Demand-led innovation for civil security through Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP)

GRANT PURPOSE AND TARGET

Core Objective

The core objective of this grant is to fund a group of public procurers to jointly execute a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) action. This action is designed to steer the development of innovative technology solutions for civil security challenges by acquiring Research and Development (R&D) services from technology providers, particularly SMEs and Startups.

Funding Organization

European Commission (via Horizon Europe programme).

Target Recipients

The grant is targeted at a consortium of 'public procurers' and 'practitioners'. Public procurers are defined as state, regional, or local authorities, or bodies governed by public law. The goal is to form a 'buyers group' that will collectively procure R&D to address a shared civil security need.

Sector Focus

This grant is SECTOR-SPECIFIC, exclusively focused on Civil Security.

Geographic Scope

Applicants must be legal entities established in EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries.

Key Filtering Criteria

• Action Type: This is a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) action, a specific and complex funding instrument.
• Project Focus: Must address a specific, shared challenge in the civil security domain.
• Consortium: Requires a 'buyers group' composed of public procurers and practitioners from multiple eligible countries.
• Project Scale: The grant provides a fixed amount of €5.5 million for a single project.

FINANCIAL STRUCTURE

Funding Range

• Total Topic Budget: €5,500,000.
• Expected Grant per Project: €5,500,000. The call aims to fund a single project.

Co-financing

• Funding Rate: The grant covers 100% of the eligible costs for a Pre-commercial Procurement (PCP) action.

Eligible Costs

Costs must be necessary for the project and fall into two main types:
* PCP Procurement Costs: This is the budget dedicated to buying R&D services from technology providers through the competitive PCP process. This category must represent a minimum of 50% of the total estimated eligible costs.
* Additional Costs: All other costs related to the project, such as:
* Personnel costs for managing the project.
* Costs for preparing, implementing, and following up on the PCP (including prototype testing).
* Dissemination, communication, and awareness-raising activities.
* Activities to remove market barriers, such as standardization or regulation efforts.

Ineligible Costs

Ineligible costs are defined by standard Horizon Europe rules. Key points include:
* Conflict of Interest: Costs incurred by beneficiaries for performing the R&D themselves are not eligible; the R&D must be procured from external providers.
* Indirect Costs: Indirect costs (overheads) are eligible and calculated as a 25% flat rate of the eligible direct costs, excluding subcontracting costs and financial support to third parties.

Payment & Reporting

• Payment Schedule: Payments follow the standard Horizon Europe model, consisting of a pre-financing payment upon grant signature, followed by interim payments based on periodic reports. The final balance is paid after the final report is approved.
• Financial Reporting: Beneficiaries must submit periodic financial statements detailing the costs incurred. A Certificate on the Financial Statements (CFS) produced by an independent auditor may be required if a beneficiary's total requested EU contribution reaches a certain threshold.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Formal Criteria

• Consortium Composition: The proposal must be submitted by a consortium that includes, as beneficiaries, a minimum of 3 practitioners and 3 public procurers from at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries.
• Simultaneous Roles: A single organization can be counted as both a practitioner and a public procurer, contributing to both minimum counts.
• Practitioner Information: Applicants must provide detailed information for all participating practitioners using the specific 'Information about security practitioners' template provided.
• Gender Equality Plan (GEP): Public bodies, research organisations, and higher education establishments from EU Member States and Associated Countries must have a GEP in place before the grant agreement signature.

Organizational Status

• Public Procurer: Applicants must meet the definition of a 'public procurer' as per EU public procurement directives. This includes the State, regional or local authorities, bodies governed by public law, or associations formed by one or more such authorities.
• Lead Procurer: The consortium must designate a lead procurer to coordinate the joint PCP process.
• Legal Entity: All beneficiaries must be legal entities and have a valid Participant Identification Code (PIC).

Technical Expertise

The proposal must demonstrate that the consortium has the capacity to manage a complex, multi-country procurement process. This includes defining common technical specifications, managing a competitive R&D tendering process across multiple phases, and evaluating the resulting prototypes in an operational environment.

Exclusion Criteria

• Conflict of Interest: An organization participating as a beneficiary (i.e., as part of the procurers' consortium) cannot bid for the R&D service contracts procured under the PCP action. This is to prevent a direct conflict of interest.
• Geographic Restrictions: Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or non-government controlled territories of Ukraine are not eligible to participate in any capacity. Additional restrictions may apply to entities controlled by non-eligible third countries for security reasons.
• EU Restrictive Measures: Entities subject to EU sanctions are ineligible to participate.

APPLICATION PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Deadlines

• Submission Deadline: 12 November 2025, 17:00:00 Brussels Time (CET).

Required Documents

Applicants must submit a proposal package through the online portal, which consists of:
* Part A (Administrative Forms): Structured data entered directly into the submission system, including participant details, budget, and declarations.
* Part B (Technical Description): A PDF document uploaded by the applicant, following the specific 'HE PCP' template. It describes the project's excellence, impact, and implementation. The page limit for sections 1-3 is 45 pages.
* Annex - Information on Security Practitioners: A mandatory annex to be filled in with details about the practitioners involved in the consortium, using the provided template.

Application Process

• Submission System: Proposals must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.
• Procedure: The call follows a single-stage submission procedure.
• Consortium Formation: The consortium must be formed prior to submission, with all participants (including the designated Lead Procurer) identified.

Support

• Financial Support: The grant provides up to €5.5 million in funding.
• Guidance and Helpdesks: The European Commission provides extensive support through the Online Manual, the Horizon Europe Programme Guide, National Contact Points (NCPs), the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), and various IT and IPR helpdesks.

Post-Award Obligations

• Grant Agreement: Successful applicants will sign a Horizon Europe Model Grant Agreement.
• PCP Milestones: The project must adhere to mandatory PCP milestones, including publishing a prior information notice, a contract notice, and demonstrating the developed solutions at the end of the action.
• Reporting: The consortium must submit periodic technical and financial reports detailing the project's progress and costs incurred.
• Exploitation and Dissemination: Beneficiaries must exploit the results and disseminate them widely. This includes preparing for potential follow-up joint procurement of the developed solutions.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Proposals are evaluated based on three main criteria, each scored from 0 to 5. A minimum score of 3 is required for each criterion, and a minimum overall score of 10 is required to be considered for funding.

1. Excellence

• Objectives and Ambition: Clarity and relevance of the project's objectives. The extent to which the project is ambitious and aims for innovation that goes beyond the current state-of-the-art to meet the defined procurement need.
• Methodology: Soundness of the proposed methodology. This includes the approach for preparing and executing the PCP, such as the open market consultation, definition of common specifications, the joint evaluation process for R&D providers, and compliance with PCP-specific requirements. The plan for testing competing solutions in real-life operational conditions is also assessed.

2. Impact

• Pathways to Impact: The credibility of the plan to achieve the expected outcomes, including creating a community of security practitioners, facilitating commercialisation for suppliers (especially SMEs), and increasing market uptake of innovative solutions.
• Measures to Maximise Impact: The quality and suitability of the dissemination, exploitation, and communication plan. For PCP actions, this specifically includes how the procurers will provide a first customer reference and their plans for future deployment and use of the innovative solutions. Measures to help R&D providers commercialise their results are also critical.

3. Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation

• Work Plan and Resources: The quality and effectiveness of the work plan, including the appropriateness of work packages, deliverables, milestones, and risk assessment. The plan must clearly distinguish between the 'preparation' and 'execution' phases of the procurement.
• Capacity of Participants and Consortium: The capacity of each participant and the consortium as a whole. This assesses whether the consortium brings together the necessary expertise, particularly in public procurement, to successfully implement the action. The consortium must demonstrate it is composed of a solid 'buyers group' with a shared procurement need.

COMPLIANCE AND SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

Regulatory Compliance

• Public Procurement Law: The entire action is centered on public procurement. The consortium must ensure the PCP process is compliant with EU and national public procurement directives and principles (e.g., transparency, non-discrimination).
• Ethics and Data Protection: Standard Horizon Europe rules apply. Applicants must complete an ethics self-assessment. Given the 'civil security' context, special attention to data protection, privacy, and potential for misuse of results is expected.

IP Policy

This action has a specific and mandatory IPR regime defined in the General Annexes for PCP:
* IPR Ownership: The intellectual property rights (IPR) generated during the R&D belong to the providers (the companies that win the R&D contracts).
* Procurer Rights: The procurers (the beneficiaries in the grant) must receive royalty-free access rights to use the R&D results for their own use.
* Licensing Rights: The procurers must also have the right to grant or require the providers to grant non-exclusive licenses to third parties under fair and reasonable market conditions.
* Call-back Provision: The procurers can require the transfer of ownership if a provider fails to commercially exploit the results within a given timeframe or uses them against the public interest.

Unique Aspects

• Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP): This is not a standard research grant. It is a grant to fund a procurement action. Applicants must demonstrate a thorough understanding of the PCP process.
• Buyers Group: The consortium acts as a 'buyers group' for innovative solutions. Demonstrating a shared need and commitment to potential future joint procurement is a core part of the proposal.
• Two-Sided Market: The project serves two sides: the public sector demand side (the procurers) and the industry supply side (the R&D providers, especially SMEs and startups). The proposal must address how it will stimulate and manage the dialogue between these two sides, for example, through open market consultations.
• Fast-Track PCP: An option exists to use a 'fast-track' PCP (e.g., 2 phases instead of 3) if the procurers commit at the proposal stage to buying or deploying the resulting solutions after the PCP.

Industry-Specific Rules

• Place of Performance: The PCP process must require selected providers to locate the majority of their R&D activities for the contract in EU Member States or Associated Countries.