The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) supported Norway in the preparation of a key radar acquisition contract signed in November 2022. The collaboration between NSPA and Norway will continue throughout the acquisition phase and later with NSPA managing the Performance-Based Contractor Logistics Support (PB-CLS) contract for the support of the new radar sensors for the following 19 years. The procurement of the radars that will monitor Norwegian and nearby airspace, approved by Stortinget (the Norwegian Parliament) in June 2019, will require close cooperation between key players such as the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (NDMA), The Norwegian Defense Estates Agency (NDEA), the Defense Staff (FST), the Air Force and the Ministry of Defence.
The project consists of a technology acquisition with associated property, building and construction measures. The overall project management responsibility of the procurement will be taken by NDMA, in addition to responsiblity for the technology procurement. Five radar systems are to be established in new locations, while three existing radar stations will continue to operate. Further to the issue of the RFP in 2020, the acquisition contract with Lockheed Martin was signed in November 2022. The first new radar is planned to be in place in 2025, with the remaining seven radars to follow by 2029. All radars will be operational before 2030. The new radar systems will strengthen Norway’s defense capability, and will constitute NATO’s eyes in the north.
Throughout the acquisition period, NSPA will provide acquisition support services to NDMA in the area of Integrated Logistic Support, Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Testability and Configuration Management (ILS-RAMT-CM). NSPA has been tasked to enter into a Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) agreement with the same Contractor on behalf of NDMA. The maintenance concept is based on unmanned sites that will be attended to on schedule and when needed. The support will be provided according to a Performance-Based Contractor Logistics Support strategy (PB-CLS contract), together with an organizational maintenance level based at three Regional Maintenance Centres (RMC). NSPA, on behalf of NDMA, will activate the CLS services at the end of the acquisition contract.
The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (French: L’Agence OTAN de soutien et d’acquisition), abbreviated to NSPA, is the main logistics and procurement agency of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and is the executive branch of the NATO Support and Procurement Organisation (NSPO), formerly NATO Maintenance and Supply Organization (NAMSO). Until 2012, the tasks were organised with the NATO Supply Agency[2] and other institutions. It has about 1200 employees in Luxembourg, France, Italy and Hungary. On 1 April 2015, organisation and structure of NSPO and NSPA changed. This change marks the expansion of Agency capabilities to include all aspects of systems procurement from initial acquisition throughout sustainment.
