Deadline Date:
Wednesday 12 February 2025
Requirement: SharePoint Infra and DevOps Foundation Improvement
Location:
OFF-SITE
Not to Exceed:
88,065 EUR
Required Start Date
:
17 March 2025
Required Security Clearance:
NATO SECRET
Bidding Instructions:
Technical Proposal
Bidders shall submit a proposal clearly providing the following information:
- CVs of the assigned resource(s) for the project. It is up to the bidder to propose the size of the team that executes the work and produces the deliverables in the time line allocated. The Purchaser may accommodate a reasonable number of personnel at the current facilities. The CVs shall clearly distinguish if the proposal is for Key Personnel or not.
- Attestation of Curriculum Vitae submission
- Award
The purpose of this Statement of Work (SOW) is to provide an outline of deliverables and performance expectations for the services to be rendered by the Contractor(s). This document will serve as the basis for Contractor bidding and selection. Contractors are expected to submit proposals based on their ability to meet the outlined deliverables within the specified timelines.
Introduction:
Within the NATO Digital Workplace Centre (NDWC), the Content Platforms (CP) Group provides a range of content centric services enabling secure collaboration. Core functionalities include creating, sharing, managing, organizing and preserving digital content to deliver enterprise-wide content lifecycle management, information access and governance. Common services available include document and records management, content publishing, business process management, data capture and indexing, categorization, content search, version control, analytics and artificial intelligence applied to content collaboration. Content Platform Services also provides Subject Matter Expertise for advice, guidance, business analysis, design, configuration, development and implementation of new and existing Content Platform Solutions and for a broad range of Content Management activities.
Through various projects new capabilities are released in the form of SharePoint customizations (farm solutions, add-ins and client side solutions on versions 2013 through to online). After release we often find that improvements are required to make those customizations fully fit-for-purpose. This can relate to code quality, code vulnerabilities, feature stability, feature usage and documentation.
These capabilities include EDMS, PITT, NIP ,TT+ (collectively referred to as IKM tools) and include customizations to SharePoint which follow common development practices combining page elements, lists and SharePoint services and customizations (such as metadata, search and profile services or COTS that extent SharePoint).
Objectives:
- Deploy a representative UAT server-side environment to facilitate IVVQ (Quality Management) testing and validation for both IKM tools and SharePoint customizations. This does not include end-user configuration, only technical configuration.
- Deploy a representative DevTest server-side and a reflective client-side environment in Azure DevTestLabs for integration testing and demonstration of both IKM tools and SharePoint customizations. This does not include end-user configuration, only technical configuration.
- Create a schedule and respective scripting to maintain UAT in IVVQ and DevTest in the Azure DevTestLabs in releases spanning 12 to 16 weeks, to ensure that the latest stable release is installed for all components.
- Create release documentation, every 12 to 16 weeks, to reflect both the current and historic configuration of the UAT in IVVQ and DevTest in AzureDevTestLabs
- Create and maintain a backlog of reproducible bugs on IKM tools and SharePoint customizations.
- Work done is subject to a valid NATO secret security clearance during the duration of the contract. Work cannot be performed nor paid when this constraint is not fulfilled.
- Work can only be performed from a (home) office which is located in one of the current NATO member states
- Where work is done remotely, the Contractor shall ensure a professional working environment in which all necessary meetings can be attended to, using a stable internet connection, with camera on and microphone open. Free from distraction to the Contractor and any participants in meetings.
- The development work of the Content Platforms team is done in Agile Scrum sprints of three weeks. The Contractor shall ensure participation in a total of 14 sprint cycles annually for the duration of the contract, considering proration for partial calendar years.
- As part of the sprint cycle, preparation of, and participation in sprint planning and refinement, sprint reviews and sprint retrospectives with the wider team is expected. The Contractor is expected to reflect work done on respective Kanban Boards and within respective Agile Scrum templates in support of the respective Product Goals and Agile approach.
- Each planning session the Contractor is expected to contribute, prioritize and refine user stories within the respective backlogs of CP products. User stories are the preferred approach to define deliverables under this agreement such as test cases, use cases and features.
- In completing the work the Contractor shall actively seek opportunities to automate each aspect of any deliverable, except for the work done on bugs.
- The contactor shall ensure on site presence for at least 3 consecutive working days in either the NCIA the Hague or NCIA Braine office to participate in planning and review sessions with the development team. At minimum the Contractor is present at the following occasions
- To participate in at least 2 all hand meetings per year
- To be part of at least 8 planning sessions throughout the performance period. This may be either sprint planning or project planning.
- To be part of at least 8 review session throughout the performance period
- The Contractor will propose a schedule to, and seek approval from, the designated NATO Point
- Of Contact (PoC) to fulfill the on site presence requirement.
Contractors, who are not native English speakers, should have a CEFR B2 level proficiency in English or equivalent as listed in the table below.
Test Score equivalent to the B2 level
EF SET 51 - 60
IELTS 5.5 - 6.0
TOEIC (R&L) Total 785 - 940
Cambridge English Scale 160 - 179
TOEFL iBT 72 - 94
Global Scale of English (Pearson) 59 - 75
Change Management:
Any changes to timelines must be mutually agreed upon by both parties in writing.
Requirements:
Work Execution:
- Work done is subject to a valid NATO secret security clearance during the duration of the contract.
- Contractors, who are not native English speakers, should have a CEFR B2 level proficiency in English or equivalent