Q&A

The SPACE4Cities project has collected frequently asked questions about Pre-Commercial Procurement, the SPACE4Cities project, and about requirements the project has for both Suppliers and Replicator Cities.

Parties interested in participating in the SPACE4Cities PCP can send questions regarding the project by emailing questions@space4cities.eu, participating in SPACE4Cities OMC webinars or by joining the SPACE4Cities LinkedIn group to pose questions from the project consortium. Note that the project consortium partners are now allowed to have private meetings with Suppliers, although parties posing questions can receive direct answers to their questions from the project consortium no matter through which medium was used to pose the question. Please check the list of previously published questions and answers before approaching the project consortium with your query.

Questions asked from the project team are published publicly on the project website to ensure transparency of information and fairness of the competition process between Suppliers. Note that questions are published based on the decision by the project consortium about question’s general relevance. Not all questions are published and they might be rephrased or combined with other questions in order to cater to various needs.

Questions will be collected during Open Market Consultation and Call for Tenders phases of the PCP and the list of questions will be updated periodically. Questions and answers posted on the website will stay public during the entire SPACE4Cities project.

Browse the published questions organised by topics:

PCP Process
Eligibility
Selection Criteria
Intellectual Property

1. PCP Process

1.1 What is SPACE4Cities?	SPACE4Cities is a Pre-Commercial Procurement project funded by the European Commission through its research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe. This 42-month project is managed by EUSPA and coordinated by Forum Virium Helsinki. Additionally, it involves four other public procurers – Amsterdam, Guimaraes, Distric09 (Ghent), the Development Agency of Attica – but also OASC and Aerospace Valley.
1.2 What is a PCP?	PCP stands for pre-commercial procurement. This means that public procurers invite innovative market players, through an open, transparent and competitive process, to develop new solutions to a technologically demanding medium- or long-term challenge, which is in the public interest and requires new R&D services. The PCP is a tool that enables innovative solutions to be researched, developed and tested – and, at the request of procurers, deployed on a small scale – but not yet on a large one.
1.3 What is the main difference between PCP and PPI?	Both PCP and PPI are part of what is defined as innovative procurement. While a PCP focuses on developing and testing innovative solutions, a PPI focuses on the deployment of such innovative solutions on a larger scale. Please consult the reference sites provided to learn more about the differences between PCP and PPI. According to the European Commission: PCP are “procurement of research and development services involving risk-benefit sharing under market conditions, and competitive development in phases, where there is a clear separation of the research and development services procured from the deployment of commercial volumes of end-products;” PPI are “procurement where contracting authorities act as a launch customer for innovative goods or services which are not yet available on a large-scale commercial basis, and may include conformity testing;”
1.4 What is SPACE4Cities after?	SPACE4Cities seeks to develop replicable solutions, via smart use of European satellite data, for better and more dynamic management of public space. The use of European space data is required to be eligible to answer the call for tenders.
1.5 Can you preview our company and advise us if we should participate in your tender?	We need to keep a level playing field for all potential Suppliers. Therefore we cannot give you any individual advice on whether or not to participate in our call for tenders. We suggest that you read the tender documents carefully (once they are available) and decide whether the tender is appropriate for you.
1.6 How do you define a Supplier? What entities are eligible to apply to the call for tenders?	Participation in the tendering procedure is open on equal terms to all types of organisations from any country, regardless of their geographic location, size or governance structure. A Supplier, meaning an entity that is eligible to answer the call for tenders, can be a for-profit entity (SME, startup or larger company), a university or other research and technology organisation (RTO), a non-profit organisation (i.e., association). Suppliers are required to be able to developed commercial and scalable solutions during the PCP. Suppliers can form consortiums that include for-profit and non-profit entities as members.
1.7 Who is responsible for operations in SPACE4Cities?	Forum Virium Helsinki (FVH) is the lead procurer and in charge of coordinating the project.
1.8 Will you post dates and links on your website to the specific cities webinars?	Yes, and you can also sign up for the SPACE4Cities newsletter and follow our LinkedIn to receive live updates.
1.9 How can I get updates on the project?	Our website, our LinkedIn account and our monthly newsletter are precisely made to update you on SPACE4Cities’ progress. Bookmark, subscribe, follow and engage!
1.10 Will the suppliers be interacting with the Horizon Europe programme?	No. Suppliers are signing the contract with the Lead Procurer (in this case Forum Virium Helsinki). Reporting by the Suppliers (on e.g. progress, results and spending) will be done to the procurers group, not to Horizon Europe.
1.11 Can answers to questions be emailed to participants?	In public procurement projects such as this PCP, questions and answers are to be published publicly along with the general procurement documentation, and thus become part of the tender documentation openly available.
1.12 What is the duration of the PCP?	SPACE4Cities lasts 42 months but the first year is dedicated to prepare the call for tenders. The three-step implementation phase of the PCP, i.e., design, test and development of solutions, will last two years.
1.13 Will there be some sort of B2B matchmaking effort or event along the release of call for tenders?	During Open Market Consultation the SPACE4Cities project offers matchmaking opportunity for interested Suppliers to for a Supplier Consortium together through online Matchmaking Form, which answers are published in the Matchmaking Contact Directory. You can also join our LinkedIn group to look for other interested parties to partner up with! During the Call for Tenders, applicants are requested to present a convincing team which is well-adjusted to the execution of the 3 phases of the PCP. Team members can be active in specific phases. The suitability of the Supplier’s team to execute its proposed project is part of the evaluation criteria.
1.14 We have a product in mind already that we are interested in piloting. Is this possible?	As a pre-commercial procurement, the proposed solution or product cannot already be commercially available on the market. However, there is no need to start from scratch. But your solutions needs still more R&D and testing in real-life conditions before it can be commercialised. Also, the PCP has 3 formal phases, with budgets per phase: solution design, prototype testing and then piloting. Selected companies have to go through all phases and cannot only do the piloting. Therefore, we expect that the tender for SPACE4Cities focus on solutions that still need development.
1.15 What is the difference between a tender and a Call for Tenders?	In SPACE4Cities, a Call for Tenders is a public request or invitation for offers. A tender is the offer that companies submit in response.
1.16 Will the piloting slots in the PCP Phase 3 split equally between the Challenge themes? Will all Challenges lead to a pilot?	We aim to do so, but it cannot be guaranteed, as it depends on the offered and selected offers.
1.17 How can we verify whether certain data sources are available? Can cities help with gathering data?	The data sources vary between the cities. The members of the Buyers Group are helping suppliers to find the information from the cities by providing data sets. SPACE4Cities consortium helps facilitate the city data collection and EU satellite data collection as well.

2. Eligibility

2.1 Is the call for tenders only open to EU-based suppliers?	The PCP is open to all operators on equal terms, regardless of the size, geographical location or governance structure. However, there is a place of performance requirement: a minimum of 50% percent of the contracted R&D services should be performed in EU Member States or Horizon Europe-associated countries. If Suppliers apply as a consortium, the 50% rule applies thus to the consortium as a whole, not to each individual supplier within a consortium. As of August 2024, Horizon Europe-associated countries outside of the EU are: EEA EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway), Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye), European Neighbourhood Policy countries: Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), Southern neighbourhood countries (Israel, Tunisia) as well as other third countries (the Faroe Islands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada).
2.2 Which countries are eligible to answer the call? Are suppliers from the UK eligible to apply?	The United Kingdom is Horizon Europe-associated country by means of a Protocol to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement as of 1 January 2024. Please see the answer 2.1 listing Horizon Europe-associate countries as of August 2024. Also note the predefined minimum percentage of 50% the contracted R&D services should be performed in EU Member States or Horizon 2020 associated countries mentioned in the answer 2.1.
2.3 Are we eligible to participate to S4C PCP, if we are not based in any of the partner cities of this project?	Absotely! Suppliers from all EU countries are eligible, plus 18 third countries associated. See the answer 2.1 for the exhaustive list of Horizon Europe-associated countries as of August 2024.
2.4 Can a supplier submit a tender alone, or are you looking for consortia?	Tenders may be submitted by a single entity or in collaboration with others. The latter can involve either submitting a joint tender or subcontracting, or a combination of the two approaches. Participation in the open market consultation is not a condition for submitting a tender.
2.5 Is it possible to receive SPACE4Cities funding whilst the recipient organisation is also receiving funds from other Horizon Europe initiatives for other projects?	The same activities cannot be funded twice. Tenders that receive public funding from other sources will be excluded if this leads to double public financing or an accumulation of different types of public financing that is not permitted by EU legislation, including EU state aid rules. Suppliers shall – for each of the PCP phases – sign a declaration of honour stating the ‘absence of other incompatible public financing’.
2.6 We are looking for partners to join a consortium for the SPACEC4Cities tender.	As part of the OMC’s activities, we provide a Matchmaking Form and a Matchmaking Contact Directory, as well as a LinkedIn group where you can find and discuss with like-minded partners. Click here to find out more!
2.7 Can the consortium be made of an SME and a Research Institute? Or does it need to be composed of for-profit companies only?	Tenders may be submitted by a single entity or in collaboration with others. The latter can involve either submitting a joint tender or subcontracting, or a combination of the two approaches. Applicants are encouraged to create consortia of all kinds. The association of researchers and business actors is generally presented as a formidable lever for innovation. Keep in mind that a PCP is not a mere research project though: an economically and technically viable solution should be developed and commercialised in the end. Note that participation in the open market consultation is not a condition for submitting a tender.
2.8 Can the consortium composition be changed/enriched during the process? (Even when the selection process has been finalized?)	The composition of the consortium shall not be altered without the prior consent of the Lead Procurer. Any alteration in the composition of the consortium without the prior consent of the Lead Procurer may result in the termination of the contracts.
2.9 If multiple Suppliers set up a Supplier Consortium, do all Suppliers part of the consortium need to fulfill eligibility criteria or is the consortium evaluated as a whole?	All Suppliers in a consortium need to fulfill eligibility criteria individually. Having the same eligibility criteria for all Suppliers regardless of Suppliers applying individually or with a team makes the evaluation simple and fair for all.
2.10 Is it a possible to form a consortium made of one-country partners?	It is indeed possible, the Supplier Consortium can include organisations from a single country or multiple countries. Note that every member of the consortium must meet the eligibility criteria individually.
2.11 Is there a limit to the number of partners in a single Supplier Consortium?	No. The consortium composition needs to be reasonable and justifiable for the type of solution and the size of the budget.

3. Selection Criteria

3.1 Do you only consider solutions that focus on satellite data from Copernicus and Galileo? Or could a possible solution also include some other satellite services?	Yes, use of satellite data is mandatory for all solutions to be considered. The use of Copernicus and Galileo services is required ass well. However, these can – and probably should – be completed with other data sources such as data from commercial satellites, from drones or from ground sensors for example.
3.2 Do we have to stick to the challenges presented e.g. in OMC webinars?	No, the three challenges presented during the OMC webinars are broader than the practical use cases you should address. However, these 3 challenges encompass the use cases and therefore cannot be ignored. In addition to the 3 challenges, the Call for tenders will include a so-called wild card, meaning suppliers are allowed a suggest an other challenge. However, keep in mind that this PCP is about the dynamic management of public space with the help of European space data: any tender should fall within that scope.
3.3 Can the solution be built on approaches that have been tested successfully before on lab?	Yes, provided that the solution is not commercially available on the market yet.
3.4 May the suggested solution be based on components/technologies already patented by the participating company, included at international scale?	It is indeed allowed.
3.5 During the pilot phase, can the pilots be located anywhere in Europe?	No, the pilots with the 5 solutions from the 5 winning Suppliers in Phase 3 must be located in the 5 public procurers of the consortium (Helsinki, Amsterdam, Ghent, Guimarães and Region of Athens) and in the 10 replicator cities (which will be located around the EU). The 10 Replicators are to be selected later during the project lifetime.
3.6 How many call for tenders are planned? Are specifications applying to all challenges or will you write challenge-specific requirements?	There will be only one Call for Tenders period in January-March 2025, before the PCP Phase 1 begins. There will be one set of specifications applying to all Challenges as well as one unique set of selection criteria regardless of the Challenge.
3.7 Which satellites and/or satellite data are we required to use?	Suppliers are not required to operate satellites themselves. Suppliers are only required to use data from Copernicus and/or Galileo programs, which they can combine with other services and data sources (both public and private). Galileo signal or data accessible from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystems: Sentinels, Copernicus Contributing Missions.
3.8 As Copernicus data is required, does it include data from Copernicus Services?	Yes, Copernicus Marine Service, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, Copernicus Climate Change Service and Copernicus Emergency Management Service are examples of information and data that can be used. Also, “raw data” from Sentinel satellites can be used.
3.9 Can I submit a single solution to two different challenges?	Yes, if the offered solution is relevant for both of the Challenges!
3.10 Can I submit two or more different solutions to a single challenge?	Yes. Multiple different offers can be submitted for one challenge, as long as the offered solutions are different from each other.
3.11 If a space solution already exist for a challenge presented – do you still want to invest in innovation of new technology to solve the same problem?	We are looking for solutions that are highly innovative and go beyond the state-of-the-art. If a solution for a challenge is already existing, your solution will have to be clearly better at solving the same challenge for it to be selected for the Pre-Commercial Procurement.

4. Intellectual Property

4.1 At the end of the project, who will be the owner of the IP?	Ownership of results (foreground): each supplier will retain ownership of the IPR attached to the results it generates during the implementation of pre-commercial procurement (PCP). This should be reflected in the tender price. IPR ownership will be subject to the following: ● the procurers group has the right: 1) to access the results, royalty-free, for their own use; 2) to grant (or require suppliers to grant) non-exclusive licenses to third parties and 3) to exploit the results under fair and reasonable conditions (without sub-licensing rights) ● the procurers group has the right to require suppliers to transfer ownership of the IPR if suppliers fail to meet their obligation to commercially exploit the results or if they use the results to the detriment of the public interest (including security interests).
4.2 Does the developed software need to be licensed to the procurers group?	The group of procurers has the right to use the solution for a limited period without paying a fee. The duration of this period will be determined on a case-by-case basis. See also question 6 on IPR.
4.3 With royalty free use, do you mean only the results, not the entire solution?	It covers the solution which is the result of the tender.
4.4 What is the exact period of time for which the Supplier will grant a license to the procurers? When and how will this period of time be determined?	There is no exact period pre-defined: it will be agreed with each Supplier individually when the project has ended. It also depends on if a member of the Buyers Group is interested in further testing of the solution. In previous PCP projects, the duration was commonly 2-3 years, but as said, this is not fixed yet in advance.
4.5 What does it mean that the procurers group can licence third parties to commercially (or non-commercially) exploit the results?	Commercially can mean for example when the solution is part of a service for which you have to pay a charge. The Buyers Group only has this right for a limited time period that will be agreed with each supplier that has passed Phase 3.
4.6 The procurers group has the right to license the software to a third party. How is a ‘third party’ defined?	Third parties can be cities’ subsidiaries or companies owned by the cities and are the potential end-users of the solutions. A third party can be for example a transportation company.
4.7 Can you please explain why there is no Mutual NDA for this tender to be signed? We have patents pending and risk losing these patents without NDA in place.	Every person who will be evaluating the tenders will sign a NDA. But you should consider carefully what information you are able to publish not to harm your pending patents.