Innovation procurement has been in the spotlight in the last few years and the European Commission actively encourages public buyers across Europe to use this approach. Although innovation procurement entails important benefits in terms of adequacy of the solution, modernization of the public services and efficient use of the public funds, it is not unusual that public buyers are reluctant to apply it due to the lack of knowledge and expertise on how to conduct such a procurement.
In this article you will learn about the importance, methodology and best practices of an Open Market Consultation (OMC) in the preparatory phase of any innovation procurement project.
What is an Open Market Consultation (OMC)?
An OMC is a procedure open to all interested parties who can provide valuable information about the market capabilities and readiness to participate in an innovation procurement project.
In general, the objectives of the OMC are to:
- Validate the findings of the market- and State-Of-The-Art (SOTA) analysis as well as the viability of the set of technical and financial provisions.
- Raise awareness of the industry and relevant stakeholders regarding the upcoming Innovation procurement project.
- Collect insights from the industry and relevant stakeholders (including users) to finetune the tender specifications.
How to announce an Open Market Consultation?
One of the best practices to ensure the principles of transparency, equal treatment and no discrimination, and to achieve EU wide outreach, is to publish a Prior Information Notice (PIN) in the European portal Tenders Electronics Daily (TED). However, once the PIN has been published, additional outreach activities through relevant networks are desirable to enhance the dissemination of the OMC and the participation of relevant stakeholders.
What kind of activities do you conduct in an Open Market Consultation?
The OMC may take place in the form of an on-site and/or online event combined with a Request for Information (RfI) in a questionnaire using free tools like EU Survey. The event or webinar can be recorded and made available on a website. For example, the video recordings are available on the website of PROCURE4HEALTH
After processing and analyzing the answers to the questionnaire, the results are disseminated to the widest possible audience through an OMC report. Usually, the answers provided by market parties are anonymized to provide only the general findings and a summary of the conclusions from the RfI.
Understanding what the market can offer
Conducting an EU wide market consultation announced in the TED through a PIN can provide a basis for
starting a procurement.
The market consultation is important in several ways:
- It enables you to cross-check the market analysis previously performed and helps validate the
innovation potential of the need. - It provides feedback on how to raise interest from the market to answer the upcoming call for
tender, the type of players on the market and what they can offer. - It makes potentially interested bidders aware of the public procurers’ needs.
- It allows to cross-check the feasibility and market acceptance of the envisaged contract set-up
(key contractual conditions, budget, timeframe, etc.).
Closing remarks
To successfully implement an innovation procurement, the preparatory actions are particularly relevant, and public buyers should spend time and resources to do so. The decision-making process should start within the organization when identifying and prioritizing the needs, researching the market and analyzing the potential costs and benefits of the project. Interaction with the market is essential to receive feedback and gain knowledge for future procurement. The OMC is crucial to an innovation procurement project because it helps public buyers/contracting authorities make informed decisions for the future procurement process.
If you liked this article about Innovation Tender preparation and want to get examples from real use cases, don’t miss the Procure4Health Insight #6. Why is an Open Market Consultation crucial to Innovation Procurement? that you will find in the Procure4Health Community platform.
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