Mabey Bridge Celebrates 20th Year of NATO Supply

NATO members continue to benefit from increased transparency and fixed pricing on Mabey Logistic Support Bridging (LSB) as NATO Support and Procurement Agency Framework Agreement reaches the half-way stage.

Fixed prices for a five year period, increased transparency and enhanced interoperability are just three of benefits that NATO members are now receiving thanks to the NATO Support and Procurement Agency Framework Agreement, which reached a major mid-term milestone earlier this year.

The Agreement was set up in 2013 by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), NATO’s main logistics and procurement agency, formerly known as the NATO Support Agency. The Agreement is now half-way through its term and offers NATO members the opportunity to procure Mabey LSB components via an e-procurement portal, the NLSE.

It has been hailed by the company as a great success. According to the company’s Military Sales Manager, Martin Andrews, military customers using the system’s portal benefit in the following ways;

Fixed pricing – Bridging systems ordered via the NLSE are supplied at prices that are fixed for a five year period.

Transparency - All 153 individual bridging components are listed in an online catalogue and each carries a NATO Stock Number (NSN)

Interoperability – 21 NATO Member nations have purchased, used or trained on the Mabey LSB.

Simplicity – Customers can submit their orders electronically and all bridging components can be ordered in variable quantities.

Commenting on the system’s success to date, Martin said:

We delivered our first NATO contract nearly twenty years ago and have continued to supply NATO and NATO Partner nations ever since. The NATO Support and Procurement Agency Agreement has made ordering bridges from us as easy as it is for consumers to order goods on-line.

Denmark was the first NATO country to use the system, followed by Portugal but we know that other countries intend to use it before the fixed term contract expires at the end of 2017. To our knowledge, the NATO Support Agency Agreement is the only one of its type in the world and is an initiative that NATO members should be proud of.