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NATO To Boost Technology Procurement By 230%

The organization will increase technology purchases, opening new business opportunities for industry partnerships.

Jennifer Upton, director of acquisition, NATO Communication and Information Agency, speaks at TechNet International.

NATO will significantly increase its technology purchases, aiming to more than double business opportunities by the end of the decade.

“If you've been watching the summit decisions in the last two years, you know that they have pledged to increase NATO common funding significantly starting this year and compounded annually up to NATO 2030. This is a 230% increase in work coming to my agency that they expect most of that to be outsourced to industry,” said Jennifer Upton, director of acquisition at the NATO Communication and Information Agency (NCIA), the entity specialized to defend against cyber threats and source technology.

“We are actually reaching out to industry to help us outsource,” Upton added.

Upton listed the 2024 priorities as:

Accelerating cloud adoption
Cybersecurity
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies
Strategic sourcing
Partnerships

Upton specified procurement opportunities are published, and encouraged the audience at AFCEA’s TechNet International event to consult the agency’s webpage.

One key factor is knowing the landscape, according to a businesswoman.

“You need to understand the history of the [NATO] structure, the politics and the military, and also the management,” said Louisa DuBois, a retired industry expert, author and AFCEA Belgium Chapter president.

To start business with the alliance, Upton suggested first completing the registration process. Requirements are many, but she stressed the country of origin had to be an alliance member and the supplier had to be certified by its local government.

NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) also engages industry purchasing a variety of goods and services for the alliance.

Both agencies, the NCIA and the NSPA, require separate registration processes separated into distinct steps. The offices have a variety of programs to onboard large and small suppliers.

Still, NATO has a vendor structure in place.

“The first advice, would be to monitor the contractor web page to see who else are prime contractors,” said Anne Seguin, chief of market research and industry information section at NSPA. Smaller suppliers were encouraged to establish themselves as subcontractors first and evolve toward larger business.

When you have identified competition and potential partners, talk to them as early as possible.

Louisa DuBois

AFCEA Belgium Chapter President

Each country of origin NATO representative office is a resource for companies, according to DuBois.

“When you have identified competition and potential partners, talk to them as early as possible,” DuBois told the audience.

All speakers stressed that working with NATO is a long process, and the organization capitalizes opportunities to educate suppliers, even if unsuccessful at first.

“You will be given the opportunity to benefit from a debrief with the technical evaluation and procurement evaluation, so please take this opportunity to ensure you learn from the process and we also learn from what happened to your company during this solicitation procedure,” Seguin said.

TechNet International is a yearly event organized by AFCEA, SIGNAL Media’s association parent.