On the occasion of the Official Visit to Spain of the General Manager of NSPA (NATO Support and Procurement Agency), Mr. Peter Dohmen, the Directorate General of Armament and Material (DGAM), through OFICAEX (Foreign Support Office) organized the Conference Industry with NSPA 2018 in CESEDEN, with the collaboration of business associations AESMIDE and TEDAE.
Details of this visit have been collected both by official Defense Staff of Spain (EMAD) website and by Infodefensa.com
Official Visit of the General Manager of NSPA, was organized by the Division of Plans (DIVPLA) of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (EMACON), and had 3 main objectives, as indicated in the note of the visit published on the website of Defense Staff of Spain (EMAD):
First, to improve the knowledge on the part of the personnel of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense of the activities that the Agency can provide in its role of support for the Alliance and the nations that comprise it.
Second, to improve the current relations of the Ministry and the Armed Forces with the NSPA and identify new areas with potential for future collaborations.
Third, to improve mutual knowledge between the NSPA and the Spanish Defense Industry in terms of business opportunities, contracting procedures, capabilities of the Spanish industry, etc.
Indeed, the organization of the NSPA Industry Day 2018 is part of this third objective. In addition to the General Manager of NSPA, Mr. Peter Dohmen, the Conference was attended by Mr. Rudolf Maus, Director of Life Cycle Management, the main Business Unit of the 4 in which NSPA is organized.
At the beginning of the Conference, both NSPA General Manager, Peter Dohmen and General Luis López González, Chief of the Office of Foreign Support (OFICAEX), stressed the importance of increasing the participation of the Defense Industry of Spain in the NSPA recruitment processes.
In the words of the General Manager of NSPA, Peter Dohmen, “the objective of NSPA is to select the best acquisition option for its clients (the very structure of NATO or the armed forces of the NATO member countries) ..”. In this sense, Innovation in the proposals presented is an essential element when it comes to providing the capabilities required by these end customers.
NSPA celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2018, and its Mission is ” … provide responsive, effective and cost-efficient acquisition, including armaments procurement; logistics, operational and systems support and services to the Allies, NATO Military Authorities and partner nations, individually or collectively, in times of peace, crisis and war … maximize the ability and flexibility of their Armed Forces, Contingents, and other relevant organizations, within the guidance provided by the North Atlantic Council (NAC), to execute their core missions “.
During his presentation, Mr. Peter Dohmen highlighted both the main magnitudes of NSPA (business total of 4.7 billion euros in 2017, support for NATO Operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, and Mali) and their main priorities: Customer Satisfaction, Support to Operations and Exercises and Acquisitions. Highlighting the three great strengths of NSPA: Platform for multinational cooperation, economies of scale and avoids competition between allies.
Another highlight of the conference was the intervention of Lieutenant Colonel José Miguel Remiro Blasco, Head of the Liaison Office at the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA).
Lieutenant Colonel Remiro, in addition to reviewing the functions, services, and responsibilities of the Liaison Office, outlined business figures of the Defense Industry of Spain with NSPA. Spanish companies business has shown an increasing trend over the last 5 years, reaching 60% of the total amount of funds via requests from the Armed Forces to NSPA.
In words of Lieutenant Colonel Remiro, “… the celebration of this type of Conference and the excellent positioning of the Spanish Defense Industry within NSPA, will surely allow that percentage to grow in the coming years …”
The conference was attended by some of the most representative companies of Spanish Defense Industry: AIRBUS DS, EXPAL, GMV, TECNOBIT, etc. presenting their manufacturing capacities and experiences with NSPA. Among them was also Hispano Vema, for which the business opportunities presented by NSPA are a priority, as CBRN capabilities are established as strategic and preferred by NATO in order to face with Hazmat threats, incidents with chemical warfare agents, biological agents or radiological agents.
In this context, CBRN decontamination solutions provided by Hispano Vema: from Decontamination Apparatus to Mass Decontamination Stations, through Rapid Deployment systems, Decontamination Agents or Decontamination Showers are emerging as fundamental systems in the endowment of CBRN capabilities for both NATO Military Authorities and Allies Armed Forces when it comes to having the necessary capabilities to deal with CBRNe incidents with biological, radiological or chemical agents.
At the closing of the Conference, General Luis López González, Chief of the Office of External Support (OFICAEX), once again stressed DGAM commitment to support the development of the technological capabilities of Spain Defense Industry, as well as the internationalization of defense Spanish companies, through the institutional support provided and articulated by OFICAEX.
In this sense, General Luis López González encouraged all the companies present at the Conference to continue increasing their participation in NSPA’s contracting processes, as a vehicle to improve competitiveness, technological level and presence in international markets.
