Public procurement of innovation for security

Expected Outcome:

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

• Last mile support to previous pre-commercial procurement (PCP) actions;
• Development and deployment of innovative security solutions to address emerging threats, including post-quantum cryptography to counter emerging quantum threats, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of public security services;
• Implementation of pilot projects and real-world testing, ensuring scalability and contributing to innovative security technologies.

Scope:

This Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions (PPI) initiative aims to advance the adoption of innovative civil security solutions. The focus is on solutions that have been partially demonstrated on a small scale and are nearly or already available in small quantities but have not yet been widely adopted or produced at scale. These solutions should demonstrate a clear market potential and be new to the procurers, their market segment, or the internal EU market, and must be relevant to procurers across EU Member States and/or Associated Countries.

This PPI will specifically target innovative solutions that can address critical challenges in civil security and that are aligned with market readiness criteria. The solutions should meet requirements for sustainability (both operational and environmental), interoperability, adaptability, and be commercially viable while still holding residual market risks, such as not yet being produced in large quantities or at market-ready quality and pricing.

This initiative will focus on solutions that have already demonstrated partially successful results but require scaling, refinement, or deployment in new environments to meet mass-market price/quality standards. This is in line with Horizon Europe’s objective of fostering the early adoption of innovations that are critical to improving civil security across Europe^[1].

In compliance with the requirements of the Horizon Europe Work Programme – General Annex H, this action will engage in open market consultations with potential tenderers and end-users to identify gaps between perceived procurement needs and current industry developments. Feedback from these consultations will inform the PPI tender specifications, ensuring that the PPI emphasizes the early adoption of innovative solutions rather than the procurement of fully mature or mass-market technologies. The market readiness of the solutions can be verified through conformity testing, certification, or quality labelling. The work will also involve establishing evaluation criteria based on best-value-for-money rather than solely on the lowest price, ensuring that innovations are assessed for both their technical performance and their potential to deliver long-term value.

The PPI contract notices will be published EU-wide, with offers evaluated on objective criteria, ensuring transparency and fairness in the selection process. Functional/performance-based specifications will be used to define the challenges and problems to be solved, rather than prescriptive solutions, and procurement will avoid any conflicts of interest. The distribution of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) will be clearly outlined in the PPI call for tenders, in line with the objective of promoting fair and wide exploitation of the results.

The process to be followed for the preparation and publication of the open market consultation and call for tender is described in General Annex H.

By fostering the early adoption of innovative technologies, this PPI initiative will enable the European civil security sector to address emerging threats, while contributing to the EU’s broader goals of technological sovereignty and market innovation. This will allow public authorities to remain at the forefront of addressing evolving risks and threats. The action will also catalyse innovation, drive competition, and significantly reduce the time needed to move from the initial concept to market.

Finally, proposals are expected to address all applicable considerations expressed in the Introduction of the Strengthened Security Research and Innovation Destination.

[1] For more information see General Annex H of Horizon Europe Work Programme – Specific Conditions for Actions with PCP/PPI.