ANET Software Engineer

Deadline Date: Tuesday 1 October 2024

Requirement: ANET Software Engineer (Front-end)

Location: Off-Site

Note: Please refer to your Subcontract Agreement, article 6.4.1.a, which states “Off-Site Discount: 5% (this discount is applicable to all requirements, and applies when the assigned personnel are permitted to work Off-Site, such as at- home)". Please be sure to price this discount in your overall price proposal when submitting bids against off-site RFQs

Period of Performance: 2024 BASE: 4th November 2024 – 31st December 2024

Start date is as soon as possible but not later than 4th November 2024

with possibility to exercise the following options:

• 2025 Option: 1st January 2025 until 31st December 2025

• 2026 Option: 1st January 2026 until 31st December 2026

• 2027 Option: 1st January 2027 until 31st December 2027

• 2028 Option: 1st January 2028 until 31st December 2028

End Contract Date: 31 December 2024

Required Security Clearance: NATO SECRET

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The NATO Communications and Information 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 Service Centre is looking for experienced senior software developers.

1.2 More specifically, the work will support the full software development cycle of the Advisor Network (ANET) software. ANET has been developed to meet the Minimum Military Requirement (MMR) for planning, supporting and documenting engagements with NATO interlocutors and is currently the most widely used system for providing such capability in NATO missions.

2. OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this statement of work is the development and maintenance of ANET software modules.

3. SCOPE OF WORK

Under the direction / guidance of the NCIA Point of Contact or delegated staff, the software engineer will develop and update ANET software modules. This includes the following activities:

• Collaborate with lead engineer, product owner, and other engineers to understand the requirements and translate them into technical specifications (like user stories) for the ANET application and related products
• Maintain and further develop the Continuous Integration environment in Azure DevOps aiming to have the quality assurance built-in, including test report to explain test result and coverage to NCIA Change Advisory Boards of each release
• Debug and troubleshoot issues in front-end components, identify and resolve software defects, and ensure a stable release by updating software dependencies and optimizing front-end performance.
• Design, develop, and maintain intuitive and responsive user interfaces using React, JavaScript, and TypeScript.
• Utilize JavaScript, TypeScript, and React for dynamic front-end interactions, and leverage Java persistence frameworks to interact with the PostgreSQL database, ensuring data integrity, performance, and security across the full stack.
• Develop / conduct unit and automated testing of software components
• Attend virtual and in-person meetings

The service provider will be part of a team and will work using an Agile and iterative approach during multiple sprints.

Each sprint is planned for a duration of 1 week.

The content and scope of each sprint will be agreed during the sprint-planning meeting.

4. DELIVARABLES

The following deliverables are expected as a result of this statement of work:

Deliverable 01: Sprints for ANET Software development and maintenance 2024

Quantity: 8

Optional deliverables may be exercised at the discretion of NCIA.

5. PAYMENT MILESTONES AND DELIVERABLES

5.1 The payment shall be dependent upon successful acceptance of the Delivery Acceptance Sheet (DAS) – (Annex A) including the EBA Receipt number Payment will be provided based on these deliveries as indicated in the table Invoices shall be accompanied with a Delivery Acceptance Sheet (Annex A) signed by the Contractor and project authority.

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

5.3 Schedule of payments is based on the acceptance of the deliverables as described in table below:

Deliverable 01: 2024 : 8 Sprints of Software Engineering

Payment Milestones: Upon completion of each second sprint and at the end of the work.

2025 OPTION: 01 January 2025 to 31 December 2025

Deliverable: Up to 46 sprints

Payment Milestones: Upon completion of each second sprint and at the end of the work.

2026 OPTION: 01 January 2026 to 31 December 2026

Deliverable: Up to 46 sprints

Payment Milestones: Upon completion of each second sprint and at the end of the work.

2027 OPTION: 01 January 2027 to 31 December 2027

Deliverable: Up to 46 sprints

Payment Milestones: Upon completion of each second sprint and at the end of the work.

2028 OPTION: 01 January 2028 to 31 December 2028

Deliverable: Up to 46 sprints

Payment Milestones: Upon completion of each second sprint and at the end of the work.

6. COORDINATION AND REPORTING

6.1 The service provider shall participate in daily status update meetings, sprint planning, sprint retrospectives and other meetings, physically in the office, or in person via electronic means using Conference Call capabilities, according to project manager’s instructions.

6.2 For each sprint to be considered as complete and payable, the service provider must report the outcome of work during period of the sprint, first verbally during the retrospective meeting and then in written within three (3) days after the sprint’s end date.

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

7. SCHEDULE

7.1 The BASE period of performance is as soon as possible but not later than 4th November 2024 and will end no later than 31st December 2024.

7.2 One Sprint length equals to one weeks.

8. CONSTRAINTS

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

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

8.3 All the deliverables of this project will be considered NATO UNCLASSIFIED.

8.4 Part of the work may involve handling classified networks, therefore, a security clearance at the level of NATO SECRET is expected for the contractor(s) undertaking this project.

9. SECURITY

9.1 The security classification of the service will be up to NATO SECRET.

9.2 The services performed under this SOW require that the assigned personnel have a valid NATO SECRET security clearance.

10. PRACTICAL ARRANGEMENTS

10.1 Service on the contract will be required to work off site, preferably using his/her own IT equipment (i.e., desktop, laptop and so forth). Access to the NCIA code repositories will be provided in coordination with the NCIA Point of Contact or delegated staff

10.2 The service provider may be required to travel to NCI Agency, The Hague, the Netherlands and other sites within NATO for completing these tasks. Travel expenses will be reimbursed to the individual directly (outside this contract) under NATO rules.

10.3 Services under this SoW have to be delivered by one resource.

11. MEETINGS

11.1 The service providers shall participate as a minimum to the following meetings:

Daily team SCRUM: the meeting is focused on sprint progress and tasks assignment;

Quarterly review meeting: this meeting is to focus on service providers performance, compliance with performance KPIs, areas for improvements. The meeting will take place virtually and will be attended by the contractor, the Service Area Owner and the Product Owner.

12. QUALIFICATIONS

[See Requirements]

13. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Unless stipulated differently, the contractor’s performance assessment is performed quarterly and independently for each quarter.

Performance objective: Sprint Completion

Standard: Sprint tasks are completed on-time

Performance threshold: Assigned tasks are completed on the due date

Method of surveillance: Periodic surveillance

Performance objective: Code Quality Compliance

Standard: Quality of the code produced by the contractor during each Agile sprint, as evaluated through code reviews and pull requests (PRs)

Performance threshold: Contractor's ability to adhere to coding standards, deliver maintainable code, and reduce the number of defects introduced into the codebase

Method of surveillance: Random Sampling

Performance objective: SCRUM Attendance

Standard: Number of missed or non-participatory daily scrum meetings

Performance threshold: Not more than one unannounced absence per month

Method of surveillance: Periodic Surveillance

Requirements

9. SECURITY

• The services performed under this SOW require that the assigned personnel have a valid NATO SECRET security clearance.

12. QUALIFICATIONS

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

• Must demonstrate ability to communicate with external users / customers and translate their requirements in development tasks for the team.
• Must demonstrate recent experience working in Scrum teams, particularly in projects involving frontend technologies such as React, JavaScript, and TypeScript.
• Must demonstrate strong background in software development, with a particular emphasis on frontend development. They possess excellent problem-solving skills, especially in the context of GUI design and user experience optimization.
• Must demonstrate relevant and recent experience in continuous software integration and automated testing, including knowledge of test automation frameworks and has in depth experience with Azure DevOps, GitHub.
• Must demonstrate relevant and recent experience in frontend development using JavaScript, TypeScript, and the React library, with the ability to design and implement responsive, dynamic user interfaces.
• Must demonstrate experience using development tools, such as Visual Studio Code, Webpack, and ESLint, which are essential for efficient front-end development.
• Must demonstrate proficiency in secure software practices, with firm knowledge of web authentication (e.g., OpenID Connect, OAuth, SAML) and experience integrating these protocols into front-end applications using tools like Keycloak.
• Must demonstrate experience in database design and integrating frontend applications with databases, using technologies like PostgreSQL and RESTful APIs.
• Must demonstrate recent experience designing containerized frontend solutions, with knowledge of containerization technologies such as Docker, particularly in deploying React applications.
• Must demonstrate produces efficient, clear, readable, maintainable, and high- quality front-end code, with a focus on delivering excellent user experiences.
• Good knowledge spoken and written English as work is conducted in English

Desirable:

The following expertise and knowledge is desirable for this requirement:

• Experience with Java Spring Frameworks, including designing and implementing REST-API and GraphQL applications, enhancing their full-stack development capabilities.