ISSC (Integrated System Support Centre)

ISSC stands for Integrated System Support Centre. NATO's glossary of abbreviations, AAP-15, records it as a NATO-agreed term, with the French equivalent "Centre de soutien des systèmes intégrés". In NATO usage it names an organizational unit that supported integrated communication and information systems. It is not a contract type.

The Integrated System Support Centre was one of four subordinate elements placed under the NATO Communication and Information Systems Operating and Support Agency (NACOSA) when that agency was formed in 1993. Canadian suppliers will meet the same letters in a second sense. Department of National Defence (DND) and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) documents use ISSC to mean In-Service Support Contract. Reading the surrounding context tells you which meaning applies.

The Integrated System Support Centre inside NACOSA

NACOSA was created to bring together communication and information systems support functions that had been spread across NATO bodies, including the NATO Integrated Communications System Command Operations Agency and parts of the communications division at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). Its four subordinate elements were the Integrated System Support Centre, Allied Command Europe Communications Security, the NATO Communication and Information Systems School, and the Regional Signal Group SHAPE. The history is set out in the public record of the NATO Communication and Information Systems Services Agency.

The other NATO ISSC: the Information Systems Sub-Committee

NATO documents use the same abbreviation for a different body. Within the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Board (NC3B), the Information Systems Sub-Committee, also abbreviated ISSC, addresses information system implementation. It formed the NATO Open Systems Working Group to develop a technical architecture for information interoperability between NATO and national systems, as described in this analysis of the NATO C3 Technical Architecture. That ISSC is a policy and architecture sub-committee. The Integrated System Support Centre is the support unit recorded in AAP-15.

From NACOSA to the NCI Agency

NATO restructured its communications and information systems support more than once after 1993. NACOSA gave way to the NATO Communication and Information Systems Services Agency, which served NATO and national customers and supported ten major NATO headquarters. That agency was deactivated in 2012. Its elements were realigned to form parts of the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) and the NATO Communication and Information Systems Group, according to the same agency history. Day-to-day dealings on NATO communications and information systems work now run through the NCI Agency. The ISSC abbreviation survives in NATO glossaries and in legacy documents.

How Canadian documents use ISSC

In Canadian defence procurement, ISSC almost always means In-Service Support Contract. DND's evaluation of the Maritime Equipment Program lists "ISSC: In-Service Support Contract" and measures how well ISSCs perform third-line maintenance. DND's status report on transformational and major Crown projects describes a single long-term ISSC planned to support the Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ship and Joint Support Ship vessels, competed separately from vessel design and construction.

• The June 2023 marine procurement outlook lists ISSC projects such as Halifax Class Combat Systems Integration, Victoria Class In-Service Support Contract (VISSC) II, and Diving Systems and Recompression Equipment.
• PSPC's fairness monitoring report covers the Minor Warships and Auxiliary Vessels IV In-Service Support procurement, solicitation numbers W8482-171789/A to G, and concludes it was fair, open and transparent.
• A DND internal audit follow-up names the Minor Warship Auxiliary Vessel In-Service Support Contract (MWAV ISSC) in its title.

What it means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

Check which ISSC a document means before you scope a response. A solicitation for naval equipment that refers to an ISSC is describing a long-term in-service support contract, and the outlook documents show these as multi-year support work separate from acquisition. A NATO document that refers to the Integrated System Support Centre is pointing to communications and information systems support. Bid teams should read the abbreviation list or definitions in each document and match the requirement to the right meaning.