, raid analysis, and sensitivity analysis.

The major deliverables of each phase are as follows:

Phase 1: Delivery of D2A via 2 pilot applications
Phase 2: Delivery and implementation of D2A simulation functions in the AirC2IS Inc2 Planner under development
Phase 3 Optional: Full-scale development of the remaining D2A scope and its implementation in the final BMD and IAMD planning capability

Procurement Approach

The IFB will adopt a Best Value Competitive Dialogue evaluation methodology to develop a D2A capability through the following sequential steps:

Step 1: Evaluation of D2A Proposals and Down-Selection of two companies to deliver Phase 1. These two companies will each be awarded a Contract to develop a D2A pilot application based on their COTS product.

Step 2: D2A Pilot Application Development and Evaluation: Assessment of the two pilot applications developed during Phase 1 against pre-established technical and operational criteria, and the companies’ Best and Final Offer (BAFO), for the award of one Contract for Phase 2 as firm scope and Phase 3 as contract option.

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 March 2026

NCIA distributes the IFB (planned): 31 March 2026

Bid closing (anticipated): 05 May 2026

Contract Award (estimated): 30 September 2026