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 Latvia?
GlobalGov holds 94 research & development records from 49 distinct buying organisations in Latvia. The most frequent publishers are Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte (12 records); Rīgas Stradiņa universitāte (8 records); Iepirkumu uzraudzības birojs (4 records); Latvijas Valsts koksnes ķīmijas institūts (4 records); Atvasināta publiska persona "Agroresursu un ekonomikas institūts" (3 records); Atvasināta publiska persona "Latvijas Valsts koksnes ķīmijas institūts" (3 records). Between them the 6 largest account for 36% of everything published, so buying here is spread across many separate authorities.
| Buying organisation | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte | 12 | 13% |
| Rīgas Stradiņa universitāte | 8 | 8.5% |
| Iepirkumu uzraudzības birojs | 4 | 4.3% |
| Latvijas Valsts koksnes ķīmijas institūts | 4 | 4.3% |
| Atvasināta publiska persona "Agroresursu un ekonomikas institūts" | 3 | 3.2% |
| Atvasināta publiska persona "Latvijas Valsts koksnes ķīmijas institūts" | 3 | 3.2% |
What are research & development contracts worth in Latvia?
58 of the 94 records publish a contract value. The median is $75,611 and the largest single published value is $2.8M. By size, 31 under $100k, 25 between $100k and $1M, 2 between $1M and $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 | 31 | 53% |
| between $100k and $1M | 25 | 43% |
| between $1M and $10M | 2 | 3.4% |
| above $10M | 0 | 0.0% |
How long do bidders get to respond to research & development tenders in Latvia?
Across the 34 Latvia research & development notices that publish both a publication date and a closing date, the median response window is 31 days. A quarter of them allowed 29 days or fewer and a quarter stayed open for more than 33. Short turnarounds are the exception rather than the rule here: only 1 (2.9%) closed within a fortnight of being published.
How often are research & development tenders published in Latvia?
Latvia publishes about 3 notices a month in this category, 41 in the last twelve months. Over the last three years there were 42, spread across 37 separate months of activity since 20 September 2016. August is historically the busiest month. The most recent was published 8 September 2026.
How does Latvia compare with other research & development markets?
Among the 35 countries where GlobalGov holds a comparable research & development market, Latvia ranks 23rd by number of records. The largest is Australia (13,059 records against 94 here). Within Latvia itself, research & development is the 27th largest of the 47 procurement categories tracked here.
Where do the Latvia research & development records on this page come from?
These 94 records are collected from 1 official source: TED (94). 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 Latvia
Showing 10 of the 12 notices open in this category today. Openness uses the same definition as the Latvia 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.
Latvia – Research and development consultancy services – Izvērtējums par atbalsta pilnveidi ģimenēm ar bērniem aizgādības tiesību pārtraukšanas novēršanai
Latvia – Laboratory reagents – Laboratorijas preču un reaģentu piegāde Patoloģijas institūtam
Latvia – Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses) – Gāzu detektora piegāde LBTU vajadzībām
Latvia – Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses) – Gāzu hromatogrāfijas-tandēma masas spektrometrijas (GH-MS/MS) sistēmas ar trīskāršā kvadrupola masas analizatoru, liktoru, automatizētu tiešo termodesorbciju/termisko ekstrakciju, zemas temperatūras fokusēšanu, automatizētu programmējamu pirolīzi, spektru bibliotēkām un palīgiekārtām piegāde un uzstādīšana
Latvia – Research and development consultancy services – Skolēnu mācību snieguma ietekmējošo faktoru monitoringa risinājuma izstrāde un ieviešana
Latvia – Research and development services and related consultancy services – Pakalpojumi Metodiskās vadības institūcijai onkoloģijas jomā
Latvia – Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses) – Dažādu mazo iekārtu iegāde laboratoriju vajadzībām
Latvia – Laboratory reagents – KARDIOMARĶIERU TESTU PIEGĀDE AR KVANTITATĪVĀ IMUNOLOĢIJAS ANALIZATORA NODROŠINĀŠANU SIA "JŪRMALAS SLIMNĪCA" VAJADZĪBĀM
Latvia – Laboratory reagents – KOAGULOĢIJAS TESTU AR ANALIZATORU NODROŠINĀJUMS SIA ”JŪRMALAS SLIMNĪCA” KLĪNISKI DIAGNOSTISKĀS LABORATORIJAS VAJADZĪBĀM
Other procurement categories in Latvia
Medical EquipmentArchitecture and EngineeringCivil ConstructionVehicles and FleetRoads and Highways InfrastructureWaste ManagementSoftware DevelopmentOil Gas UpstreamVehicle MaintenanceFuel SupplyManagement ConsultingOffice FurnitureFood Aid and NutritionBuilding ConstructionLaboratory EquipmentFinancial AdvisoryAgricultural EquipmentScientific ResearchIct EquipmentUniforms ClothingGround TransportBuilding MaterialsPharmaceuticalsMilitary LogisticsTelecommunicationsFreight and LogisticsStaffing AugmentationIT ConsultingHospital ConstructionFacilities and CleaningMaintenance & RepairPrinting PublishingEnergyCommunications PrTraining and Capacity BuildingMail CourierWeapons SystemsSite PreparationTransportationCatering ServicesCommunity DevelopmentRenovation RehabilitationPower TransmissionEvent ManagementDatabase ManagementResearch and Studies
Research & Development procurement in other markets
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