MILITARY INFRASTRUCTURE AND CAPABILITIES
Supporting NATO — Alan Dron talks to the Head of NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency, Peter Dohmen, to find out his priorities for the future and assess the scope of the agency’s responsibilities
The organisation has also established an Acquisition and Planning Development Office (APDO), whose role is to scan the horizon for future initiatives that could bring advantages to the agency, so it can anticipate future projects and also identify multinational solutions where nations can band together on individual programmes. “As soon as there’s a new requirement, these guys will start discussing this with the customer and will define the project plans, milestones and other factors in the procurement. When a project team is established for this he role of the NATO Support particular acquisition, APDO will hand and Procurement Agency over responsibilities for it.” NSPA (NSPA) is steadily increasing in NSPA also acts as a single point corporate importance. In 2010, NSPA’s of contact for anyone who may have support turnover was €1 billion. Today, questions about an acquisition project, Real Life Support its purchases amount to more while simultaneously further and APOD than four times that figure. developing its internal processes services Contracts placed by the and tools for acquisition. Infra Management of agency can be substantial. Some idea of the scale Deployable C17 fleet Support to NATO assets It is responsible, for of NSPA’s activities comes management operations and Exerciese example, for the purchase in Dohmen’s comment of aircraft for the that, at the height of Contingency Life Cycle Planning Alliance’s Multinational NATO’s involvement in Disposal Management Multi-Role TankerAfghanistan, the NSPA Fuel Storage and Transport Fleet (MMF), was handling more than Transportation which has expanded 3,500 contracts in that Acquisition from its original two country to support troops Services Stock aircraft operated on based there. This support In-Service Exchange Support behalf of the Netherlands came in forms such as the and Luxembourg to eight, provision of deployable GPSS following the 2017 decision of camps, food and water, waste Random Germany and Norway to join water and power supplies. Brokerage the pooling arrangement. It also handled a wide range of construction and engineering services; Expanded role indeed, almost all the buildings at Kabul Other examples of acquisitions by NSPA International Airport were built under include Dingo 4x4 armoured vehicles in-service support when those items NSPA supervision. The agency was also for Luxembourg and unmanned aerial are delivered and, eventually, disposal, responsible for the provision of air traffic vehicles. The agency’s procurement dismantling and demilitarisation when control services at all of Afghanistan’s role has expanded in recent years into they are no longer required. “The idea airports except Bagram airbase, which what General Manager Peter Dohmen is that, from cradle to grave, we deliver was wholly manned by US personnel. describes as “full life-cycle management”, services to NATO entities, NATO With the current changing geoincorporating not only acquisition, but nations and partners of NATO,” he says. political situation, NSPA’s focus is
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NATO SUMMIT 2018 – BRUSSELS
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