2024-0320 Observability Solution (NS) - THU 9 Jan

Deadline Date: Thursday 9 January 2025

Requirement: Observability Solution

Location: The Hague, NL

Full Time On-Site: No

Time On-Site: 3 days per week minimum)/ Hybrid

Period of Performance: 2025 BASE: Contract period is 24 February 2025 (tentative) until 31 July 2025.

• 2025 Cycle 1 (24 February – March)

• 2025 Cycle 2 (April)

• 2025 Cycle 3 (May)

• 2025 Cycle 4 (June)

• 2025 Cycle 5 (July)

Required Security Clearance: NATO SECRET

Part 1 – Bidding instructions

1. Bidding Instructions

1.1. Technical Proposal

Bidders shall submit the following information:

a. CVs of the proposed resource(s) for the project with clear evidence of experience of delivering one to three project of similar scope to the statement of work within the last three years.

2. Award

Contract shall be awarded under the future AAS Framework Contract – CO- 115786 – AAS+ Market Place 1.

1 INTRODUCTION

a. The NATO Information and Communication Agency (NCI Agency) located in The Hague, The Netherlands, is the Interoperability Assurance Authority for NATO. In the light of this responsibility, the Independent Assurance Branch of the Chief Quality Office is looking for an Observability solution to support the set of tools that are part of the Interoperability (IO) Toolset.

b. More specifically, the work will be to deliver a system able to monitor and gain insights into the internal state of the set of tools that are part of the IO Toolset, while fulfilling the requirements specified in the scope of work.

2 SCOPE OF WORK

a. Under the direction of the NCI Agency Chief Quality Office, the Independent Assurance Branch requires various aspects of observability in order to complete their work.

b. The contractor will be part of a team (technical lead, Service Delivery manager, interoperability engineers and software engineers) and will provide services using monthly cycles. Each cycle is planned and reviewed monthly. The content and scope of each cycle will be agreed with the Services Delivery Manager and the technical lead during the planning meetings.

c. The 1st cycle will be used for the contractor to understand the business requirements and problem domain, assess the potential technology options, and agree with the Services Delivery Manager and the technical lead the design and implementation plan.

d. Subsequent cycles will be used to design and implement an Observability solution that fulfill the requirements gathered and agreed during the 1st cycle.

2.1 Activities and Expected Deliverables.

a. Gather and analyse stakeholder requirements;

Expected Deliverable: Stakeholder analysis report.

b. Assess the potential technology options, present the results and agree with the Services Delivery Manager and the technical lead the technology selection;

Expected Deliverable: Technology assessment report.

c. Design an Observability solution able to integrate the selected technologies and the set of tools that are part of the IO Toolset;

Expected Deliverable: Observability solution design.

d. Implement and deploy a pilot of the Observability solution on the NATO Software Factory (NSF) test environments;

Expected Deliverable: Observability solution pilot deployed on a NSF test environment.

e. Design and implement a set of dashboards which visualize the information required by the stakeholders;

Expected Deliverable: Visualization dashboards implemented on the Observability solution pilot.

f. Create Docker container(s) out of the solution which can be deployed on Test and Local environments;

Expected Deliverable: Docker container(s) with the Observability solution.

g. Automate the deployment of the solution with the execution of scripts;

Expected Deliverable: Observability solution automated deployment scripts.

h. Integrate the automatic deployment scripts in an Azure Devops pipeline so that the latest version of the solution in code repository can be automatically deployed;

Expected Deliverable: Azure Devops pipeline able to deploy the Observability solution.

i. Deploy a pilot of the Observability solution on the PINK ENCLAVE test environment and assess its operability;

Expected Deliverable: Observability solution pilot deployed on the PINK ENCLAVE test environment.

j. Deploy a pilot of the Observability solution on a NS/MS environment and assess its operability;

Expected Deliverable: Observability solution pilot deployed on the NS/MS test environment.

k. Document the technology assessment, design decisions, installation steps, maintenance, and usage of the solution.

Expected Deliverable: Set of MS Loop documents capturing the requested Observability solution information.

3. DELIVERABLES AND PAYMENT MILETONES

3.1 2025 deliverables from the work on this statement of work.

a. 24 February to 31 July 2025:

Deliverable 01: a. Stakeholder Analysis Report. b. Technology Assessment Report

Quantity: 1

Payment Milestones: after cycle

Estimated Start Date: 24 February 2025

End Date: 31 March 2025

Deliverable 02: Delivery of the incremental implementation of deliverable as set in Section 2 of the SOW (using deliverables cycles determine monthly )

Quantity: 4

Payment Milestones: after each cycle completion

Estimated Start Date: 1 April 2025

End Date: 31 July 2025

Each cycle is planned for a duration of one month. At the end of each cycle, a detailed report of the activities conducted must be submitted using a Delivery Acceptance Sheet (Annex A). Upon review, if deliverables and activities follow what is included in this SoW and the monthly cycle meetings, payment will be authorized.

The NCIA team reserves the possibility to exercise a number of options, based on the same deliverable timeframe and cost, at a later time, depending on the project/ service priorities and requirements.

The payment shall be dependent upon successful acceptance of the Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS) – (Annex A) including the EBA Receipt number.

Invoices shall be accompanied with a Delivery Acceptance Sheet (Annex A) signed by the Contractor and the project authority.

4. COORDINATION AND REPORTING

4.1 The contractor shall provide services on-site a minimum 3 days a week. Location is The Hague, NL.

4.2 The contractor shall participate in daily and weekly status update meetings, cycle planning and other meetings, in person, according to Services manager’s instructions.

4.2 This work may involve travel to other NATO locations.

4.3 For each cycle to be considered as complete and payable:

a. The contractor must report the progress of his/her work and any impediments during the cycle weekly meetings;

b. The contractor should report verbally the work completed during the cycle review;

c. The contractor should send within three (3) days after the cycle’s end date a written report. The format of this report shall be a short email to the Service manager with the cycle Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS) (Annex A) mentioning briefly the work held and the achievements during the cycle. The DAS need to be signed by both parties and further submitted with the invoice by the company to NCI Agency Accounts Payable.

d. If there is more than one contractor working on this project, only one report is required on behalf of the contracting company.

5. SCHEDULE

5.1 This statement of Work will be active immediately after signing of the contract by both parties.

5.2. Period of performance:

a. The BASE period of performance is not later than 24 February 2025 (tentative) and will end no later than 31 July, 2025.

6. SECURITY

6.1 The security classification of the work will be up to NATO Secret.

6.2 All individuals working on this arrangement must hold a valid NATO security clearance to a minimum level of NATO SECRET.

6.3 It is the responsibility of the contracting company to obtain and maintain the security accreditation of all individuals working on this arrangement.

7. CONSTRAINTS

7.1 All the documentation provided under this statement of work will be based on NCI Agency templates or agreed with project point of contact.

7.2 All documentation and deliverables will be stored under the respective NCI Agency configuration management and/or in the provided NCI Agency tools and remain the property of NCI Agency.

8. PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS

8.1 The contractor will provide services under NCI Agency AAS Framework contract (CO-115786- AAS+) for the NCI Agency in The Hague, the Netherlands.

8.2 This service contract is looking for one individual to complete the work for the duration of the agreement.

8.3 The work location must be on location for a minimum of 3 days per week:

a. On location: The contractor is required to provide services on location at NCI Agency The Hague campus, The Hague, Netherlands. Location accessible Monday to Friday 8:30 to 17:00, close on Agency Holidays. Parking available

b. Remote: The contractor must work within a NATO country and be available during Monday to Friday 8:30 to 17:00 (Central European Time). The cost and arrangement of travel will be the responsibility of the contractor(s).

8.4 The contractor will be provided with NCI Agency issued laptop and user account for access to the NATO Software Factory (Azure DevOps). This equipment is the property of NCI Agency and must be return upon termination of the contract. If the equipment is required to be shipped to a location, it will be at the expense of the expeditor. Personal laptops and equipment are not permitted inside NCI Agency. You will be required to use the assigned laptop while in the premises.

8.5 The contractor will be required to travel to other sites within NATO for completing these tasks. Travel arrangements will be the responsibility of the contractor and the expenses will be reimbursed in accordance with Article 5.5 of AAS Framework Contract and within the limits of the NCIA Travel Directive. Reimbursements for travel to the Duty location for remote working arrangement are the responsibility of the contractor and are not reimbursed.

8.6 Short periods of absence are acceptable as long as deliverables within the established targets are completed. Planned and unplanned absences must be communicated to the service delivery manager.

9. QUALIFICATIONS for the proposed Resource

[See Requirements]

• 6.2 All individuals working on this arrangement must hold a valid NATO security clearance to a minimum level of NATO SECRET.

9. QUALIFICATIONS for the proposed Resource

9.1 Required Qualifications and Training/Education:

a. The consultant selected for this work requires the following qualifications:

• Experience with the design and implementation of an Observability solution and data visualization dashboards for the set of tools of IOToolset;
• Experience with the deployment of solutions on the NSF and PINK ENCLAVE test environments;
• Working knowledge of the following technologies: ElasticSearch; Logstash; Kibana; Docker; Azure DevOps pipelines; PowerShell; Open Telemetry

9.2 Relevant soft skills / competencies

a. The consultant selected for this work requires the skills and competencies:

• Ability to communicate written and orally with clarity, coherence, and conciseness in English;
• Ability to develop and maintain clear and concise technical documentation, including procedures;
• Team player, always willing to help others and to share knowledge;
• Good collaboration skills, with the ability to work in a multinational and diverse team;
• Growth mind set, always wanting to improve and to learn;
• Ability to work autonomously and proactively and to follow internal processes.