Receive free hands-on and tailored support in developing your own Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP)
The eafip initiative supports you in steering the development of ICT solutions for your concrete needs by comparing and validating alternative solution approaches from various vendors
The eafip initiative will support 6 procurers in developing a PCP by providing assistance (including legal assistance) in the start-up and implementation of an innovation procurement. All public procurers from EU member states are eligible to apply for assistance.
PCP is a public procurement of Research and Development (R&D) services involving risk-benefit sharing under market conditions and competitive development in phases, where there is a clear separation between the procurement of the R&D from the deployment of commercial volumes of end-products.
In general, there are 3 phases in a PCP project. Phase 1 comprises solution exploration, Phase 2 comprises prototyping, and Phase 3 comprises original development and testing of a limited volume of first products or services in the form of a test series.
- Interested in benefiting from this unique opportunity? Please fill in the online questionnaire before 17th November 2016 and we will come back to you with further details.
- Do you have any questions: don’t hesitate to contact us.
- Interested in innovation procurement but don’t yet have a concrete idea: Just Sign-up for updates and we will keep you informed of future events and opportunities.
Who can benefit from assistance under the eafip initiative?
The public procurers to receive this assistance will be chosen through a transparent selection procedure against the following four criteria:
1. Concrete interest / commitment in starting a PCP/PPI project and maturity of the business case (business case means the business case for the public procurer, i.e. the cost/benefit analysis that justifies the procurer’s investment in the innovation procurement)
2. Potential impact of the PCP/PPI procurement
3. Geographical balance of the cases to be assisted across the EU member states
4. Lack of experience and existence of prior cases in the implementation of PCP/PPI under the legal system of the country in question
The selection of the procurers to receive assistance will be carried out together with the European Commission Services on the basis of interest shown via the above questionnaire. All expressions of interest received via the questionnaire will be assessed according to the above criteria, based on the information provided in the questionnaire, and any additional information the European Commission may decide to request.
The European Commission may decide to support additional cases if there is a high level of interest from eligible applicants. The questionnaire may also be reopened at a future date for further expressions of interest.
Please note that projects that already receive EU funding for the costs related to the preparation and/or management of an innovation procurement (e.g. from Horizon 2020 or ESIF programmes) are not eligible for eafip assistance for activities that are eligible costs under the EU funding they already receive.
The eafip initiative does not provide assistance in the formulation/preparation of proposals/offers for Horizon 2020 calls.
What does assistance under the eafip initiative comprise?
eafip provides local assistance to selected public procurers in the preparation and implementation of a PCP or PPI procurement, covering:
- Scoping an identified procurement need that can be tackled with innovative solutions
- Preparing and conducting an EU wide published open market consultation
- Drafting tendering documents
- Launching an EU wide published call for tender
- Answering to questions from potential tenderers at any time during the process
- Signature of contracts with selected vendor(s),
taking into account the relevant provisions under European and national legislation governing public procurement.
The exact form and content of the assistance to be provided to the selected procurers will be determined on a case-by-case basis, in coordination with the European Commission services.
Assistance includes one-to-one meetings, support by email, hands-on guidance and individual support (including legal support) to prepare and implement a PCP or a PPI procurement. The assistance provided within the eafip initiative does not consist of financial support for activities carried out by the procurer. Each project selected for assistance will benefit from a limited number of man-days assistance that are provided free of charge to the procurer by eafip and that will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Local assistance is provided in the local language of the procurer through the eafip network of experts established across all the EU Member States under the coordination of Corvers.
The network of legal experts consists of members located across all the EU Member States. A complete list of these legal experts is available here.
