2025-0086 Support to Develop C# Desktop System (NS) - WED 26 Mar

Time On-Site: 100%

Period of Performance: 2025 BASE: As soon as possible and not later than 1st May until 31 December 2025 with possibility to exercise sprints from the following options:

1. INTRODUCTION

The NATO Information and Communication Agency (NCI Agency) located in The Hague, The Netherlands, is currently involved in the development of new capabilities for NATO as well as in the support of existing capabilities. In the light of these activities, the C2 Centre is looking for one full stack C# desktop developer with experience in developing Windows desktop applications and with strong user interface proficiency.

The Full Stack C# Desktop Developer will provide the technical subject matter expertise to enable and guide the design and development of integrated solutions that meet current and future business needs.

1. OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this statement of work is the development of new capabilities and the enhancement of existing features in the existing NATO TOPFAS Service.

1. SCOPE OF WORK

The content and scope of each sprint will be agreed with the project manager and the technical lead during the sprint-planning meeting in writing.

The scope of the assignment will be limited to providing functional and technical solution analysis and software development, traceable through the Azure DevOps NATO Software Factory system.

The work will be executed mainly onsite in The Hague, Netherlands, and some sprints might require the visit to other NATO locations. The development work will be carried out accessing remotely the Azure DevOps NATO Software Factory system.

The Developer will participate in the daily reporting and planning activities (daily stand-ups) as well as the required participation in workshops, events and conferences related to the supported services, as requested by the NCI Agency project team.

Under the direction of the NCI Agency project team, the developer will develop and update TOPFAS Application software. This includes the following activities:

Implement and review software changes as required using Azure DevOps.

Support the development of the front-end application and communication with back end services.

Implement new interfaces and improve existing interfaces with other systems, both file based and online real time.

Coordinate the technical work with the teams and systems required to integrate, including integration testing.

Support bug fixing and stability improvements.

Create and update documentation.

1. COORDINATION AND REPORTING

The Contractor shall report to the NCIA TOPFAS Technical Lead.

The Contractor shall participate in daily status update meetings, sprint planning, sprint retrospectives and other meetings, in person via electronic means using Conference Call capabilities, according to project manager’s instructions. The camera feature should be used at all times.

For each sprint to be considered as complete and payable, the contractor:

Should prepare a demo of the work completed and present it to the team during the sprint demo meeting;

Should send within three (3) days after the sprint’s end date a written report. The format of this report shall be a short email to the project manager mentioning briefly the work held and the development achievements during the sprint.

Due to the AGILE approach of this project, there is a need to define a set of specific arrangements between the NCIA and the contractor that specifically defines the deliverables to be provided for each sprint as well as their associated acceptance criteria. This includes sprint planning, execution and review processes, which are detailed below:

Sprint Planning:

Objective: Plan the objectives for the upcoming sprint.

Kick-off meeting: Conduct a bi-weekly (every two weeks) meeting with the contractor to plan the objectives of upcoming sprint and review contractor`s manpower to meet the agreed deliverables.

Set sprint goals: Define clear, achievable goals for the sprint and associated acceptance criteria, including specific delivery targets, Quality standards as well as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each task to be recorded in the sprint meeting minutes.

Agree on the required level of effort for the various sprint tasks.

Backlog Review: Review and prioritise the backlog of tasks, issues, and improvements from previous sprints.

Assess each payment milestone cycle duration of two sprints. State of completion and validation of each sprint status and sign off sprints to be submitted for payment as covered in Section 4.

Sprint Execution

Objective: Contractor to execute the agreed “sprint plans” with continuous monitoring and adjustments.

Regular meetings between NCIA and the contractor to review sprint progress, address issues, and make necessary adjustments to the processes or production methodology. The Meetings will be physically in the office.

Continuous improvement: Contractor to establish a continuous feedback loop to gather input from all stakeholders for ongoing improvements and their subsequent implementation depending on NCIA approval.

Progress Tracking: Contractor to use a shared dashboard or tool to track the status of the sprint deliveries and any issues.

Quality Assurance/Quality Check: Contractor shall ensure that the quality standards agreed for the sprint deliverables are maintained throughout the sprint.

Quality Control: NCIA to perform the Final Quality Control of the agreed deliverables and provide feedback on any issues.

Sprint Review

Objective: Review the sprint performance and identify areas for improvement.

At the end of each sprint, there will be a meeting between the NCIA and the Contractor to review the outcomes against the acceptance criteria comprising sprint goals, agreed quality criteria and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Define specific actions to address issues and enhance the next sprint.

Sprint Payment

A report must be sent by email to the NCIA service manager, listing all the work achieved against the agreed tasking list set for the sprint.

The contractor's payment for each sprint will be depending upon the achievement of agreed Acceptance Criteria for each task, defined at the sprint planning stage. This will include specific delivery targets, quality standards as well as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each task.

The payment shall be dependent upon successful acceptance as set in the above planning/review meetings. This will follow the payment milestones that shall include a completed Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS) – (Annex A)

Invoices shall be accompanied with a Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS) – (Annex A) signed by the Contractor and project authority.

If the contractor fails to meet the agreed Acceptance criteria for any task, the NCIA reserves the right to withhold payment for that task/sprint.

Further, the supplier must conduct the following reviews:

A daily ‘touch point’ between NCIA POC and the supplier’s POC to ensure work is on track

Draft versions of the reports where the supplier’s POC presents the draft report to the customer, with the opportunity for the customer to provide feedback and implement uplifts.

Final versions of the reports where the incumbent presents and delivers the final report to the customer.

The format of this report shall be a short email to the NCIA Project Manager mentioning briefly the work held and the development achievements during the sprint.

1. DELIVERABLES AND PAYMENT MILESTONES

The following deliverables are expected from this statement of work:

1. Complete the activities/tasks agreed in each sprint meeting as per sections 2 and 3 above.
2. Produce sprint completion reports (format: e-mail update), which include details of activities performed. Specifically, the resolved Product Backlog Items will be broken down into number of Tasks, traceable through Azure DevOps NATO Software Factory ticketing systems.
3. The Software Developer will participate in the daily reporting and planning activities (daily stand-ups) as well as the required participation in workshops, events and conferences related to the supported services, as requested by the NCIA project team.

Payment Schedule will be at the end of each two sprints, following the acceptance of the sprint report.

The NCIA team reserves the possibility to exercise a number of options, based on the same scrum deliverable timeframe, at a later time, depending on the project priorities and requirements.

The payment shall be dependent upon successful acceptance of the sprint report and the Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS) – (Annex B)

Invoices shall be accompanied with a Delivery Acceptance Sheet (Annex B) signed by the Contractor and the NCIA POC.

The NCIA team reserves the possibility to exercise a number of sprints at a later time, based on the same sprint deliverable timeframe and cost, depending on project priorities and requirements.

The following deliverables are expected within the performance period.

1. SCHEDULE

This task order will be active immediately after signing of the contract by both parties.

The BASE period of performance is as soon as possible but not later 1st May 2025 and will end no later than 31st December 2025.

If the 2026 option is exercised, the period of performance is 01st January 2026 to 31st December 2026.

If the 2027 option is exercised, the period of performance is 01st January 2027 to 31st December 2027.

If the 2028 option is exercised, the period of performance is 01st January 2028 to 31st December 2028.

1. SECURITY

Performance of the services described in this SOW require a valid NATO SECRET security clearance prior to the start of the engagement.

Contractor/ shall be aware of all security rules pertaining to the handling of NATO classified information.

Personnel Security Clearance (PSC). Individuals who require access or may have access to information classified NC or above during the course of their duties shall have a PSC at the appropriate level, which is valid for the duration of the authorized access. In addition, such individuals are required to:

Have been briefed on their security obligations in respect to the protection of NATO Classified Information; and

1. CONSTRAINTS

All the documentation provided under this statement of work will be based on NCI Agency templates or agreed with project point of contact.

All scripts, documentation and required code will be stored under configuration management and/or in the provided NCI Agency tools.

1. PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS

This is a deliverables-based contract.

The contractor will be required to work 100% on site NCI Agency The Hague, NLD

NCIA The Hague Hours of Operations: Monday to Thursday 0830 – 1700 and Friday 0830 – 1500 (CET)

Contractor Furnished Services: Contractor shall furnish everything required to perform the contract except for the items specified and covered under NCIA Furnished Property and Services below.

NCIA Furnished Property and Services: Access to relevant networks and environments will be provided by NCIA

1. TRAVEL

There may be requirements to travel to other sites within NATO for completing these tasks.

1. QUALIFICATIONS

[See Requirements]

1. SECURITY

• Performance of the services described in this SOW require a valid NATO SECRET security clearance prior to the start of the engagement.

1. QUALIFICATIONS

The consultancy support for this work requires a software developer with the following qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Computer Science/Engineering or equivalent.
• More than 10 years of experience as Software Developer, in which at least 5 are in C#.
• Strong experience (at least 5 years) in WinForms (Microsoft desktop application development).
• In depth knowledge of C#
• Proficient with third party UI frameworks
• Solid understanding of async programming / multi-thread applications
• Good understanding of integration patterns and message exchange formats such as JSON and XML.
• Strong knowledge of OO principles and patterns
• Experience with HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3 a plus
• Familiarity with Microsoft stacks and technology
• Experience with Git version source control
• Basic knowledge of SQL Server and database querying

Preferable qualifications are:

• Experience with Azure DevOps
• Experience with Playwright or other test automation tools.
• Strong experience (at least 4 years) with DevExpress

Relevant soft skills are:

• Very good communication skills, both spoken and written, in English.
• Very good presentation skills, taking in consideration the target audience.
• Team player, friendly and always willing to help others and to share knowledge.
• Good collaboration skills, with the ability to work in a multinational and diverse team
• Growth mind set, always wanting to improve and to learn.
• Proactivity and taking ownership at all times.