AAN (Assemblée de l'Atlantique Nord)

AAN is the acronym for Assemblée de l'Atlantique Nord, the French name of the North Atlantic Assembly (NAA). NATO records identify it as the former name of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, an interparliamentary forum for parliamentarians from NATO member countries.

AAN is a parliamentary and institutional term. It is not a procurement standard, a contract type, a technical specification or a supplier certification. It appears in NATO's bilingual acronym lists and in older NATO documents, which is where most readers will run into it.

AAN in NATO's official acronym glossary

NATO's glossary of acronyms and abbreviations, published as AAP-15, lists AAN as Assemblée de l'Atlantique Nord and gives North Atlantic Assembly (NAA) as the English equivalent. The glossary is bilingual, so each entry pairs the French and English forms. You can read the entry in the NATO AAP-15 glossary.

NATO also maintains NATOTerm, its official terminology database. It holds NATO military and relevant non-military terminology in English and French. Readers who need to confirm another NATO acronym can search the NATOTerm database.

From the North Atlantic Assembly to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly

NATO's 2005 annual report from the International Board of Auditors for NATO describes the AAN as the former name of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. The report treats the body as a forum for exchanges among parliamentarians from NATO member countries. NATO states that the Assembly has since been known as the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. The reference appears in the 2005 IBAN annual report.

Anyone reading older NATO material should treat AAN, NAA and NATO Parliamentary Assembly as names for the same body at different points in time. The French acronym AAN and the English acronym NAA are the same organization expressed in the two NATO working languages.

What the Assembly is and does

NATO describes the NATO Parliamentary Assembly as an independent interparliamentary organization. It brings together elected representatives from NATO member countries and debates security matters that affect its members. NATO's page on the body is available at NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

• Membership: elected parliamentarians from NATO member countries.
• Function: an interparliamentary forum for discussing security issues of common interest.
• Status: independent interparliamentary organization, listed by NATO among its partnerships and cooperation activities.

The Assembly is made up of legislators. It is not a buying organization and does not issue tenders.

AAN and NATO procurement: where the confusion arises

NATO-related buying opportunities exist, but they run through a different body. CanadaBuys states that the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) buys goods and services on behalf of NATO nations, and that Canadian businesses can bid on many of those opportunities. See how to find tender opportunities on CanadaBuys.

CanadaBuys also states that its tender search includes notices from NATO alongside notices from Canadian federal departments, agencies, Crown corporations and other public-sector organizations. The CanadaBuys tenders support page explains how to search them. The agency to look for in those notices is the NSPA, not the AAN.

What AAN means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

AAN is not a registration, certification, security clearance or bid form requirement. If you see it in a NATO document, it refers to the former name of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Any obligation tied to a NATO-related opportunity will be stated in the specific solicitation or contract, so read the tender documents and the buyer named in the notice. For NATO opportunities, search CanadaBuys and look for the NSPA as the buying organization.