Demand-led innovation for civil security through Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP)

The Horizon Europe grant, identified as HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-SSRI-06, focuses on advancing civil security innovation through Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP). The key features of this grant opportunity include the following.

Eligible applicant types include consortia comprising public procurers, such as government bodies and municipalities, alongside SMEs, startups, and research institutions. The consortium must consist of at least three practitioners and three public procurers from a minimum of three different EU Member States or Associated Countries.

The funding type is a grant specifically for pre-commercial procurement aimed at acquiring research and development services. The implementation involves risk-sharing for innovative security solutions.

A consortium is required for the application. This consortium should address shared needs through collaboration between public procurers and involved practitioners.

The beneficiary scope encompasses EU member states and associated countries participating in Horizon Europe. Specific non-EU entities, notably from China, are excluded from eligibility.

The target sector is civil security, encompassing areas such as disaster resilience, cybersecurity, and crisis management. This call aims to support innovative civil security technology solutions.

While the call does not specify individual countries, it emphasizes EU-wide applicability. The project stage aims at the development to demonstration of prototypes at technology readiness levels 6-8, thus focusing on the maturation and validation of technologies.

For funding amounts, the total budget for this specific call is €5,500,000, with the expectation of awarding one grant. Previous Horizon Europe PCP actions typically allocated between €7 million to €12 million per project, suggesting a similar range for this call, though the exact figures remain unclear.

Applications must be submitted in a single-stage process by the deadline of November 12, 2025. The nature of support is monetary grants aimed at facilitating the procurement of R&D services.

Co-funding is encouraged, with a potential requirement for 50% complementary funding from national or regional sources, aligning with national policy frameworks.

The expected outcomes of funded projects include fostering a community of EU civil security practitioners, facilitating innovative solution commercialization, and increasing market uptake through public procurement strategies.

Furthermore, applicants must demonstrate a clear path to commercialization, including an analysis of market needs, minority participation, and sustainability beyond project completion. The application process requires detailed planning for tendering, verification procedures, and ensuring compliance with EU public procurement rules. The integration of gender dimensions where relevant is also encouraged.

In summary, this grant seeks to promote innovation in civil security through a collaborative approach, benefiting SMEs and startups while ensuring that developed solutions meet real-world operational demands and facilitate public procurement processes across Europe.

The HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-SSRI-06 call, titled "Demand-led innovation for civil security through Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP)," is part of the Horizon Europe Programme, specifically under the Civil Security for Society call (HORIZON-CL3-2025-01). It is a HORIZON Pre-commercial Procurement (HORIZON-PCP) action with a HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG] Model Grant Agreement (MGA). The call adopts a single-stage deadline model. The planned opening date is 12 June 2025, and the deadline for submission is 12 November 2025, at 17:00:00 Brussels time. The total budget allocated to this topic for the year 2025 is EUR 5,500,000, with an indicative number of 1 grant expected to be awarded.

The expected outcomes of projects resulting from this call are:
A community of EU civil security practitioners with shared needs for innovative technology solutions, supported by an industrial base, particularly SMEs and Startups, to access the public procurement market and scale up their business.
Procurers facilitating the commercialisation of innovative solutions by providing successful suppliers with first customer references for validation and pilot deployment.
Increased opportunities for market uptake and economies of scale through increased demand for innovative solutions, wide publication of results, and contributions to standardisation, regulation, or certification.
Supporting public procurers in collectively implementing PCPs to drive innovation from the demand side and open up commercialisation opportunities for European companies to take or maintain international leadership in new markets.

The scope of this call is to encourage public procurers to strategically use Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) to open up the procurement market for startups and address societal challenges effectively. Applicants are invited to submit proposals for PCP actions to acquire Research and Development (R&D) services and innovative civil security technology solutions. Proposals should demonstrate interest from a broader community of potential buyers beyond the direct beneficiaries, sharing similar needs and being open to jointly adopting developed solutions that are mature and operationally viable.

Key requirements for proposals include:
An analysis of the state of the art and market landscape.
Alignment of research activities with identified needs.
Presentation of a range of technical alternatives to address the challenge.
Demonstration of sustainability beyond the project's life.
Building on outcomes of previous CSA projects aimed at creating stronger grounds for PCP of innovative security technologies.
Evidence to justify and de-risk the PCP action, demonstrating a significant challenge necessitating PCP to mature technologies and compare alternatives.
A consolidated group of practitioners and procurers with shared needs committed to the PCP process.
Cooperation with policymakers to reinforce national policy frameworks and mobilise additional national budgets for PCP and innovation procurement.
A well-defined tendering process with a draft plan and readiness of documentation for a compliant launch of the call for R&D services under PCP rules.
Commitment to exploiting project results beyond the project's conclusion, ensuring stakeholder engagement and strategies for future uptake.
Clarification of measures to ensure compliance with the principles of the EU Directive on public procurement, particularly those related to PCP.
Completion of required open market consultations in at least three EU Member States.

Involvement of procurement decision-makers is needed to ensure the adoption of end solutions by public buyers. Procurers should declare their interest in pursuing deployment of solutions resulting from the PCP and indicate whether they will:
Procure successful solution(s) as part of the PCP.
Launch a separate follow-up procurement after the PCP to buy such solutions.
Adopt successful solutions without procurement (e.g., open-source solutions).
Foresee financial or regulatory incentives for others to adopt successful solutions, with a maximum budget of EUR 100,000 for financial support to third parties.

In these four cases, procurers can implement the project as a fast-track PCP.

Applicants should propose an implementation that includes:
A preparation stage to finalise tendering documents and define verification procedures.
Clear plans for post-PCP activities to ensure sustainability and uptake.
Launching a call for tenders for R&D services, envisaging a competitive development with different phases leading to at least two prototypes from two different providers for validation in a real operational environment.
Conducting competitive development of prototypes following PCP principles, including design, integration, technical verification, and validation phases.
Consolidating evaluation results, extracting conclusions, and defining a strategy for potential uptake, including technical specifications and standardisation needs.

Applicants are expected to maximise the visibility of project outcomes to potential EU public buyers and engage with civil security communities to assess the reuse and extensibility of identified solutions. The integration of the gender dimension should be addressed if relevant to the research objectives.

Additional eligibility criteria include the participation, as beneficiaries, of at least 3 practitioners and 3 public procurers from 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries. One organisation can have the role of practitioner and public procurer simultaneously. Participants with practitioner status must fill in the table “Information about security practitioners” in the application form.

PCP/PPI procurement costs are eligible, and beneficiaries must ensure that subcontracted work is performed in at least 3 Member States unless otherwise approved.

The application form templates and evaluation form templates are available in the Submission System. Guidance is provided in the HE Programme Guide, HE MGA, and call-specific instructions, including the "Information on Security Practitioners Template." Additional documents include the HE Main Work Programme, HE Programme Guide, HE Framework Programme, EU Financial Regulation, and related guidelines and regulations.

This call aims to foster demand-led innovation in civil security by encouraging public procurers to use pre-commercial procurement to acquire R&D services and innovative solutions. It seeks to create a community of EU civil security practitioners, support SMEs and startups, and facilitate the commercialisation and wider market uptake of innovative solutions, ultimately enhancing Europe's leadership in civil security technologies. The call encourages collaboration, strategic planning, and commitment to deploying and validating solutions in real operational environments.

In simpler terms, this funding opportunity encourages public organizations from different European countries to work together to buy new and innovative security technologies that aren't yet available on the market. The goal is to help small businesses and startups develop these technologies, test them in real-world situations, and eventually sell them to a wider market, making Europe a leader in civil security innovation. To get the funding, applicants need to show that they have a clear plan for how they will buy these technologies, test them, and make sure they are used after the project ends. They also need to involve experts and people who will actually use the technologies to make sure they meet real-world needs.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types for this opportunity are consortia consisting of at least 3 practitioners and 3 public procurers from 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries. One organization can have the role of practitioner and public procurer simultaneously. Startups and SMEs are specifically mentioned as beneficiaries of this funding, indicating they are encouraged to participate, likely as suppliers in the pre-commercial procurement process.

Funding Type: The primary financial mechanism is pre-commercial procurement (PCP), which is a specific type of procurement focused on acquiring research and development services. This is implemented through HORIZON Pre-commercial Procurement actions.

Consortium Requirement: A consortium is required. Specifically, the consortium must include at least 3 practitioners and 3 public procurers from 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility is focused on EU Member States and Associated Countries participating in the Horizon Europe program. The open market consultations must be completed in at least three EU Member States. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Target Sector: The target sector is civil security, with a focus on acquiring Research and Development (R&D) services and innovative civil security technology solutions.

Mentioned Countries: The opportunity explicitly mentions EU Member States and Associated Countries. The open market consultations must be completed in at least three EU Member States.

Project Stage: The project stage is focused on acquiring Research and Development (R&D) services, maturing technologies, and validating prototypes in real operational environments. This suggests a focus on development, validation, and demonstration stages, leading to pre-commercial prototypes.

Funding Amount: The budget for the HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-SSRI-06 topic is EUR 5,500,000. The indicative number of grants is 1, suggesting that one project will be funded under this specific topic. For other topics listed in the budget overview, the funding ranges from EUR 2,000,000 to EUR 18,000,000, with varying numbers of grants per topic.

Application Type: The application type is a single-stage call for proposals.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants to fund pre-commercial procurement activities. Additionally, in specific fast-track PCP cases, financial support to third parties can be provided, with a maximum budget of EUR 100,000, to incentivize end-users to adopt the solutions.

Application Stages: The application process is a single-stage process. However, the pre-commercial procurement process itself involves multiple phases, including a design phase, an integration and technical verification phase, and a validation in a real operational environment phase.

Success Rates: The success rate can be inferred from the "Indicative number of grants" provided for each topic. For the HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-SSRI-06 topic, the indicative number of grants is 1, suggesting a potentially low success rate depending on the number of applications received.

Co-funding Requirement: The information does not explicitly state a co-funding requirement. However, the emphasis on national policy frameworks and mobilizing additional national budgets suggests that leveraging national funds is encouraged.

Summary:

This Horizon Europe call, specifically topic HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-SSRI-06, focuses on "Demand-led innovation for civil security through Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP)." It aims to foster a community of EU civil security practitioners, startups, and SMEs to develop and deploy innovative civil security technology solutions. The funding mechanism is a pre-commercial procurement, where public procurers acquire R&D services to address shared needs for innovative solutions.

The call requires consortia of at least 3 practitioners and 3 public procurers from at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries. The geographic focus is primarily on EU Member States and Associated Countries, with open market consultations required in at least three EU Member States. The project stage targets the development, validation, and demonstration of pre-commercial prototypes.

The budget for this specific topic is EUR 5,500,000, with an expectation of funding one project. The application process is a single-stage call for proposals. Successful applicants will receive grants to fund their pre-commercial procurement activities. While co-funding is not explicitly required, leveraging national funds is encouraged.

The call emphasizes the importance of sustainability, exploitation of project results, and compliance with EU public procurement directives. It also encourages the integration of the gender dimension where relevant. The overall goal is to drive innovation in civil security, create opportunities for companies to scale up, and support public procurers in adopting innovative solutions to address societal challenges.