How public bodies contract for research they cannot specify in advance
Research procurement has a structural problem: the buyer is purchasing an answer to a question, and if the answer were known the contract would be unnecessary. Public bodies deal with this by buying in phases. A feasibility or concept phase is awarded to several suppliers in parallel, each paid a modest fixed sum; a subset is then funded to prototype; a smaller subset again reaches demonstration. Each phase is a competition among the survivors of the last, so a bidder should read the notice for the phase structure and the progression criteria before pricing anything.
Intellectual property is the term that decides whether the contract is worth winning. Arrangements range from full assignment of results to the buyer, through a licence to the buyer with the supplier retaining ownership and the right to commercialise elsewhere, to background and foreground IP splits that must be catalogued before work starts. Development-focused schemes often deliberately leave ownership with the supplier so that a market can form around the result, while procurement of research for internal use tends toward assignment. The two produce very different bid economics.
Evaluation weights the proposal's scientific and technical merit, the team's record, and the credibility of the risk assessment, and it rewards candour about what might fail. Deliverables are reports, data and demonstrations rather than products, so acceptance criteria are written around defined technical readiness levels or measurable milestones. Where human participants, animals, personal data or dual-use technology are involved, ethical approval and export control clearance are conditions precedent with their own timetables, and they are a common cause of a project starting months after award.
This section describes how this category is bought generally, across the public buyers that publish it. The figures elsewhere on this page are measured for this market alone.
Who buys research & development in Spain?
GlobalGov holds 195 research & development records from 149 distinct buying organisations in Spain. The most frequent publishers are Rectorado de la Universidad de Córdoba (4 records); Servicio Madrileño de Salud, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre (4 records); Consorcio Hospital General Universitario De Valencia (3 records); Fundación de Gestión Sanitaria del Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (3 records); Servicio Madrileño De Salud - Hospital Universitario La Paz (3 records); Servicio Madrileño de Salud — Hospital Universitario «12 de Octubre» (3 records). Between them the 6 largest account for 10% of everything published, so buying here is spread across many separate authorities.
| Buying organisation | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Rectorado de la Universidad de Córdoba | 4 | 2.1% |
| Servicio Madrileño de Salud, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre | 4 | 2.1% |
| Consorcio Hospital General Universitario De Valencia | 3 | 1.5% |
| Fundación de Gestión Sanitaria del Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau | 3 | 1.5% |
| Servicio Madrileño De Salud - Hospital Universitario La Paz | 3 | 1.5% |
| Servicio Madrileño de Salud — Hospital Universitario «12 de Octubre» | 3 | 1.5% |
What are research & development contracts worth in Spain?
159 of the 195 records publish a contract value. The median is $541,905 and the largest single published value is $74.8M. By size, 3 under $100k, 101 between $100k and $1M, 48 between $1M and $10M, 7 above $10M. The remaining 36 publish no value at all, so every figure here describes the priced subset only, and values are as stated by the buyer rather than as finally awarded.
| Contract size | Records | Share of priced |
|---|---|---|
| under $100k | 3 | 1.9% |
| between $100k and $1M | 101 | 64% |
| between $1M and $10M | 48 | 30% |
| above $10M | 7 | 4.4% |
How long do bidders get to respond to research & development tenders in Spain?
Across the 66 Spain research & development notices that publish both a publication date and a closing date, the median response window is 32 days. A quarter of them allowed 30 days or fewer and a quarter stayed open for more than 36. Short turnarounds are the exception rather than the rule here: only 1 (1.5%) closed within a fortnight of being published.
How often are research & development tenders published in Spain?
Spain publishes about 5 notices a month in this category, 62 in the last twelve months. Over the last three years there were 66, spread across 62 separate months of activity since 21 June 2016. June is historically the busiest month. The most recent was published 11 September 2026.
How does Spain compare with other research & development markets?
Among the 35 countries where GlobalGov holds a comparable research & development market, Spain ranks 15th by number of records. The largest is Australia (13,059 records against 195 here). Within Spain itself, research & development is the 45th largest of the 71 procurement categories tracked here.
Where do the Spain research & development records on this page come from?
These 195 records are collected from 1 official source: TED (195). GlobalGov is an independent aggregator and is not affiliated with any of them; each record links back to the notice on its issuing portal. The set is rebuilt nightly, and the counts on this page were taken on 2026-10-01.
Open Research & Development tenders in Spain
Showing 10 of the 20 notices open in this category today. Openness uses the same definition as the Spain market page: active, not marked awarded, cancelled, closed or expired, and either closing in the future or published within the last 90 days with no stated closing date.
Spain – Laboratory reagents – Contrato mixto de suministro de reactivos y material para la realización de pruebas analíticas, con cesión, adquisición y mantenimiento de equipos, destinado al Laboratorio del Hospital en Coslada de Asepeyo
Spain – Market research services – Servicio para la realización de un estudio sobre la ciberseguridad y confianza del ciudadano en la Red
Spain – Laboratory services – Control de la Calidad del Agua de Consumo, de las Aguas Residuales y del Agua de la Piscina Pública "Santiago Vidal". Número de expediente 0003-26PSE
Spain – Research services – Servicio de gestión integral del animalario del Centro de Investigación Biomédica de La Rioja, CIBIR, respetuoso con el medio ambiente, el bienestar animal y la salud laboral. Fundación Rioja Salud.
Spain – Market and economic research; polling and statistics – Preparación, recogida, codificación, grabación y validación de la operación continua “Encuesta de Gasto Familiar” (EGF)
Spain – Laboratory reagents – SUMINISTRO DE DIVERSOS REACTIVOS Y CESIÓN DE EQUIPOS NECESARIOS PARA DETERMINACIONES DE ALERGIA DEL LABORATORIO CLÍNICO
Spain – Laboratory reagents – Suministro de reactivos, material auxiliar y la cesión con mantenimiento incluido el equipamiento para la detección del antígenode HELICOBACTER PYLORI en materia fecal, en el laboratorio de microbiología del CHUNSC
Spain – Laboratory reagents – Suministro de reactivos, fungibles y consumibles para citología en medio líquido y para diagnóstico molecular mediante secuenciación masiva (NGS) y PCR en tiempo real, con puesta a disposición del equipamiento necesario, para el Servicio de Anatomía Patológica del Departamento de Salud Valencia-Hospital General
Spain – Research and development services and related consultancy services – Assessment of the Performance and Effectiveness of Farmer Cooperatives and Farmer Groups in the Cocoa Sectors of Ghana and Ivory Coast
Other procurement categories in Spain
Vehicle MaintenanceMedical EquipmentWaste ManagementManagement ConsultingSoftware DevelopmentVehicles and FleetArchitecture and EngineeringHospital ConstructionPharmaceuticalsIct EquipmentFacilities and CleaningGround TransportMaintenance & RepairEvent ManagementFinancial AdvisoryAgricultural EquipmentLaboratory EquipmentFuel SupplyIT ConsultingBuilding ConstructionTelecommunicationsRoads and Highways InfrastructureStaffing AugmentationFreight and LogisticsOffice FurnitureTraining and Capacity BuildingCommunity DevelopmentBuilding MaterialsOil Gas UpstreamCatering ServicesUniforms ClothingCommunications PrMail CourierFood Aid and NutritionCivil ConstructionPrinting PublishingHelpdesk SupportScientific ResearchMilitary LogisticsEnergyAudit and AccountingHealthcare ServicesRoad & InfrastructureNetwork InfrastructureRenovation RehabilitationWeapons SystemsCurriculum DevelopmentDatabase ManagementSecurity ServicesTraining & EducationCybersecuritySite PreparationWater Supply ProjectsElectrical InstallationResearch and StudiesConsultingSurveillance & IsrEnvironmental ServicesPower TransmissionTransportationWarehousingSanitation SewerageFinancial ServicesSchools and UniversitiesLegal ServicesISR and SurveillanceAdult LiteracyFacilities ManagementIt Support & MaintenanceMonitoring Evaluation
Research & Development procurement in other markets
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