The NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency has briefed senior industry representatives, officials and experts from North America as well as allies, on coming contract C4ISR opportunities for the alliance’s priority capabilities, including more than $800 million in infrastructure, and more than $370 million in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).
The briefings dealt with emerging technology trends and challenges, and provided an early heads-up on opportunities expected to come up in the next 18 months. More than 600 gathered for the briefings during the NCI Agency Industry Conference and AFCEA Europe Technet International held in Romania.
The opportunities included $827 million in infrastructure investments, including $124 million for communications infrastructure as well as deployable capabilities in 2014, $95.5 million for core enterprise services in 2014-2016, and $689.8 million for satellite communications in 2017.
Joint ISR is another priority area, and $372.4 million will go to networks and communications to support the NATO Ground Surveillance Program, to be completed in 2016.
Another $68.9 million worth of potential investments in command and control software can be expected, to include maritime, land command and control software upgrades, with several calls for bids in 2014 and 2015.
About $89.6 million is planned for continuing cyber investments including Private Key infrastructure and network encryption devices with a call for bids estimated to come at the end of 2014.
Investments also can be expected in air command and control and ballistic missile defense, and Counter-IED for the NATO Response Force, the agency said in a March 31 statement.
Also, the briefings included key themes for the NATO Summit in Wales in the fall as well as major alliance programs such as Federated Mission Networking, which will influence future acquisitions.
A major theme of the conference was how to strengthen the alliance’s ability to rapidly implement innovative technology.
NCI Agency General Manager Koen Gijsbers said, “Technological innovation cuts both ways, it helps us but it is also exploited by cyber criminals and adversaries in the mission space. Our ability to implement innovation more rapidly is of strategic importance.”
Gijsbers said the alliance will continue to streamline and speed its procedures and include industry early in the process. “However, industry performance will also come under increasing scrutiny and we will work with the nations and NATO committees to apply both incentives that reward good performance as well as penalties.”