Pre-commercial procurement

In the context of the Cohesion Action Plan, the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) and the Ministry of Economic Development (MiSE) have agreed on the need to promote a new action for support to innovation through public demand, with interventions for the purchase by public bodies of innovative goods and services to provide the community with high quality services.

With the pre-commercial procurement initiative, the two ministries have undertaken a preliminary survey in order to identify a list of specific innovation requirements in services of general interest, with a high degree of industrial feasibility, through the "Call for Ideas" mechanism, reserved for the public administrations in the Convergence regions only (Calabria, Campania, Puglia and Sicily).

The resources allocated total 150 million euro (of which 100 Million pertaining to MIUR and 50 million to MiSE).

The Announcement has an open, explorative character, with the Call for Ideas the Public Administrations - individually or jointly - are invited to send the formulation of the requirements relevant for the improvement of services for the benefit of the community, to be implemented through research, development and innovation projects, by 28 June 2013.

The results and best proposals can be focused on the subsequent trial of pre-commercial procurement, and consequently commercial contracts for the supply of goods and services developed in the pre-commercial phase, in order to provide a concrete response to public demand and to improve the quality and sustainability of public services thanks to the development of research activities.