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 Ireland?
GlobalGov holds 413 research & development records from 169 distinct buying organisations in Ireland. The most frequent publishers are The Office Of Government Procurement (40 records); Bord Bia (irish Food Board) (13 records); Donegal County Council (10 records); Education Procurement Service (eps) (10 records); Tipperary County Council (9 records); Department Of Housing Local Government And Heritage (8 records). Between them the 6 largest account for 22% of everything published, so buying here is spread across many separate authorities.
| Buying organisation | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| The Office Of Government Procurement | 40 | 9.7% |
| Bord Bia (irish Food Board) | 13 | 3.1% |
| Donegal County Council | 10 | 2.4% |
| Education Procurement Service (eps) | 10 | 2.4% |
| Tipperary County Council | 9 | 2.2% |
| Department Of Housing Local Government And Heritage | 8 | 1.9% |
What are research & development contracts worth in Ireland?
153 of the 413 records publish a contract value. The median is $137,224 and the largest single published value is $10.8M. By size, 63 under $100k, 81 between $100k and $1M, 8 between $1M and $10M, 1 above $10M. The remaining 260 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 | 63 | 41% |
| between $100k and $1M | 81 | 53% |
| between $1M and $10M | 8 | 5.2% |
| above $10M | 1 | 0.7% |
How long do bidders get to respond to research & development tenders in Ireland?
Across the 320 Ireland research & development notices that publish both a publication date and a closing date, the median response window is 25 days. A quarter of them allowed 21 days or fewer and a quarter stayed open for more than 31. Short turnarounds are the exception rather than the rule here: only 9 (2.8%) closed within a fortnight of being published.
How often are research & development tenders published in Ireland?
Ireland publishes about 4 notices a month in this category, 53 in the last twelve months. Over the last three years there were 93, spread across 55 separate months of activity since 30 June 2016. June is historically the busiest month. The most recent was published 8 September 2026.
How does Ireland compare with other research & development markets?
Among the 35 countries where GlobalGov holds a comparable research & development market, Ireland ranks 8th by number of records. The largest is Australia (13,059 records against 413 here). Within Ireland itself, research & development is the 14th largest of the 63 procurement categories tracked here.
Where do the Ireland research & development records on this page come from?
These 413 records are collected from 2 official sources: Ireland Etenders (376), TED (37). 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 Ireland
Showing 6 of the 7 notices open in this category today. Openness uses the same definition as the Ireland 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.
Ireland – Social research services – Evaluation of the NCSE Education and Therapy Service
Ireland – Laboratory services – Revised Framework for Environmental DNA extraction, metabarcoding, and qPCR analysis
Ireland – Site-investigation services – Multi Party Framework for Marine Site Investigation Consultancy Services
Ireland – Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses) – LA3525C - UCD - CFT for the Supply, Delivery, Installation, Commissioning and Calibration of a Microbiome Identification and Phenotyping System for University College Dublin (UCD)
Ireland – Research and development services and related consultancy services – Provision of High Performance Computing services for interim Irish National HPC service
Other procurement categories in Ireland
Building ConstructionManagement ConsultingSoftware DevelopmentRoad & InfrastructureArchitecture and EngineeringTraining & EducationCivil ConstructionMaintenance & RepairConsultingTransportationHospital ConstructionLegal ServicesVehicles and FleetTraining and Capacity BuildingVehicle MaintenanceMedical EquipmentFinancial ServicesIT ConsultingHealthcare ServicesEnergyWaste ManagementLaboratory EquipmentCatering ServicesCommunications PrIct EquipmentOffice FurnitureEnvironmental ServicesTelecommunicationsSurvey & MappingFinancial AdvisoryStaffing AugmentationBuilding MaterialsRoads and Highways InfrastructureIt Support & MaintenancePrinting PublishingSecurity ServicesScientific ResearchGround TransportWarehousingAgricultural EquipmentSchools and UniversitiesFood Aid and NutritionFreight and LogisticsRenovation RehabilitationSite PreparationEvent ManagementUniforms ClothingCybersecurityPharmaceuticalsAudit and AccountingMail CourierResearch and StudiesFuel SupplyCommunity DevelopmentFacilities and CleaningDatabase ManagementWeapons SystemsCloud ServicesAdult LiteracyOil Gas UpstreamMilitary LogisticsHelpdesk Support
Research & Development procurement in other markets
AustraliaUnited StatesUnited KingdomTanzaniaPolandGermanySwedenFranceFinlandNorwayZambiaSouth Africa
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