5 TOP QUESTIONS FROM THE NCI AGENCY CUSTOMERS

1. What is the NCI Agency?

The NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency "connects forces, NATO and Nations"- and is NATO's C4ISR provider, including cyber and missile defence. The NCI Agency supports NATO operations and exercises around the globe.

With roots going back over 60 years, the NCI Agency is created within the framework of the Alliance, charged with delivering interoperable and secure Communications and Information capabilities, expertise and services to its customers with greater efficiency, effectiveness and savings. Part of the increased efficiency comes from understanding the customers' current and emerging requirements and adopting a life cycle view of all services and products that the Agency provides. Key to meeting this mandate is the development of a single, coherent service portfolio, including Customer Services Catalogue.

To the maximum extent possible, the NCI Agency reuses NATO capabilities and always delivers C4ISR based on the principles of "NATO Interoperable, Secure, Affordable, Fast and Easy (NISAFE)". Leveraging economies of scale, and sharing of knowledge with optimized use of resources the NCI Agency is positioned to accelerate the provision of services to its customers with greater affordability, through bilateral and multinational cooperation frameworks. The NCI Agency staff, composed of military and civilian experts is dedicated to faster delivery of solutions in an easy way, living and working in partnership with its customers at home and deployed on operations.

With Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium the Agency's central service providing elements are split between over 30 locations from North America to Afghanistan and structured along Service Lines. The establishment of the NCI Agency in 2012, was a result of the merger of the former NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A), the former NATO Air Command and Control System Management Agency (NACMA), the former NATO Communication and Information Systems Services Agency (NCSA [except Deployable CIS]), the former Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence (ALTBMD) Programme Office and part of the NATO HQ Information and Communication, Technology Management (ICTM). 

2.   Who are the NCI Agency customers and what are the engagement priorities?

In general terms, the NCI Agency customers can be allocated into two main categories: INTERNAL CUSTOMERS and EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS as is presented in the "Figure 1 - NCI Agency Customer Segmentation"^{[1] [2]}.

Figure 1 - NCI Agency Customer Segmentation

The NCI Agency Customer Funding Regulatory Framework (CFRF) defines internal customers as NATO entities or Nations which use NATO common funds to purchase the services of the NCI Agency. External customers are defined as Nations or Organisations, public or private, purchasing NCI Agency services with other than NATO common funds. NCI Agency has adopted this delineation for its Customer Segmentation. Moreover, and building on the Customer Services Catalogue, it allows for customizing the NCI Agency offer with focus on specific customers and adjusting the engagement strategy. The primary venues for engaging Internal Customers and External Customers are respectively the Senior Customer–Supplier Board (SC-SB) and the Chief Information Officers’ Conference (CIOC).

In accordance with NATO Communications and Information Organization (NCIO) Annual Report 2015[3], in support of the overall mission, the NCI Agency’s strategic priorities in delivering capabilities and services to customers are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 - NCI Agency Priorities in Support of NATO Goals and Objectives

3.   How to cooperate with the NCI Agency?

The Demand Management (DM) Directorate serves as the entry point for Customers and is responsible for the initiation, management and coherence of Agency cooperation frameworks in the context of the Customer Services Catalogue (CSC). The objective of these cooperation frameworks is to establish the terms and conditions under which the Customers may receive support from the NCI Agency. Under the lead of Demand Management, in cooperation with the Legal Office (LO), Finance and the Directorate of Acquisition; the NCI Agency employs various cooperation frameworks based on customer, requirement, and urgency. Requests for services outside of the CSC are forwarded to the Service Strategy Directorate (SSTRAT) for consideration and further action.

 Table 1. Cooperation Framework

4.   How much the NCI Agency services cost?

The NCI Agency is an integral part of NATO and per its Charter is customer-funded. In NATO, Customer Funding is a regime whereby the cost of the activities of an organisation are recovered by charging customers for the services provided, based on agreed costs, scope and timelines, rather than by funding contributions from member nations.

The NCI Agency charges its customers for the direct costs of the services provided based on the approved Customer Rates. Customer Rates are endorsed by the ASB, approved for customers by the NATO Budget Committee, fixed for one year and non-negotiable.

Further to the approval of the Customer Funding Regulatory Framework by the North Atlantic Council in July 2015, priced pilot services will be included in the CSC by fall 2016, and CSC with fully priced services based on a fee-for-service portfolio is expected to be available by end 2017.

5.   What are the NCI Agency services and how to order them? How can I state my compliments and complaints on services delivered by the NCI Agency?

In fulfilling its mission, the NCI Agency delivers capabilities, expertise and services across the entire C4ISR lifecycle. The available services provided by the NCI Agency are described in the Customer Services Catalogue available on the NCI Agency website.

General procedure for requesting NCI Agency services:

1. Access the online CSC;

2. Click on "Catalogue Services" for a Listing of available Services;

3. Select the service for a Detailed Service Description;

4. From the CSC home page navigate to "Support Terms And Conditions" to determine your required Service Support Level and Priority for each service;

5. Requests for services should be made using the Demand Management Customer Request Form accessible at the CSC homepage and a the NCI Agency website: https://www.ncia.nato.int/Documents/Customer_Request_Form.pdf

6. The appropriate cooperation framework will be used to provide a specific price proposal for your review and acceptance.

Customers can state their compliments and complaints on services delivered by the NCI Agency through the online CSC by pressing the "Customer Feedback" button and filling in a Demand Management Customer Request Form.

For more information please contact:

Mrs Erika Vranckx

Principal Account Manager/Nations/MNO

NCI Agency HQ

NATO, Boulevard Leopold III

B-1110 Brussels, Belgium

Tel +32 2 707 8809

NCN 255 8809

Email Erika.Vranckx@ncia.nato.int
Email Demand.Management@ncia.nato.int