Agency Signs Not-for-Profit Agreement with Spain’s ISDEFE

The NATO communications & Information (NCI) Agency has signed its first agreement with a not-for-profit (NFP) organisation, under a newly-established framework programme for widening collaboration with such entities.

Commenting on the agreement concluded with Spain’s Ingenería de Sistemas para la Defensa de España (ISDEFE) on 20 April, NCI’s Director of Acquisition, Jennifer Upton, stated “The framework will open new collaboration horizons with not-for-profit organizations, providing NATO with easier access to the expertise and services of the not-for-profit sector.” The organisation will be able to submit bids to receive funding for work with the Agency under this agreement.

Jesús Alonso Martín, ISDEFE’s Director Business Development, added “As the in-house technical service provider for the Spanish Ministry of Defence, being the first organisation to join this NCI Agency brand new NFP Framework is both a motive of honour and satisfaction. Building up on the services we have been providing the Agency over the last few years, we will endeavour to strengthen our support in innovation, capabilities, project services and other areas in the Framework Programme.”

The new Not-For-Profit Framework (NFPF) is a cooperation framework that aims to complement the Agency’s existing relationships and frameworks with industry. It allows NCI to establish relationships with NFP organisations from the NATO Nations such as national defence laboratories or academic, scientific and research institutions. The NFPF cooperation model is a two-step contracting procedure. In the first step, a participation agreement is signed between NCI and the NFP, then, when the Agency wants to acquire services from an NFP, competitions for task orders will be conducted among those with signed NFPF agreements. The Agency intends to launch the first NFPF competitions upon signature of five NFPF agreements.