Open grounds for pre-commercial procurement of innovative security technologies

Projects’ results are expected to contribute to some or all of the following outcomes:

• Consolidated demand for innovative security technologies built on the aggregation of public buyers with a common need expressed in functional and/or operational terms without prescribing technical solutions;
• Better informed decision-making related to investment in innovative security technologies based on a better understanding of the potential EU-based supply of technical alternatives that could address common needs of EU public buyers;
• Better informed decision-making related to investment in innovative security technologies based on an improved visibility of the potential demand in the EU market for common security technologies;
• Increased capacity of EU public procurers to align requirements with industry and future products and to attract innovation and innovators from security and other sectors through common validation strategies, rapid innovation, experimentation and pre-commercial procurement;
• Increased innovation capacity of EU public procurers through the availability of innovative tendering guidance, commonly agreed validation strategies and evidence-based prospects of further joint procurement of common security solutions.

End-users and public procurers from several countries are invited to submit proposals for a preparatory action that should build the grounds for a future Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) action. Both this preparatory action and the future PCP action are open to proposals oriented to the acquisition of Research and Development (R&D) services for the development of innovative technologies, systems, tools or techniques to enhance border security, to fight against crime and terrorism, to protect infrastructure and public spaces, and/or to make societies more resilient against natural or human-made disasters.

In preparing the grounds for a possible future PCP action, the outputs of this Coordination and Support Action (CSA) should take into consideration:

• The policy priorities described in this Work Programme Part for the security areas mentioned above;
• The EU Directive for public procurement and in particular with the provisions related to PCP;
• The specific provisions and funding rates of PCP actions and the specific requirements for innovation procurement (PCP/PPI) supported by Horizon Europe grants, as stated in the General Annex H of the Horizon Europe Work Programme;
• The guidance for attracting innovators and innovation, as explained in the European Commission Guidance on Innovation Procurement C(2021) 4320, in particular those measures oriented to reduce the barriers to high-tech start-ups and innovative SMEs.

During the course of the project, the applicants are expected to deliver clear evidence on a number of aspects in order to justify and de-risk a possible follow-up PCP action, including:

• That the challenge is pertinent and that indeed a PCP action is required to complete the maturation cycle of certain technologies and to compare different alternatives;
• That there is a consolidated group of potential buyers with common needs and requirements which are committed to carry out a PCP action in order to be able to take an informed decision on a future joint procurement of innovative solutions;
• That there is a quantifiable and identifiable community of potential buyers (including and beyond those proposed as beneficiaries in the proposal) who would share to a wide extent the common needs and requirements defined and who could be interested in exploring further joint-uptake of solutions similar to those developed under the PCP, should these prove to be technologically mature and operationally relevant by the end of the project;
• That the state of the art and the market (including research) has been explored and mapped, and that there are different technical alternatives to address the proposed challenge;
• That a future PCP tendering process is clear, that a draft planning has been proposed and that the supporting documentation and administrative procedures will be ready on due time in order to launch the call for the acquisition of R&D services according to the PCP rules;
• That the technology developments to be conducted in the future PCP can be done in compliance with European societal values, fundamental rights and applicable legislation, including in the area of free movement of persons, privacy and protection of personal data;
• That in developing technology solutions, societal and gender aspects (e.g., perception of security, possible side effects of technological solutions, societal resilience) can be taken into account in a comprehensive and thorough manner.

If the applicants intend to submit a proposal for a follow-up PCP in a future Horizon Europe Cluster 3 Work Programme, they should ensure that the above evidence is consolidated in the project deliverables of this CSA before the submission of the PCP proposal.

In this topic the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content should be addressed only if relevant in relation to the objectives of the research effort.

The project should have a maximum estimated duration of 1 year.