ACINT (ACOUSTINT (admitted – toléré) acoustic intelligence)

ACINT stands for acoustic intelligence, meaning intelligence derived from acoustic information. It is the preferred abbreviation for ACOUSTINT, the longer form of the same term. NATO's glossary of acronyms and abbreviations records the entry as "ACOUSTINT (admitted – toléré)" and gives the French equivalent as renseignement acoustique.

The term belongs to NATO military vocabulary. Canadian suppliers are most likely to meet it in defence and security documents that follow NATO usage, where it names a category of intelligence in the same way other abbreviations ending in "INT" name other categories. This page explains where the term comes from, how NATO records it, and how it appears in Canadian Army doctrine.

How NATO records ACINT and ACOUSTINT

NATO's Glossary of NATO Acronyms and Abbreviations (AAP-15, 2013 edition) is the reference that establishes the meaning. It expands ACINT as acoustic intelligence and identifies ACINT as the preferred abbreviation for ACOUSTINT.

The entry carries the note "admitted – toléré" beside ACOUSTINT. In practice, that means you can expect to see both forms in documents, with ACINT as the form NATO prefers. Bid teams reading a statement of requirement that uses either spelling can treat them as the same term.

The French equivalent in bilingual documents

The same NATO glossary is bilingual and gives renseignement acoustique as the French equivalent of ACINT. Canadian federal procurement documents are published in both official languages, so a bilingual tender package that refers to acoustic intelligence in English will use the French form in its French version. Keeping both terms in your proposal glossary helps you stay consistent across English and French submissions.

NATOTerm as the source for NATO military terminology

NATO's official terminology database is NATOTerm. It contains non-classified NATO military terminology and is maintained by the NATO Terminology Office, which is part of the NATO Standardization Office. When a solicitation relies on NATO terms and does not define them, NATOTerm and the NATO acronym glossary are the authoritative places to check how the alliance uses a word.

ACOUSTINT in Canadian Army doctrine

A Canadian Army doctrine and training publication, available through publications.gc.ca, states that ACOUSTINT includes sound ranging and some remote ground sensors. That gives a practical sense of the subject matter: intelligence drawn from sound, including sound ranging, and from certain remote ground sensors.

This publication is doctrine and training material. It describes how the term is used in Canadian military practice and does not set out a procurement requirement.

What ACINT means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

ACINT is a terminology entry, not a procurement category, clause or certification. No Canadian federal or provincial program, contract clause or supplier obligation is tied to the term itself. If a tender or statement of work uses ACINT or ACOUSTINT, read how the buyer describes the requirement and respond to that description.

• Treat ACINT and ACOUSTINT as the same term when reviewing documents.
• Use the NATO glossary and NATOTerm to confirm the meaning if the tender does not define it.
• Use renseignement acoustique in French-language versions of your proposal.
• Ask the contracting authority through the tender's question process when the scope is unclear, rather than relying on doctrine alone.