57. Coordination of standards and profiles between Nations and NATO are critical for interoperability. As a result of the C3 Board substructure reorganization, participants in IP CaT are subject matter experts (SME) and are no longer national representatives. SME's should therefore coordinate with national and C3 Board representatives to ensure national perspectives are presented to IP CaT. As such, each of the IP CaT SMEs is responsible for:
Appropriate and timely coordination of standards and profiles with respect to interoperability with national systems;
Coordination of the SME input including coordination with national SMEs of other C3 Board substructure groups; and
Providing appropriate technical information and insight based on national market assessment.
58. National level coordination of interoperability technical standards and profiles is the responsibility of the C3 Board. When the latest version of NISP is approved by the C3 Board, it will become the NATO Standard covered by STANAG 5524. This STANAG contains the agreement of the participating nations regarding usage of the mandatory standards and profiles in the NISP.