Spain – Research and experimental development services – Pre-commercial Procurement of an innovative Systemic Sustainability Transition Solution for Health Care Organisations (suHCO)

Procurement will take the form of pre-commercial procurement (PCP), where R&D service contracts will be awarded in parallel to different R&D providers in a phased approach. This will allow alternative, competing solutions to be compared. Each selected operator will receive a framework contract covering three R&D phases. The three phases are: Solution design, prototype development, original development and validation and testing of a limited volume of the first products or services. After each phase, interim evaluations are conducted to select the best of the competing solutions. The contractors with the best value for money will be offered a specific contract for the next phase. The selected operators will retain ownership of the intellectual property rights (IPRs) they generate during the PCP and will be able to use them to exploit the full market potential of the solutions developed. Testing is expected to take place in Catalonia (Spain), West Wales (UK), Treviso (Italy). This testing may also serve as a first customer test reference for the contractors. The selected suppliers will retain ownership of the intellectual property rights (IPRs) they generate during the PCP and will be able to use them to exploit the full market potential of the solutions developed, i.e. beyond the procurement. This procurement is funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101226802- suHCO (https://suhco.eu/). The EU has awarded a grant for this procurement but is not participating as a contracting authority in the procurement.