ADAMS (Allied Deployment and Movement System)

ADAMS stands for Allied Deployment and Movement System. NATO defines it as a decision support system for the assessment, planning and coordination of NATO multinational force deployments. The definition appears in NATO's movement and transportation material.

NATO also describes ADAMS as its tool for multinational movement and transportation planning. Nations use it to facilitate deployment planning and to transfer movement information, as set out in the NATO Logistics Handbook. For a supplier, the term is most likely to appear in defence-related documents that refer to NATO deployment or logistics planning.

What ADAMS does in NATO deployment planning

ADAMS supports the work of moving forces from their home locations to where an operation requires them. Its function is decision support: it helps planners assess, plan and coordinate multinational deployments rather than simply record them.

NATO's Logistics Handbook states that NATO nations and, where appropriate, non-NATO nations use ADAMS as the NATO planning tool for multinational deployment planning and information transfer. That shared use is the core of its value. Many nations contribute forces to one operation, and ADAMS gives them a common way to exchange movement information.

Origins at SHAPE and place in the LOGFAS suite

ADAMS began as a NATO deployment-planning system developed under the supervision of SHAPE, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. Software development was carried out by the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency.

In current NATO terminology, ADAMS is associated with LOGFAS, the Logistic Functional Area Services software suite. NATO training material in the NCI Academy learning catalogue describes ADAMS as a LOGFAS module supporting the analysis, planning, coordination and execution of force deployment and redeployment. The same catalogue describes ADAMS training as covering movement analysis, planning, coordination, execution and staff-work support.

Multinational use compared with national planning

NATO separates two levels of use. At the multinational level, ADAMS is the NATO planning tool. At the national level, the Logistics Handbook states that nations may use ADAMS or another system for their own internal deployment planning.

This means an organization working with a national military customer cannot assume ADAMS is the system in use for every deployment task. Its role as the common tool applies to multinational planning and information transfer.

Related NATO terms

• Movement and transportation (M&T): the planning domain ADAMS supports.
• LOGFAS: the Logistic Functional Area Services software suite that includes ADAMS.
• ACROSS: the ACE Resource Optimisation Software System, which has interfaced with ADAMS in NATO operational-planning contexts, as discussed in a Joint Warfare Centre publication.
• SHAPE: the headquarters under whose supervision ADAMS was developed.

What ADAMS means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

ADAMS is a NATO system, not a standing requirement of Canadian federal procurement. A supplier should not assume it is a general CanadaBuys, PSPC or Canadian defence-procurement requirement. CanadaBuys is the Government of Canada's online procurement service, and its tender opportunities are where federal solicitations are published.

If ADAMS appears in a solicitation, read the statement of work, technical requirements, data-exchange provisions, security requirements and any incorporated NATO standards. Those documents define what the buyer expects, whether that is familiarity with the system, movement-data exchange or support to deployment planning staff. Past awards can be reviewed in the procurement and contracting data published on CanadaBuys.