AI4Cities | Open Market Consultation

Open Market Consultation (Phase 0)

The Open Market Consultation (OMC) represents a specific phase during the overall PCP preparation. It aims at actively approaching the market to find out about the state of the art, as well as about future developments - in this case, in the fields of AI technology and climate change. Succesful procurement requires involving the technology companies and consortia from early on, this is why a series of OMC events will be organised to refine the tender specifications.

Request for Tenders

The Request for Tenders was launched on 1.12.2020. It closed on 28.02.2021. AI4Cities received 98 applications - 55 in the Mobility Lot and 45 in the Energy Lot.

Market Consultation events and webinars

During the Open Market Consultation events, AI4Cities presented its challenge, vision and scope, alongside the pre-commercial procurement process.

The OMC events were especially targeted at suppliers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs, startups and other experts, able to consult in the following domains: climate change, AI software and hardware development, public traffic management and planning, energy efficiency and infrastructure, and building maintenance.

Information and materials from past events, can be found here

Request for Tenders: overview of documentation

Tender document 1: Request for Tenders
Tender document 2: Functional specifications (part of the Request for Tenders)
Tender document 3: PCP Framework Agreement
Tender document 4: The specifc contract for phase 1

The mandatory attachments of the submitted tender:

Form A - General Tender Submission Form and Power of Attorney
Form B - Exclusion Criteria
Form C - Selection Criteria
Form D - Compliance Criteria
Form E - Technical Offer Phase 1
Form F - Financial offer and Cost Breakdown
Form G - Financial Offer Phase 1
Form H - Executive Summary

All of these documents can be found on the AI4Cites Request for Tenders page.

Goals of the OMC

To conduct a detailed needs analysis of the Buyers Group (the six partner procurers)
To map companies capable of submitting responses to the tender
To get a better understanding of the state-of-the-art and future developments in order to develop a call for proposals with the optimal scope
To gain a broad understanding of all relevant and available users, stakeholders, technologies and possible solutions in the marketplace
To consult with the potential suppliers the validity of the challenge and its specifications, as well as to gather feedback on the feasibility of response
To identify the most critical success factors, barriers and enablers to be considered
To identify remaining gaps and challenges and where R&D is still required
To inform the market and attract suitable stakeholders, particularly suppliers, but also other (future) procurers

Results and outputs

On the basis of the results of the OMC the Buyers Group determined and fine-tuned the scope of the Request for Tenders and the evaluation criteria for the pre-commercial procurement.

_{(*) Budget, number of suppliers and dates are all indicative until the Request for Tenders is published}

Conditions

The Open Market Consultation will be held in the AI4Cities consortium’s common language of communication, i.e. English.
The offers to the AI4Cities request for tenders can be submitted in English only.
The Buyers Group must be able to use information without reservations. For this reason, the consortium will not honour any claims or reservations from parties on the use of information or confidentiality.
All costs in relation to this Open Market Consultation made by the Interested Party will be for its own account.
The Buyers Group is without obligations to any parties. The Open Market Consultation does not imply any obligation to get involved in a legal relationship.
The Open Market Consultation is explicitly not part of any pre-qualification or selection process in the AI4Cities pre-commercial procurement procedure. Participation in this Open Market Consultation gives no right to obtain a AI4Cities (framework) contract. Responding to and/or attending the Open Market Consultation is not a prerequisite for participation in any subsequent procurement, nor can any right be derived from such participation. Information from this market consultation may differ from information provided in a future procurement.
The AI4Cities pre-commercial procurement is exempted from the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, the EU public procurement directives and the national laws that implement them. This is due to the fact that AI4Cities concerns the procurement of R&D services where the benefits do not accrue exclusively to the contracting authority for its use in the conduct of its own affairs.