FUNDING BODY:  European Commission

CALL FOCUS:

To contribute to a significant increase in the proportion of SMEs that have access to the public procurement market. It will also increase the visibility and awareness of the advantages of procuring innovation for a constantly increasing greater number of public buyers. 3 main objectives of the call:

1. The first objective is to encourage cooperation between public buyers to promote the use of public procurement to contribute to the development of innovation.
2. The second objective is to use public procurement as a mechanism to pilot innovation in areas of strong public interest such as, for instance, clean energy or healthcare. However, the scope is not limited, as it intends to boost demand for all types of innovative solutions. This will in turn encouraging innovative EU companies, in particular SMEs, to develop new solutions to address societal challenges.
3. The third objective is to link and establish synergies with research and innovation projects funded by the EU (via Horizon 2020, COSME or EU funding programmes) whenever possible.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS:

• Applicants must be legal entities forming a consortium. A non-exhaustive list of types of entities that can participate in the consortium includes: non-profit organisations (private or public); public authorities (national, regional, local); universities or educational institutions; research centres; profit making entities.
• Only applications from legal entities established in the following countries are eligible: EU Member States; Countries participating in the COSME programme.
• The consortium has to be composed of a minimum of two public buyers from two different eligible countries.
• Consortia are encouraged to include a limited number of public buyers (i.e. no more than six or seven).

ORGANISATION AND ACTIVITIES:

This call for proposals aims at setting up consortia of public buyers from at least two eligible countries. The consortia must design and implement a public procurement for innovation (PPI) action. The public buyers in the consortia will procure the identified innovative solution(s), possibly in a joint manner.

Applicant consortia must demonstrate that the envisaged procurement solution(s) will be new to the public buyer, that the solutions are not yet available on a large-scale commercial basis and that the solution(s) can be of interest to public buyers in other EU Member States.

All of the following activities must be carried out:

1. Assessment of the public buyers’ needs
2. Open market consultation
3. Engaging the market jointly
4. Capacity Building and coordination between public buyers
5. Developing the specifications for the call for tenders to be launched
6. Preparation and implementation of the call for tenders
7.  Communication on the achievements of the projects

ELIGIBLE COSTS / FUNDING LEVEL:

• A maximum reimbursement rate of 90% of these costs:
• Personnel cost.
• Subcontracting.
• Other direct cost: travel and subsistence; equipment, informatics, consumables.
• Indirect cost (7% total direct cost, except subcontracting).
• A maximum reimbursement rate of 25% of the costs for the actual purchase of the innovative solution(s), (excluded from the calculation of the indirect costs).
• The estimated EU contribution allocated to the purchase of the innovative solution(s) may not exceed 60% of the maximum EU contribution requested.

REMARKS:

• Information on the outcome of the evaluation (indicative): 04/2019
• Starting data of the action (indicative): 08/2019

BUDGET:

• Total budget € million 4.00
• EASME expects to grant projects co-financing between EUR 800 000 and EUR 1.5 million. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.
• EASME expects to fund 3 to 4 proposals.

DEADLINE: 11/12/2018

MÁS INFORMACIÓN: https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/cos-ppi-2018-2-01-co-financing-consortia-public-procure