European Commission

European Commission

 


Who can benefit from Assistance under the EAFIPinitiative?

All public procurers from EU member states are eligible to apply for assistance.

The public procurers to receive this assistance are 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, with priority to high impact ICT solutions (e.g. Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Big Data and virtual/augmented reality), innovative ICT solutions contributing to economic recovery,  the European Green Deal and national digital/ICT strategies.
  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 is carried out together with the European Commission Services on the basis of interest shown via the online questionnaire. All expressions of interest received via the questionnaire are assessed according to the above criteria, based on the information provided in the questionnaire, and any additional information the European Commission may have decided to request.

The European Commission can decide to support additional cases if there is a high level of interest from eligible applicants.

Please note that projects that receive EU funding for the costs related to the preparation and/or management of an innovation procurement (e.g. from Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe or ESIF programmes) are not eligible for eafip assistance for activities that are eligible costs under the EU funding they already receive.

Nor does the EAFIP-initiative provide assistance in the formulation/preparation of proposals/offers for Horizon Europe 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 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 scope and content of the assistance to be provided to the selected procurers is 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 benefits from a total of 5 person-days expert assistance that are provided free of charge to the procurer by EAFIP and that are 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.

 

Apply for free EAFIP-assistance

You can apply for free assistance to your innovation procurement project by filling in the online form through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/EAFIP2024

Applications will be assessed on a monthly basis

 

European Commission © European Union, 2150. This website is created with EU funding by Corvers, as contractor that is implementing the European Assistance for Innovation Procurement for the EU under procurement contract LC-01619918. All rights reserved. Certain parts are licensed under conditions to the EU. See copyright notice for more info on the conditions for reuse of content on this website. Corvers - Commercial & Legal Affairs