BICES-0002 Voice and VTC Engineer (CTS) - THU 15 Oct

Total Scope of the request (hours): 1672

Period of Performance: 2027 BASE period: 4th January 2027 until 31st December 2027

2028 OPTION period: Possibility to exercise this option from 1st January 2028 until 31st December 2028.

Required Security Clearance: NATO COSMIC TOP SECRET

Special Terms and Conditions: The contractor will be responsible for complying with the respective national requirements for working permits, visas, taxes, social security etc. whilst working on site at NATO HQ Brussels, Belgium. No special status is either conferred or implied by the host organisation, NATO HQ Brussels, Belgium to the contractor whilst working on site.

• INTRODUCTION

The BICES (Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation Systems) is an association of independent elements to enable the sharing and exchange of timely intelligence-related information between all NATO member nations, associated partner nations and the NATO organization. BICES capabilities are intended for national, NATO or coalition use, during peace, crisis and war, supporting decision-makers, deployed force commanders and tactical users.

The BICES Group Executive (BGX) works as a facilitator maintaining the core network and coordinating the community-wide provision of capabilities and services operated at national/organisational level. BICES offers a number of services to support BICES users using mainly commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), open source but also an in-house developed software.

Within BGX, the BICES Support Unit (BSU) is responsible for managing the BICES services across the BICES NATO HQ Element that includes the following CIS functional areas by providing daily operational support: BGX Service Desk, Networking/Communications, Secure Voice & Video telecommunications platforms and Systems/Applications services, SharePoint, Call Manager support. Additionally, the BSU provides general maintenance functions, and quality assurance, and manages customer feedback.

The BSU provides support related to IT Incidents, problems and service requests to the BICES NATO HQ Element users. The purpose of this Statement of Work (SOW) is to engage external contractor to staff the BSU.

• JOB DESCRIPTION

Under the supervision of the BSU Chief, the incumbent’s primary role is to provide 3rd level support for complex technical resolutions in the area of Voice, Video and Teleconferencing IP related services and associated components. S/He provides support to the design, documentation, testing and implementation of projects, to include all stages of service transition processes. S/He is responsible for problem management processes.

The incumbent will lead the technical execution of the assigned Voice and VTC engineering issues. S/He will coordinate with experts within NATO HQ and BGX to resolve complex technical issues.

• LOCATION OF DUTY

The location of duty is on-site at the NATO HQ offices in Brussels, Belgium.

• TIMELINES

The base period of performance is 4th January 2027 to 31st December. If the 2028 option is exercised, the period of performance is 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2028.

• TRAVEL

Occasional business travel may be required. Travel expenses will be reimbursed to the individual directly (in addition to the hourly rate) under NATO rules.

• SECURITY AND NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT

The contractor must be in possession of a NATO COSMIC TOP SECRET security clearance.

A signed Non-Disclosure Agreement will be required as per Annex C.

The incumbent must have

• A University degree or an equivalent level of qualification in Information and Communications Technology (ICT);
• A minimum of 6 years’ experience in the field of Network and Systems Engineering;
• Have at least 3 years’ experience leading the tailoring and integration of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) / Video Tele-Conferencing (VTC) solutions on business requirements;
• Have at least 3 years’ experience in Wide Area Network (WAN) communications, router/switched based networks and routing protocols, with specific expertise on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking, creating, maintaining, and troubleshooting;
• Be able to lead the preparation and maintenance of documentation, of a technical nature (e.g. configuration guides, diagrams, training preparations, requests for change);
• Possess level V (Advanced) of the English language.

The following will be considered an advantage

• Experience in the design and implementation of Cisco Unified Call Manager (CUCM) clusters and the use of logical grouping (e.g. partitions) in this context;
• Experience in security certification and accreditation for classified CIS within NATO and Multinational programmes;
• Field experience and knowledge related to Session Border Controllers (SBC) Cisco expressways;
• Familiarity with BICES systems and procedures;
• Experience working in a multinational environment.

SECURITY AND NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT

The contractor must be in possession of a NATO COSMIC TOP SECRET security clearance.