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Support Partnerships

An NSPO Support Partnership (SP) is a multinational cooperation mechanism established on the initiative of two or more NATO nations wishing to organise common support and services activities.

This support structure is a distinctive feature of NSPA. Participating Nations provide governance and guidance, whereas NSPA develops capabilities and manages Nations' requirements. The consolidation of requirements provides economies of scale, reducing costs and logistics footprint, and the legal framework offers a common and efficient support. The Support Partnership format also encourages the Participating Nations to discuss their logistics support challenges so that common and individual requirements can be identified and addressed.

OUR SUPPORT PARTNERSHIPS

Management

Support Partnerships are established on the initiative of a minimum of two NATO Member Nations wishing to organize common logistics support for a single weapon system (e.g. Patriot), for a family of weapon systems (e.g. Rockets, Missiles, Uncrewed Aerial Systems & Combat Vehicles), or for specialised equipment (e.g. GPS) or specific service (e.g. SALIS or Operational Logistics Support).

NATO Partner Nations may participate in a Support Partnerships as Associate States.

The legislative body of each Support Partnership is its Support Partnership Committee (SPC), composed of a representative of each participating nation and chaired by one of the Support Partnership Member Nations. Through the SPC, nations make collective decisions on policy issues for logistics support, operational management and sharing of associated operational and administrative costs based on mutually agreed cost sharing formulae.

FUNDING  

NSPA works on a customer-funded basis, and all tasks (operational and administrative) performed in connection with the Support Partnership's activities are funded by its Participating Nations. Support Partnership Participating Nations exercise full control over all operational activities and over the direct administrative costs required to execute requirements.

Industry Benefits

From an industry perspective, the Support Partnership consolidates all similar requirements from its participants. The Agency solicits industry through a fair and transparent International Competitive Bidding process. In this way a supplier can satisfy requirements from several nations through a single contract. Administrative lead times are shorter and contract conclusion is quicker than when contracting in a national environment. However, NSPA staff have considerable experience in international contracting and industry benefits from experienced professionals who can efficiently tackle complex contractual mechanisms.