FAQs

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here you will find the common question about the CircularPSP project. Any updates to the FAQ will be summarised here. Similarly, the questions received from any supplier, not yet covered here, will be added to the FAQs.

If you have any additional questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at .

Updates in March (2024)

The following questions are added and/or updated in the last month before the tender submission deadline (1 April).

This is clarified in Section 4.1 and Table 16 of TD1 Call for Tenders. Digital signatures qualify. Tenderers who are selected for Phase I will need to provide hard-copy signatures as well.

In Table A (fees for staff) and Table B (other items) of TD7, do we have include rates or prices regarding the price for exclusive development or the total offered price? I.e., should we use discounted or non-discounted prices?

The rates you enter in TD7 Financial Application Template, are the actual rates (i.e. non-discounted).

In other words, you calculate the price for exclusive development (1, row 27 of TD7) without the compensation (2, row 28 of TD7). Subtracting the first with the latter results in the actual total offered price (3).

Do we get a confirmation if we submitted an application for the tender?
Yes, will confirm the receipt of the tender via mail and whether it contains an attachment.  
 
Please note that we cannot open the tender and cannot validate its content before tender opening officially begins. At such time, we may come back with clarifying questions in line with TD1 Call for Tenders. Should essential information be missing, we may not be able to ask a clarifying question in line with TD1.
Must subcontracting entities also be based in the EU or HE Associated Countries?

The tender is restricted to entities established in EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. This refers to all entities, including subcontractors. See for more details on eligibility Section 3.1 of TD1 the Call for Tenders.

In the list of participants table in the beginning of TD5 and TD6, there is the table header of "Country code". What exactly should be filled in there?

You may use here two or three letter ISO codes, e.g. the two-letter country code of the EU.

Do all participants (tenderer and subcontractors) have to fill in and sign a separate DoH on Exclusion Criteria?

Each tenderer AND subcontractors must fill and sign a separate DoH on Exclusion Criteria (TD3a). Multiple rows in the table are only relevant if – in any given entity – multiple persons need to sign the form due to the setup of the entity.

Are all the datasets to be provided by the suppliers? / Is it a requirement that the supplier must have data sets of their own? / Can we assume that the necessary data sets will be provided by Buyers Group?

The data sets deemed to be useful are listed in the CE Taxonomy. These sets are public or can be accessed. Which access rights tenderers have, is to be clarified in the proposal. In addition, tenderers may utilise any own data sets, but this is not mandatory. During the tender and project duration, data sets will not have to be provided to procurers. Provision of non-background data sets will only be required if successful suppliers fail to commercialise their CE-solution after the end of the project upon request of the procurers (see TD8 Framework Agreement).

Regarding procurer data sets: Some data may be provided during Phase II and Phase III, which will help to test the CE-solution or focus it on city contexts. However, since the cities are not circular, the data will not be able to help/train the AI on circularity. In summary, identifying means of training the AI is a significant part of the challenge.

What is meant with public and private funding opportunities (Section 1.3.5 of TD2 Challenge Brief)

Funding may come from public programmes or private NGOs. In practice, the CE-solution will help any city or SME to identify relevant funding opportunities in context of the current workflow, issue, case study, etc. In the next step, the city/business may try to access this funding opportunity to realise the workflow with greater ambition, cheaper, etc. Any relevant funding source which could finance is acceptable. Ideally, this feature is mostly enabled and automated by the AI and related features are able to recognise suitable opportunities from a set of relevant sources. For the tender, the description of the approach and how it is integrated with the AI is to be described. Implementation follows in the project.

Is expected that the work packages end at the end of each tender phase? / Is it expected that multiple work pages or even tasks run across multiple phases and do not end in certain phase?

You are free in setting up the work plan as it suits your method best, it needs to be sound, complete and convincing. As you can see from Table 1 in TD1 Call for Tenders, the development across the four technical sub-criteria (i.e. information, operation, organisation, change) progresses across Phases. Whether you wish to separate Phases on tasks level or distinguish within task descriptions is up to you.

During the tender phase, procures wish to learn, among other detail, when you will do what and with which resources. The original tender must include all Phases; planning and descriptions can be refined with each call-off.

During the project, the success is measured on the basis of the mandatory deliverables and expected outputs.

Updates after Tender Questions Session II (February 2024)

The following questions are added and/or updated after the second open Tender Questions session.

Call for Tenders

Are we going to use large language models (LLM) based conversational AI technology in our solution? If so, is it possible to use USA based company services such as chatGPT or GPT 4?

It is up to you to decide which technology to use. The EU legislation must be followed. In context of public data, data governance and GDPR, this often implies hosting of data should be within EU. Whether or not it is possible to make data exchange with GPT compliant may depend on your design. Please indicate the measures you take in your technical application.

What will be the evaluation metrics of the developed AI solution and target values for determining its success?

Please see Table 1 in TD1 Call for Tenders. A framework will be developed jointly with suppliers over time. As the core principle, the AI responses / outputs must be able to induce circular impact. This being a competitive procedure, the best and most reliable output is likely to proceed.

Can you provide example scenarios, possibly interactions or conversations with the AI system?

TD2 Challenge Brief describes multiple use cases. Other use cases can be imagined with CE experts to derive what city staff would ideally do to change their current linear actions to circular actions. Ultimately, the answer is unknown and will be discovered during the project during the collaboration of procures and suppliers.

Section 3.1 of TD2 Challenge Brief indicates two notions of project management, PM1 and PM2. Is this correct?

PM1 and PM2 are two views on the same matters and cannot be split. Hence, content in this section answers both PM1 and PM2 and sufficient information should be provided to cover both sub-criteria.

Is it possible to use cloud providers such as AWS, GCP? Is there a preferred provider?

There are no preferred providers. The only requirement is to comply with all relevant EU legislation.

For indicators, can we make use of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)?

Yes, this is a potential source and will be added to the CE Taxonomy Working Group.

Finance

How to estimate the financial compensation or business value of the IPR to be retained by the contractor? Does it explicitly need to be an accurate valuation based on an approved methodology?

There is no uniform tool, it should be your own assessment considering in particular the dimension market potential and risks involved.

Does the amount of financial compensation for IPR affect the assessment of the feasibility of the business plan to commercially exploit the R&D results?

No. The amount of financial compensation affects the overall price. The tender is assessed with a quality-price ratio of 90-10 (%).

What are examples of staff that are NOT principal R&D staff?

This is usually staff which cannot be named individually and represents a role or category. As an example an IT admin or alike. Alternatively, it is for staff for whom you do not put forward a CV to document the selection criteria to highlight in your offer.

Should we indicate all the workers already by name at the start in the Financial Template, or can they be added still later in the project?

Individuals’ names must be given in case of principal R&D staff. In other cases, staff categories are sufficient.

Do we need to track and indicate actual hours for each specific day and individual worker for invoicing?

The project will request an invoice and a description of activities in each phase report. Which documentation any entity is required to keep may depend on national rules.

Is there a requirement for how many years and at what service level the CE-solution or IP should be available to the procurer users, additional government users, and/or further beyond?

Your solution should be at least available for two years for the procurers. Detail on obligations and their time frames are documented in the Framework Contract (TD8) and summarised in TD1 Call for Tenders (see the Tender Document package).

Updates after Tender Questions Session I (February 2024)

The following questions are added and/or updated after the first open Tender Questions session.

Call for Tenders

To whom is referred with "consumers" in the Persona description of the Municipal Officer (Richard) in TD2 Challenge Brief, city inhabitants or municipal staff?

The term should not have appeared. The main user groups are intermediaries, municipal staff and businesses. Overall, personas are descriptive and do not supersede the main section of TD2 Challenge Brief.

Should the platform support all procurers' languages already in the first phase?

Demonstrating full translation capability is not required in Phase I. The concept and approach to translate information into the procurers’ languages should be described in the initial offer and further developed in Phase I. The solution should be able to generate outputs in local languages in the prototype and testing Phase II. Translation features may also extend to the communication features.

Can we provide additions to the personas as described in the Challenge Brief based on own research?

Yes, you can add other characteristics/a deeper understanding of a persona in your offer. It is not mandatory to make use of the persona descriptions in Annex II of TD2 Challenge Brief.

What is the importance of the Business-tier in the envisaged solution and how does it differ from the City-tier?

The following answer is exemplary and limited, for details see TD2 Challenge Brief. The Business-tier can be considered an extension of the functionality developed for the City-tier to the user group of local Businesses. The set of features, however, is limited as no Missions are to be developed for Business and the intermediaries user group is not expected to exist. However, giving access to search functionality, AI, generation of workflows, networking  – among others – is believed to be possible with limited modification to the CE-solution.

To what extent does the initial offer for Phase I need to include a fully testable solution?

See Table 1 of TD1 Call for Tenders for a detailed overview of progress and results to be achieved across phases.

Consortia and Partners

Is it possible to change or add members of the consortium in later phases of the projects? / Do we have to specifically name subcontractors in the initial offer?

There are strict conditions for changes of partners in consortia during the project, specified in Section 3.1.1 of TD1 Call for Tenders. For subcontractors this is more flexible, see Section 3.1.2 of TD1 Call for Tenders. In case of yet unidentified subcontractors for specific roles, please describe the selection approach in Section 3.1.3 of TD6 Technical Application Template.

Do you have recommendations for including an organisation from Ukraine in the consortium?

Ukraine is a Horizon Europe Associated Country and therefore eligible and encouraged as with any other location. Please identify risks that might apply.

Can we have advisers from USA, Australia, Asia, Africa?

Some countries on these continents are eligible to enter with an entity because they are a Horizon Europe Associated Country. As for staff within eligible entities, an important additional condition is that at least 50% of the contracted R&D services must be performed in EU Member States or HE Associated Countries (i.e. staff may be outside of EU and HE countries). The conditions are specified in Section 3.4.1 of TD1 Call for Tenders.

Can a municipal entity, a company owned by the municipality or one working with municipalities be part of our consortium? / Can a consortium member be based in the same city as one of the procurers?

For municipal entities, in principle yes.
Based in the same city, yes.

For both situations: Provided no conflict of interest arises with the procurers represented in the Buyers Group.

How important is a geographically diverse consortium? / What kind and how many partners do you recommend?

There is no requirement, a single entity or consortia can bid provided they are established in EU or in a Horizon Europe Associated Country (see also Section 3.1 of TD1 Call for Tenders).

Other

Can incorporate the EU Taxonomy for sustainable activities in the offer?

The EU taxonomy for sustainable activities is already included in our CE Data sources working file, suppliers are free to make use of the working files and invited to make additions and thereby contribute to the open CE Taxonomy Working Group. See our CE Taxonomy page for more details and the mission statement.

How can we as a city contribute to our business partners?

You can join our Follower Network. Further, you can support with dissemination, for example by promoting our tender. For draft texts please contact .

Will experts of the Buyers Group be available for regular calls during the project?

Yes, at the minimum, monitoring calls are organised. If you require specific meetings based on your approach, describe the need and schedule in your offer. Whether all or some procurers will be involved during Phase I will be agreed and organised in consultation with you during the Kick-off with procurers.

Updates after Admin & Finance Application Training (January 2024)

The following questions are added and/or updated after the Administrative & Financial Tender Application Training.

Call for Tenders

Joint tender: What happens if partners have same similar competences? Do we wright that down or do we structure it that way, that each partner has complementary competences only?

If multiple partners contribute to one selection criterion, this can and should be documented. A distinction of complementarity should be achieved with regard to the role/activities the different parties take within the proposed R&D effort – division is possible but should be transparent. The selection criteria (see Section 3.3 of TD1 Call for Tenders) need to be fulfilled as an entire consortium, not be each partner individually.

Do we have to provide a financial offer for only Phase I, or also with estimates for next phases?

The requirements of the financial offer are specified in Section 4.4 of TD1 Call for Tenders. Before each phase a detailed and binding offer is required for the coming phase. For the following phases indicative prices should be stated which are revised and made binding during call-offs.

How will the commercialisation process be after the end of the Project? Will the suppliers share the IPRs with the consortium?

CircularPSP supports the pre-commercial development of solutions to be offered to municipalities across Europe after the end of the project. Therefore the IP remains with suppliers provided they do offer commercial products or services. Further details are provided in Article 5 of the TD8 PCP Framework Agreement and a summary in section 2.6 of TD1.

Consortia and Partners

Are there any restrictions on the lead tenderer (e.g. min. turnover, etc.)?

No.

Finance

What is the available budget per phase per supplier? / With the term “supplier”, do you mean per consortium member or can subcontractors also be named as suppliers?

The price ceilings per phase and supplier are in Table 6 of TD1 Call for Tenders. The term “supplier” refers to the entire consortium. Funding is available for the entire consortium, members of the consortium will share the budget. You are able to divide the budget between your consortium members as you wish.

Updates after Technical Application Training (January 2024)

The following questions are added and/or updated after the Technical Tender Application Training.

Call for Tenders

Is there any limit for the annex documents?

The only allowed annexes are i) high-resolution versions of graphics used in the TD6 as separate graphic files without any additional information and ii) Annex 1 on data sets. Any other annexes will not be considered in the evaluation. See Overall Notes in TD6 Tender Application Template – Technical.

How can one determine the practical applicability of the envisaged CE-solution in real-world scenarios?

CircularPSP describes a well-researched common need. We are convinced that a CE-solution responding to the needs will be helpful. The best way forward will need to be described by suppliers and will be jointly tested during the R&D effort. In the course of the iterative development, the CE-solution will be optimised.

Is there or will there be any pre-defined AI use cases?

There are multiple use cases described across the TD2 Challenge Brief (including specific test cases). Further useful use cases can be suggested by suppliers.

Our server provider does not clarify on the sources of energy. How critical is the requirement on renewable energy?

We suggest to query with the server host. If data is not available, this should be documented. The ambition should be to reach green supply.

What is the scope for sourcing of CE case studies? EU, Europe or the demonstration sites?

Suppliers are to identify the best way to train their AI. Ultimately, the quality of the AI results across multiple use cases will be critical, not how it has been sourced. The Challenge Brief describes two paths to train AI, case studies and using tendering platforms, other ways may be feasible.

The AI should be able to draft a CE mission based on existing policies/legislation specific to any given city. During the testing duration the initial creation of the CE Mission is expected to remain stable.

Consortia and Partners

Are all the datasets to be provided by the suppliers? / Is it a requirement that the supplier must have data sets of their own? / Can we assume that the necessary data sets will be provided by Buyers Group?

The data sets deemed to be useful are listed in the CE Taxonomy. These sets are public or can be accessed. Which access rights tenderers have, is to be clarified in the proposal. In addition, tenderers may utilise any own data sets, but this is not mandatory. During the tender and project duration, data sets will not have to be provided to procurers. Provision of non-background data sets will only be required if successful suppliers fail to commercialise their CE-solution after the end of the project upon request of the procurers (see TD8 Framework Agreement).

Regarding procurer data sets: Some data may be provided during Phase II and Phase III, which will help to test the CE-solution or focus it on city contexts. However, since the cities are not circular, the data will not be able to help/train the AI on circularity. In summary, identifying means of training the AI is a significant part of the challenge.

What is meant with public and private funding opportunities (Section 1.3.5 of TD2 Challenge Brief)

Funding may come from public programmes or private NGOs. In practice, the CE-solution will help any city or SME to identify relevant funding opportunities in context of the current workflow, issue, case study, etc. In the next step, the city/business may try to access this funding opportunity to realise the workflow with greater ambition, cheaper, etc. Any relevant funding source which could finance is acceptable. Ideally, this feature is mostly enabled and automated by the AI and related features are able to recognise suitable opportunities from a set of relevant sources. For the tender, the description of the approach and how it is integrated with the AI is to be described. Implementation follows in the project.

Is expected that the work packages end at the end of each tender phase? / Is it expected that multiple work pages or even tasks run across multiple phases and do not end in certain phase?

You are free in setting up the work plan as it suits your method best, it needs to be sound, complete and convincing. As you can see from Table 1 in TD1 Call for Tenders, the development across the four technical sub-criteria (i.e. information, operation, organisation, change) progresses across Phases. Whether you wish to separate Phases on tasks level or distinguish within task descriptions is up to you.

During the tender phase, procures wish to learn, among other detail, when you will do what and with which resources. The original tender must include all Phases; planning and descriptions can be refined with each call-off.

During the project, the success is measured on the basis of the mandatory deliverables and expected outputs.

Are we going to use large language models (LLM) based conversational AI technology in our solution? If so, is it possible to use USA based company services such as chatGPT or GPT 4?

It is up to you to decide which technology to use. The EU legislation must be followed. In context of public data, data governance and GDPR, this often implies hosting of data should be within EU. Whether or not it is possible to make data exchange with GPT compliant may depend on your design. Please indicate the measures you take in your technical application.

What will be the evaluation metrics of the developed AI solution and target values for determining its success?

Please see Table 1 in TD1 Call for Tenders. A framework will be developed jointly with suppliers over time. As the core principle, the AI responses / outputs must be able to induce circular impact. This being a competitive procedure, the best and most reliable output is likely to proceed.

Can you provide example scenarios, possibly interactions or conversations with the AI system?

TD2 Challenge Brief describes multiple use cases. Other use cases can be imagined with CE experts to derive what city staff would ideally do to change their current linear actions to circular actions. Ultimately, the answer is unknown and will be discovered during the project during the collaboration of procures and suppliers.

Section 3.1 of TD2 Challenge Brief indicates two notions of project management, PM1 and PM2. Is this correct?

PM1 and PM2 are two views on the same matters and cannot be split. Hence, content in this section answers both PM1 and PM2 and sufficient information should be provided to cover both sub-criteria.

Is it possible to use cloud providers such as AWS, GCP? Is there a preferred provider?

There are no preferred providers. The only requirement is to comply with all relevant EU legislation.

For indicators, can we make use of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)?

Yes, this is a potential source and will be added to the CE Taxonomy Working Group.

Can an entity participate in more than one offer?

The answer depends on the role the entity is to play in the consortium.

As single tenderer or partner in a consortium, entities are expected to participate in one consortium. Otherwise, any entity in two offers would not be free of “conflict of interest” for the performance of the contract (see TD1 section 3.2). In case of large and/or complex entities it may be possible to document that any two units active in two separate bids do not coordinate or exchange in any form for the entire duration of the Framework Agreement. In case both offers win, the Buyers Group would seek further guarantees via the Specific Contract.

As subcontractors, participation is more generally possible in more than one consortium provided the subcontractor is predominantly a provider of an existing service or product (e.g. an IT solution) which does not require R&D effort (i.e. the consortium is using the readily available provisions of the subcontractor in their R&D effort to generate their own IPR excluding the subcontractor). In general suppliers are reminded that critical R&D work and/or staff should not be subcontracted. In case subcontractors are in two winning consortia, the Buyers Group reserves the right to demand a suitable replacement in any of the consortium should a conflict of interest be identified or materialise at any point as required by Turkish Competition Law.

Alternatively, it may be possible to buy the off-the-shelve product as ‘other costs’ without subcontracting provided the costs keep within the limits of TD1 CfT.

Updates after Tender Launch (January 2024)

The following questions are added and/or updated after the Tender Launch Event.

Call for Tenders

How many languages/countries should the prototypes be able to support?

During Phase II (Prototype Development) the solution must support the languages of the demonstration sites (Slovenian, Turkish, Portuguese, German, Finnish, Swedish and English, see also Table 4 in TD1 Call for Tenders). In principle the use of NLP should enable a wider availability and should be aimed for demonstrate ability to commercialise.

Is there an overview of the documentation regarding the Call for Tenders?

The complete Tender Package is available on the CircularPSP tender page. 

Should the CE-solution focus on one specific CE domain (e.g. waste water, construction, etc.)?

No, all value chains should be covered. The solution can build on specialised knowledge and/or be stronger in certain areas, but should be an inherently generic solution so that it can be deployed in any given city.

Should the main focus of the tender be on Phase 1, or should we also describe what we "expect" to deliver in Phases II and III?

Suppliers must write there tender to answer the entire Challenge (i.e. all phases, see TD2 Challenge Brief). During the project, the proposal will be realised step-by-step across phases. The planning can be revised for each call-off.

How important are competitive prices compared to the quality?

The tender is assessed with a quality-price ratio of 90-10 (%).

How should the tender be submitted? Is there a size limit?

For instructions see section 4.1 of TD1 Call for Tenders.

How do you plan to evaluate the commercialisation value of the proposals?

Only tenderers that have been successful in Phase I have to submit a full commercialisation plan. The commercialisation plan is not part of the initial tender (see also Table 11 of TD1 Call for Tenders).

Consortia and Partners

Is the challenge only open to companies established in the EU or also to companies outside Europe?

The updated guidance on PCPs and especially in context of new AI legislation, left us no choice but to restrict the tender to companies established in the EU or HE Associated Countries. In addition, at least 50% of the contracted R&D services are required to be performed in EU Member States or HE Associated Countries (as of the date of the tender’s release). The conditions are specified in Section 3.4.1 of TD1 Call for Tenders.

How important is the candidates' experience in managing complex projects with European public partners?

Please visit the selection criteria in Section 3.3 of TD1 Call for Tenders. Experience can help to improve the quality of the tender and can be documented in relevant context.

General

Is it possible that the duration of the project will be extended?

All suppliers need to work in parallel following the same timeline. Hence, any extension can only occur if all suppliers and procurers agree.

Additions after Taxonomy Workshop (September 2023)

The following questions are added and/or updated after the CE Taxonomy Working Group Kick-off.

General

Which stage of the procurement process is of highest priority to address with the CE-solution CircularPSP is seeking, and why?

How procurements are organised and when they “start” is defined differently from country to county. The common challenge is to target all stages including when the procurement department is usually not involved since we believe that circular principles could be applied at any stage. See TD2 Challenge Brief.

What is the current state of CE Taxonomy Research within the project?

CircularPSP has initiated an open CE Taxonomy Working Group. The current state and all details are available on this page.

How can CE taxonomy and linked data ontologies help address greenwashing, and is this challenge better suited for a technical solution or social, regulatory, or organizational approaches?

The CE-solution is not targeting the offerings of businesses (e.g. products or services) but the inner procedures of municipalities. However, the CE-solution will empower staff to detect and understand greenwashing.

Consortia and Partners

How will the procurement process enable smaller companies/SMEs to participate in the tender?

There are no rules for the setup of the consortium. Members can form it based on their needs and capabilities. In the past, many PCPs have been supplied by SMEs.

We have a lot of CE expertise, but no AI expertise. Do we have a chance if we include external AI sources?

Yes. It is expected that a consortium is needed to fulfil all selection criteria and develop a sound solution.

Will there be minimum gross revenue requirements for companies to participate in the tender or lead a consortium?

There are no constraints. The consortium needs to be able to proof it can successfully execute the project of the intended size.

Call for Tenders

Do you have specific requirements regarding software standards and formal mappings between procurement taxonomies and existing ontologies?

The PCP is technology neutral. Any approach convincingly able to solve the common challenge will be accepted with the most promising scoring highest. The requirements are further specified in TD2 Challenge Brief.

Will the tender include criteria on energy efficiency, data usage, and CE components?

Yes. Some criteria will apply from the first call-off onwards (See TD2 Challenge Brief).

Call for Tenders

Could you provide more details on the requirements and systems should be integrated with the platform?

Specific requirements are specified in TD1 Call for Tenders, and in TD2 Challenge Brief.

How are specs and criteria for the platform defined? If this is through user research, would this research be made available to the successful applicants?

Focus groups and a survey were conducted. The results of the requirement analysis are specified in TD1 Call for Tenders and TD2 Challenge Brief. Relevant research is shared in Annex.

What bids does CircularPSP expect?

The CircularPSP consortium expects bids from ICT companies (e.g., AI, platforms, Natural Language Processing, etc.), circular economy experts, research institutes (applied research), innovative SMEs and start-ups, among others. 

Should the platform include an open chat function on this platform, to enable people to learn from each other?

This is one of the possible approaches. Networking and learning from each other should be possible without language barriers. The exact requirements are described in TD2 Challenge Brief.

How does the intended platform relate to what regular procurement platforms offer?

CircularPSP does not intend to replicate or compete with any existing procurement platform. We believe that various procurements can be avoided in the first place and more work needs to be done within departments before any procurement is triggered. Hence, the CircularPSP solution is located “before” (and “after”) any procurement. In this context, a possible feature could be to extract relevant criteria from prior procurements via existing platforms to inform the user and empower to pick better criteria. Since the entire platform is to be built with interoperability at the core, capability to transfer data into existing system using standard protocols will be welcome. The exact requirements are specified in TD2 Challenge Brief.

Will suppliers be able to choose the location of prototype studies?

No. The procurers will provide their, by design, scalable platform to all procures. How access is granted to Followers to gather more insights and to also provide opportunity to suppliers to exchange in detail with Followers is described in section 2.1 of TD1 Call for Tenders

Are prototype tests going to be conducted in all sites where procurers are located?

All phases of prototypes, demos, and trials will be conducted in all procurer regions. These are Slovenia and Sweden (cities to be confirmed), Guimarães, Istanbul, Berlin, Helsinki, and Sandyford (Dublin) and for the Associated Partner London. See above on how Followers are to be involved. 

Can I submit only a part of the solution, or do I have to describe the complete solution?

A consortium must be able to answer the entire Challenge Brief. There will be no lots.

Is it eligible if one consortium proposes more than one solution?

It is expected that the CircularPSP challenge requires multiple technological components with to which a wide range of designs can be applied. If a consortium is not sure which solution approach is best suited it can describe which are to be assessed during Phase I of the project at the end of which the most promising design should be selected. The consortium must describe each alternative clearly without repetition of shared elements and the methodology by which the determination will be made.

Consortia and Partners

Is there any limitation on adding partners that might be introduced to a joint tender?

In case of joint tenders, the participants must be identified clearly in the tender. There may be no change in the composition of a group that tendered at the beginning of the PCP procedure. Adding subcontractors may be possible in some circumstances, which is described in Section 3.1 of TD1 Call for Tenders.

Can the consortium be made of an SME and a Research Institute? Or does it need to be composed of only for-profit companies?

There are no rules for the setup of the consortium. Members can form it based on their needs and capabilities. 

Can a company or other kind of entity submit a tender alone or are you looking for consortia?

Tenders may be submitted by a single entity or in consortium with others and/or with subcontractors. 

Can you preview our company and advise us if we should participate in your tender?

Unfortunately, we cannot advise if you should participate or not in our Call for Tenders. However, we suggest you participate (or check the videos of previous) in the Open Market Consultations and Tender Events, and review the documentation to get a detailed understanding of the requirements and funding conditions for your company. 

Tender Documents

Do you prefer to have all the information inserted in the designated forms in Word and Excel? Or can we enter in the Form a reference to an appendix (e.g. “see appendix XX”) which we can style as we please and images?

All the information has to be inserted into the designated forms, and images can be used in these forms. Suppliers are not allowed to send unrequired appendices.  

Is it possible for suppliers to suggest amendments and/or modifications to the Framework Agreement?

No, this is not possible.  

How are suppliers involved in drafting the Call for Tenders?

Suppliers are not involved.

In what language will the tender information be published?

All project documentation will be in English.

General

What is CircularPSP aiming at?

Suppliers are to design, develop and test an innovative ‘circular economy solution’ (CE-solution) that enables municipalities and their staff as well as businesses in the local economy to apply circular practice more quickly, frequently, widely and effectively. Individual users at City and Business are empowered through access to information, knowledge, circular wisdom, guidance and training to act more circular more often and increasingly impactful whilst transitioning to a CE mindset. See for more detail TD2 Challenge Brief.

What is Pre-commercial Procurement (PCP)?

It is an approach to public procurement of research and development (R&D) services. PCP challenges industry from the demand side to develop innovative solutions for public sector needs and provides a first customer reference that enables companies to create a competitive advantage in the market. PCP enables public procurers to compare alternative potential solution approaches and filter out the best possible solutions that the market can deliver to address the public need. 

How is the PCP structured?

The PCP is structured through a staged approach consisting of three main phases. Phase I focuses on the solution design and the selection of an initial set of suppliers to closely with the procurers. During Phase II, the suppliers selected to continue in the PCP process need to develop the prototypes in accordance with the procurers’ feedback. Lastly, the suppliers entering Phase III scale up the solution to reach based on the iterations of the previous stage and the new requirements stemming from the co-creation process with the procurers. It is the aim that after the end of the PCP process, procurers acquire solutions to full operational use. If further development is necessary to reach commercialisation, procurers and Followers can reach additional agreements. 

Who is responsible for operations in CircularPSP?

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is the Lead Procurer and is responsible for facilitating the challenge. 

Will there be exchange between suppliers and procurers during the tender phase and the project?

Yes, in multiple forms. During the tender, all information is shared via the website, OMCs and several Tender Events are organised shortly after the tender is launched.  

During the project, a Teams will be set up to share information with all suppliers and as a forum for public questions. Additionally, suppliers will have regular exchange with procurers to discuss progress, design etc.  

What are Followers?

Cities, regions, other organisations and projects sharing the common challenge of CircularPSP, see for more detail our Follower Network. The benefits for Followers are:

  • Insights into CircularPSP solutions making circular economy accessible for your staff.
  • Access to testing of solutions during Phase III.
  • Insights into procurement clauses for AI (compliant with AI act).
  • Access to suppliers and be first in line for the uptake of successful solutions.
  • Receive financial support to visit pilot sites during Phase III (subject to availability).
How can one organisation become a Follower of CircularPSP?

You just need to contact us via . We will get back to you. See Follower Netwok.

How can I get updates on the project, OMC (Open Market Consultation) events, and tender?

Keep an eye on our website and subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, and follow us on TWITTER, MASTODON and LINKEDIN to be up to date with CircularPSP’s developments. 

How does Turkish legislation affect the PCP-rules?

The EU legislation is leading, the relevant Turkish tender regulation is compliant with EU-legislation. Everything will be clearly described in the Request for Tenders.

In most Member States, ‘traditional’, implies no exchange with the market (our intent). In some Member States ‘traditional’ means a coordinated design of tender specifications.

CircularPSP has initiated Open Market Consultations. We inform early and seek input, but we do not at any point design the tender specifications jointly with the market. Questions are welcome and will be answered directly and via this FAQ.

Are the cities already linked to an existing European program or platform (Circular Cities and Regions initiative, ACR+)? Will the project also be connected to one of those platforms?

We are currently in the process of registering the project on multiple platforms and networks, see our Follower Network for an overview. Multiple procurers are already members and will present the progress in these networks.

Competition Process

If we have an existing solution, is it possible to participate in the tender?

You can participate only with a solution that is not yet on the market. If there is a similar solution already in the market, there must be something discernibly new in your solution compared to existing ones. This does not preclude utilising already existing components or technologies. In the case of CircularPSP, one of the core challenges is to integrate a wide range of technologies, feature and services to accelerate public administrations’ transition to a circular economy.  

What are the selection and award criteria for each phase? How does the EC participate in the evaluations? What is the evaluation board’s structure like?

For the exclusion, selection, compliance, and award criteria, please refer to the request for tender documents when they are published. The European Commission does not participate in the evaluations. They will be conducted by each procurer. Once finalised, the evaluations of all procurers will then be consolidated. The scorecard for the evaluation of the offers’ technical sections, as well as details of the evaluation, will be available in the request for tender documents.  

How are suppliers selected from one phase to the next?

Towards the end of each phase, suppliers hand in an (updated) offer which will be largely based on the initial offer and work conducted during the phase and to which further detail might be requested. The evaluation procedure described above is repeated. 

Is it allowed to try out new business models and investigate this during the piloting phase?

Yes, this is allowed.  

Will it be possible to do user research during the Solution Design (Phase I)?

Throughout the entire project, suppliers will have access to the procurers through monitoring calls and direct communication.

Testing by users is foreseen during Phase II and III, suppliers will be given access to cities and users to test the platform. A well-reasoned, limited and output-oriented effort to interact with users during Phase III will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Who will select the initial set of suppliers?

The Evaluation Committee is nominated by the procurers who will select the suppliers based on the offer. The nominees are typically represented by the staff involved in the project. Each procurer has one vote.  

Finance

Can the tenderer get funding from other public sources?

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. An on/off award criterion related to this point can be found in Section 3.4 of TD1 Call for Tenders.

In case the payment schedule is delayed by the Lead Procurer whereas the supplier has completed his mission, will there any financial interest be applied?

No.

Is the approval of the European Commission needed for the payments for the selected suppliers?

No. As the Leading Procurer, ​Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality  manages the budget.  

If the tender is accepted, when is the funding provided: before or after the phases of the Pre-Commercial Procurement?

Payments corresponding to each Pre-Commercial Procurement phase will be subject to the satisfactory completion of the deliverables and milestones for that phase. The payment schedule can be found in section 2.5 of TD1 Call for Tenders. This may include pre-financing in Phases II and III.  

Is the budget equally shared among all suppliers in each phase?

The total budget for Phase I, II and III will be divided by the number of suppliers. This sum will be the ceiling for suppliers’ offers, not including the compensation for retained IP rights. The exact budget is determined by the offer of the suppliers. Suppliers compete in quality and price. The payment schedule can be found in section 2.5 of TD1 Call for Tenders.

Who will be issued for the suppliers’ invoices? Who will make the payments to the suppliers?

As the Leading Procurer, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, manages the budget. The payment schedule can be found in section 2.5 of TD1 Call for Tenders.

How will the commercialisation process be after the end of the Project? Will the suppliers share the IPRs with the consortium?

CircularPSP supports the pre-commercial development of solutions to be offered to municipalities across Europe after the end of the project. Therefore the IP remains with suppliers provided they do offer commercial products or services. In case they fail after four years, the procurers will gain access to IP. The pre-commercial instrument follows the risk-benefit sharing approach. The exact terms are be described in TD8 PCP Framework Agreement.

Revision / Correction history

04.03.2024

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19.02.2024

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26.01.2024

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19.01.2024

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12.01.2024

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25.10.2023

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14.07.2023

  • Added questions asked during OMC events
  • Minor edits