Services - 590329-2019

13/12/2019    S241

Belgium-Brussels: European Blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement

2019/S 241-590329

Prior information notice

This notice is for prior information only

Services

Legal Basis:
Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2018/1046

Section I: Contracting authority

I.1)Name and addresses
Official name: European Commission, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, Directorate F: Digital Single Market, Unit F3: Digital Innovation and Blockchain
Town: Brussels
NUTS code: BE100 Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale / Arr. van Brussel-Hoofdstad
Postal code: 1049
Country: Belgium
E-mail: CNECT-F3@ec.europa.eu
Internet address(es):
Main address: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/connect/index_en.htm
Address of the buyer profile: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/news-redirect/663586
I.3)Communication
Additional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
I.4)Type of the contracting authority
European institution/agency or international organisation
I.5)Main activity
General public services

Section II: Object

II.1)Scope of the procurement
II.1.1)Title:

European Blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement

II.1.2)Main CPV code
73200000 Research and development consultancy services
II.1.3)Type of contract
Services
II.1.4)Short description:

This PIN provides early information about the upcoming European blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) and in particular also about the open market consultation that the European Commission is organising in preparation of this procurement. More information is available in the open market consultation document at: URL of Newsitem created by F3 where the background docs and Q&A for the open market consultation will be posted.

The PCP aims to underpin the transition towards the next generation European Blockchain services infrastructure to enable offering advanced public and private cross-border blockchain services to European citizens, businesses and public administrations.

II.1.5)Estimated total value
II.1.6)Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: no
II.2)Description
II.2.3)Place of performance
NUTS code: BE100 Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale / Arr. van Brussel-Hoofdstad
II.2.4)Description of the procurement:

The objective of the PCP is to trigger the development and testing of a novel, use-cases based, distributed ledger or blockchain solution that builds on the EU legal framework and meets core requirements of scalability and throughput, interoperability with other systems, security, robustness, sustainability, energy efficiency and continuity of the service. The open market consultation aims to prepare a PCP that goes significantly beyond what existing blockchain solutions are able to offer.

The aim is to implement the PCP in cooperation with and building on the work of European Blockchain Partnership (EBP). The EBP is a cooperation between the European Commission, all EU Member States and some countries of the European Economic Area to deliver together the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure.

Pre-commercial procurement (PCP) progressively selects the best value for money solutions that the market can develop by awarding R&D service contracts to a number of R&D providers in parallel in a phased approach that covers solution design, prototyping, solution development, installation and testing. PCP thus provides a first customer reference for contractors with innovative solutions. As PCP assigns to the contractors the ownership of the intellectual property rights they generate, it enables them to exploit the full market potential of the developed solutions also beyond the procurement.

All interested market parties are invited to take part in the open market consultation (regardless of their geographic location, the size or governance structure of their organisation). Based on the final scope of the PCP, that will be defined after the open market consultation, additional participation requirements may be defined later for participation in the PCP procurement. This may be based on specific requirements in EU legislation for specific areas, the European governance structure of the EBSI and the objective of PCP to help create new business opportunities and to establish new areas of leadership for European companies.

The open market consultation will provide you with a better understanding of the procurement objectives and the PCP process. It also aims to obtain market parties’ input to assess the gap between the procurement need and ongoing market developments in the field of Blockchain. It is a unique opportunity to provide feedback on the scope of the future PCP and to be involved in and co-create the future development of innovative EU-wide blockchain solutions. You will also have the opportunity to ask questions.

The open market consultation will be organised in English in the form of several activities:

Webinar on 14.1.2020

Online questionnaire open from 16.1.2020 to 2.3.2020

Open market consultation event on the 11.3.2020 in Brussels, Belgium

Individual face-to-face meetings with the European Commission in the week of 11.3.2020 in Brussels, Belgium

Please register in time for any or all of these parts of the open market consultation by following the instructions on the website: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/news-redirect/663586

All responses to questions from market parties that the European Commission will provide during the open market consultation and other background information will be published online in English on the website https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/news-redirect/663586

II.2.14)Additional information

Participation in the open market consultation is not a preselection or prequalification for participating in the PCP or any other future procurement activity. You can participate in the PCP even if you did not participate in the open market consultation.

II.3)Estimated date of publication of contract notice:
29/05/2020

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)Description
IV.1.8)Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: no

Section VI: Complementary information

VI.3)Additional information:

Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) is exempted from the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), the EU public procurement directives and the national laws that implement them. This is because it concerns the procurement of R&D services where the benefits do not accrue exclusively to the procurer for its use in the conduct of their own affairs. Publication of this PIN in the EU Official Journal is not to be understood as a waiver of this exemption. Publication is made on a voluntary basis. This PIN is published to announce an open market consultation on a future pre-commercial procurement procedure that is still under preparation. The PIN is not a commitment to procure.

VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:
03/12/2019