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Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) actions
Description: PCP actions aim to encourage public procurement of research, development and
validation of new solutions that can bring significant quality and efficiency improvements in
areas of public interest, whilst opening market opportunities for industry and researchers
active in Europe. It provides EU funding for a group of procurers (‘buyers group’) to
undertake together one joint PCP procurement, so that there is one joint call for tender, one
joint evaluation of offers, and a lead procurer
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awarding the R&D service contracts in the
name and on behalf of the buyers group. Each procurer in the buyers group contributes its
individual financial contribution to the total budget necessary to jointly finance the PCP,
enabling the procurers to share the costs of procuring R&D services from a number of
providers and comparing together the merits of alternative solutions paths from a number of
competing providers to address the common challenge. The PCP must address one concrete
procurement need that is identified as a common challenge
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in the innovation plans of the
procurers in the buyers group that requires new R&D and is described in the common
specifications of the joint PCP call for tender.
Eligible participants: The buyers group must contain minimum two legal entities which are
public procurers that are established in two different Member States or associated countries.
Both legal entities must be independent of each other.
The procurers in the buyers group must be responsible for the acquisition and/or regulatory
strategy for the targeted innovative solutions and aim to obtain ambitious quality and
efficiency improvements in the area of public interest addressed by the PCP, or be entities
with a mandate from one or more of such procurers to act on their behalf in the procurement
(e.g. central purchasing bodies).
Other entities (e.g. end-users, certification bodies, private/NGO procurers that provide
services of public interest and share the same procurement need) whose participation is well
justified may participate in additional activities that clearly add value to the action and
support the preparation and execution of the PCP or embed the PCP into a wider set of
demand side activities.
‘Sole participants’
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must indicate which of its 'members' are the procurers contributing to the
budget of the proposed joint procurement that satisfy the participation requirements and
which are the respective procurement budgets of each of these members that are at the
disposal for carrying out the procurement. A sole participant acting as buyers group must have
a mandate based on a well-defined procurement need and budget from its procurers to act on
their behalf.
Funded activities: Preparation and implementation of the joint PCP (as described in General
Annex E). Eligible costs include the price of the R&D services procured via the joint PCP
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The lead procurer is a public procurer and is the beneficiary appointed by the buyers group to coordinate and
lead the procurement. It can be either one of the procurers in the buyers group or another beneficiary in the
action that is established or designated by the procurers in the buyer group to act as lead procurer.
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A PCP that addresses a challenge that consists of several facets (sub-challenges or building blocks) is
considered one joint PCP procurement as long as all procurers in the buyers group share the need for - and
are willing to co-finance - all the facets of the common challenge.
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See Article 199 of the Financial Regulation No 966/2012.
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and the costs of the eligible coordination and networking activities and may include in-kind
contributions of third parties linked to grant beneficiaries.
Funding rate: The EU contribution will be governed by the Rules for Participation, unless
otherwise specified in the relevant call conditions.
The eligible costs of coordination and networking activities may not exceed 30% of the total
estimated eligible costs set up in the budget of the action at the signature of the grant
agreement.
Indirect eligible costs are calculated as a flat rate of 25% of direct eligible costs, excluding
direct eligible costs for subcontracting (e.g the price of the PCP procurement) and costs of
resources made available by third parties which are not used on the premises of the
beneficiary (e.g test equipment).
Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions (PPI) actions
Description: The objective of PPI actions is to enable groups of procurers
to share the risks of
acting as early adopters of innovative solutions, whilst opening market opportunities for
industry. It provides EU funding for a group of procurers (‘buyers group’) to undertake
together
under the coordination of the ‘lead procurer’
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one joint or several coordinated
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PPI
procurements based on common tender specifications that are defined jointly by all procurers in
the buyers group.
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. Each PPI focuses on one concrete unmet need that is shared by the
participating procurers and requires the deployment of innovative solutions that are to a
significant extent similar across countries and are therefore proposed to be procured
in
collaboration
. This means that the innovative solutions procured by all procurers in the buyers
group must have the same core functionality and performance characteristics (described in the
common specifications for the joint calls for tenders), but may have additional 'local'
functionality due to differences in the local context of each individual procurer (if framework
contracts/agreements are used, this can be reflected in the specific contracts for procuring
specific quantities of goods/services for each procurer).
Funded activities: Preparation and implementation of the PPI (as described in General Annex
E). Eligible costs include the price of the innovative solutions procured via the PPI and the
costs of the eligible coordination and networking activities and may include in-kind
contributions of third parties linked to grant beneficiaries. Cost for procurement of R&D are
not eligible.
Eligible participants: the same as for PCP actions described above.
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The lead procurer is a public procurer and is the beneficiary appointed by the buyers group to coordinate and
lead the PCP or PPI. It can be either one of the procurers in the buyers group or another beneficiary in the action
that is established or designated by the procurers in the buyer group to act as lead procurer.
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For joint procurement there is one joint PPI call for tender launched by the lead procurer and one joint
evaluation of offers. It is possible that the lead procurer only does the procurement/tendering or also the
contracting for the public procurement of innovative solutions. For coordinated procurement there are several
separate PPI procurements carried out individually by the different procurers in the buyers group.
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No matter whether the lead procurer only does the procurement/tendering or also the contracting for the public
procurement of innovative, in any case the evaluation of all tenders must be carried out based on common
specifications and common evaluation criteria defined jointly by all procurers in the buyers group.