Commissioning research capability, facilities and specialist analysis
Scientific research is bought in three distinguishable ways and the notices look similar. The first is a commissioned programme: the buyer defines a question and funds a team to investigate it. The second is access to capability -- beam time, vessel time, controlled environment facilities, computing -- where the buyer is purchasing time on an asset it cannot justify owning. The third is routine analytical service, where samples are sent and results returned against a method and a turnaround. Each has different qualification and different economics.
Quality assurance is the recurring requirement. Laboratories are expected to hold accreditation for the specific methods in scope, participate in proficiency testing, maintain traceable calibration and documented chain of custody for samples, and report uncertainty alongside results. For work that may be used in regulation or litigation, those requirements harden further and the reporting format itself becomes specified. An accreditation held for a neighbouring method does not satisfy a requirement written for this one.
Data and publication terms are as commercially significant as the price. Public and donor funders increasingly require research data to be deposited under open conditions with defined metadata, and require resulting publications to be openly accessible, which has cost and timing implications a bid should carry. Ethical approval, biosafety and containment levels, animal research licensing, export and transfer controls on materials, and access and benefit-sharing obligations for genetic resources are conditions precedent with their own lead times, and they are the usual reason an award does not translate into a start.
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 scientific research in France?
GlobalGov holds 242 scientific research records from 169 distinct buying organisations in France. The most frequent publishers are CEA/Grenoble (9 records); Centre National D'etudes Spatiales (6 records); Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) (6 records); Université de Caen Normandie (5 records); université de Caen Normandie (5 records); CNRS Délégation Occitanie Est (4 records). Between them the 6 largest account for 14% of everything published, so buying here is spread across many separate authorities.
| Buying organisation | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| CEA/Grenoble | 9 | 3.7% |
| Centre National D'etudes Spatiales | 6 | 2.5% |
| Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) | 6 | 2.5% |
| Université de Caen Normandie | 5 | 2.1% |
| université de Caen Normandie | 5 | 2.1% |
| CNRS Délégation Occitanie Est | 4 | 1.7% |
What are scientific research contracts worth in France?
91 of the 242 records publish a contract value. The median is $561,600 and the largest single published value is $81.0M. By size, 7 under $100k, 54 between $100k and $1M, 25 between $1M and $10M, 5 above $10M. The remaining 151 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 | 7 | 7.7% |
| between $100k and $1M | 54 | 59% |
| between $1M and $10M | 25 | 27% |
| above $10M | 5 | 5.5% |
How long do bidders get to respond to scientific research tenders in France?
Across the 77 France scientific research notices that publish both a publication date and a closing date, the median response window is 34 days. A quarter of them allowed 31 days or fewer and a quarter stayed open for more than 44. Not one of them closed within a fortnight of being published, so the window on this market is consistently workable.
How often are scientific research tenders published in France?
France published 6 notices in this category in the last twelve months. Over the last three years there were 111, spread across 53 separate months of activity since 18 June 2021. July is historically the busiest month. No new notice has been published in this category since 26 May 2026, 128 days ago, so treat the figures above as a record of the market rather than as this week's pipeline.
How does France compare with other scientific research markets?
Among the 21 countries where GlobalGov holds a comparable scientific research market, France ranks 8th by number of records. The largest is Germany (1,240 records against 242 here). Within France itself, scientific research is the 68th largest of the 86 procurement categories tracked here.
Where do the France scientific research records on this page come from?
These 242 records are collected from 1 official source: TED (242). 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.
Most recent Scientific Research tenders in France
None of these are open for bids now — they are the most recent records GlobalGov holds for this market, kept here so the shape of a typical scientific research notice in France is visible. Set an alert to be told when the next one opens.
France – Research laboratory services – Diffusion de traceurs radioactifs pour le programme de reconnaissance ZBS_FOND_UP1
France – Test and evaluation – Politique Achat AIT : Assemblage, Intégration et Tests
France – Research and development consultancy services – Appui au montage de projets européens
France – Research services – Prestation relative à des campagnes de mesures sur bancs aéro-acoustiques
France – Research and development services and related consultancy services – PRESTATIONS DE RE-QUALIFICATION DES EQUIPEMENTS DE LA PHARMACIE CENTRALE DES ARMEES
France – Research and experimental development services – Accord-cadre pour la réalisation de travaux de recherche de LaborIA (3 Lots)
France – Development consultancy services – Animation nationale du réseau des conseillers régionaux éolien et photovoltaïque "Les Générateurs"
Other procurement categories in France
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Scientific Research procurement in other markets
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