Counter Improvised Explosive Devices Centre of Excellence gets awarded with NATO Quality re-accreditation

• The Counter Improvised Explosive Devices Centre of Excellence (C-IED CoE) is an International Military Organization to provide Training and Education in its field of knowledge
• NATO Allied Transformation Command (ACT) is responsible for the quality program “Quality Assurance” that guarantees and certifies that the Centres who address courses in areas of interest to the Alliance meet the quality standards defined in the Bi-Strategic Directives of reference

The Centre of Excellence Against Explosive Improvised Devices (C-IED CoE) hosted a delegation of NATO experts in quality assurance.

This visit is part of the NATO quality program. The program is executed under the Bi-Strategic Directives that develop individual and collective education and training carried out carried out by NATO organizations, the Alliance's own educational centers, NATO-accredited centers of excellence and other training centres partner countries not belonging to the Alliance (Partnership Training and SACT) with the aim of offering solutions for quality training and education.

The C-IED CoE voluntarily applied for inclusion in the programme in 2016 and, after achieving unconditional accreditation that year, in 2022 it is due to apply for re-accreditation every 6 years.

The delegation, led by Lieutenant Colonel (DEU) Georg Kuepper, belonging to the Joint Force Development (JFD) area of the Headquarters Allied Command Transformation (HQ-SACT). In addition to LtCol Kuepper, the group of experts was made up of another JFD SACT Officer and an external expert from the NATO Contra Center of Excellence Intelligence (Bydgoszcz, Poland. CI CoE). They joined them as observers, two Officers from the Center of Excellence for Military Medicine (MilMed CoE, Budapest, Hungary) as part of the preparation of their organization for the first quality accreditation.

The activities during the two days have been coordinated by Lieutenant Colonel (DEU) Thomas Berndt and Lieutenant Colonel (ESP) Alberto Heras, Chief of the Branch “Prepare the Force” and Responsible QA Officer, respectively. The C-IED CoE staff have presented and discussed processes, background papers, reference and organization of the Center related to: personnel management; Communication; of resources; and, of course, it has been analysed in detail the execution and continuous improvement processes of the courses developed by the CoE both in its facilities in Hoyo de Manzanares and in other usual locations where it is supported, such as Burgos (Spain), Ramnicu Valcea (Romania) or Szentendre (Hungary)

To end the conference, the Team of Experts has expressed its first impressions of the visit, highlighting the dedication and professionalism of the Center's staff. The team has also carried out a series of recommendations and shared best practices, coming from the experience in their continuous accreditation visits to similar institutions. It now remains to wait for the deliberations and the final result of the re-accreditation process, which will be reported in the coming months.

Counter Improvised Explosive Devices Centre of Excellence

The Center of Excellence Against Improvised Explosive Devices (C-IED CoE), is one of the 28 NATO Accredited Centers of Excellence, and is located in the town of Hoyo de Manzanares (Madrid).

Its mission is to provide expert support to NATO, NATO partners and the International Community in the fight against the IED System to increase the security of deployed troops, reducing or eliminating the IED threat, especially from terrorist and insurgent networks.

It was offered by Spain to NATO as part of its network of Centers for Excellence and accredited by the Alliance in November 2010.