Article 23 — R&D procurement call for tenders
In brief
This article sets out how an R&D procurement is launched and run, from the contract notice through evaluation to the award notice. It requires publication in the Official Journal and on the national portal, wide promotion, defined time limits, verification of access and evaluation against the applicable criteria, and it allows negotiations. Specific derogations apply where security or public-safety interests are at stake.
Key points
- The launch is announced by a contract notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union and then on the national procurement portal, including relevant CPV codes, any innovation or ‘Pre-Commercial Procurement’ marking, and the estimated value.
- Buyers must widely promote the call and may use any widely available media; security-related derogations allow publication without sensitive information, or sharing documents only with identified, suitable operators that pass a security check.
- The minimum time limit for receipt of tenders is one month from dispatch of the notice, which may be shortened in defined emergency or crisis situations; buyers have a maximum of 60 calendar days to evaluate and notify the award decision.
- Buyers verify which tenderers have access under Article 11 and evaluate all eligible tenders on objective, non-discriminatory criteria (exclusion grounds, selection criteria, minimum requirements and award criteria, including innovation-related criteria), producing a ranked list.
- Interviews and one or more rounds of negotiation are permitted, with genuine competition preserved, equal information for remaining tenderers and time to revise tenders; a contract award notice is published within 30 days of contract conclusion, subject to security exceptions.
What it means in practice
Public buyers gain a defined, time-bound procedure for R&D calls, with room for negotiation and for handling sensitive procurements, but must meet publication, promotion, transparency and equal-treatment duties throughout. Innovative firms, start-ups and SMEs get clearer visibility of opportunities and of how tenders will be assessed and negotiated, together with defined deadlines for submission and for the award decision.
Official text — Article 23 (COM(2026) 567)
1. Public buyers shall announce the launch of the call for tenders for the R&D
procurement by means of a contract notice. That notice shall:
(a) be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and, after that, be
published also on the na tional procurement portal of the Member State of the
public buyer;
(b) contain the following elements:
(i) references to the relevant CPV codes for research and development
services
(ii) an indication, where relevant, that the call for tenders relates to
innovation by marking the field ‘innovation’ in the contract notice and by
including, where applicable, the words ‘Pre-Commercial Procurement’ in
the field ‘title of the procurement’;
(iii) the estimated value of the R&D procurement calculated pursuant to t he
methodology laid down in Article 10(5).
2. Public buyers shall widely promote the launch of the R&D procurement call for
tenders to the market. To this effect, after announcing the launch of the call for
tenders by means of a contract notice, public bu yers may publish and promote the
launch of the call for tenders through any widely available media.
3. By way of derogation from paragraph 1 and 2 of this Article, where necessary and
justified for ensuring the protection of the security or public safety i nterests of the
Union or one or several of its Member States within the meaning of Article 28(2),
public buyers shall publish and promote the contract notice omitting all sensitive
information and requesting economic operators to express their interest to submit
tenders for the R&D procurement. Sensitive information shall be sent only to
economic operators who have expressed an interest, meet the selection criteria and
do not pose a security risk within the meaning of Article 28(4), point (d).
4. By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, where the publication
of a contract notice referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article and the
publication of other elements in the procurement documents referred to in Article 10
would be contrary to the security and public safety interests of the Union or one or
several of its Member States within the meaning of Article 28(2), public buyers shall
invite to tender and share the procurement documents only with potentially suitable
economic operators who have been identified during the market consultation
referred to in Article 9 and during market research, meet the qualification criteria and
do not pose a security risk within the meaning of Article 28(4), point (d).
5. The minimum time limit for re ceipt of tenders shall be one month from the date on
which the contract notice was sent for publication in the Official Journal of the
European Union . This minimum time limit can be shortened by the public buyer
where an emergency mode has been activated p ursuant Regulation (EU)
2024/274744, the emergency framework has been activated pursuant Council
Regulation (EU) 2022/2372 45, serious cross -border threats to health pursuant to
Regulation (EU) 2022/237146 exist, or the Commission has declared a crisis or a state
of emergency. The maximum time limit for public buyers to complete the evaluation
of the tenders and notify tenderers of the award decision shall be 60 calendar days
from the deadline for the reception of the tenders.
6. Public buyers shall verify, based on the information in the tender, which tenderers
have access to the R&D procurement in accordance with the conditions laid down in
Article 11.
7. Without prejudice to Article 15(9), public buyers shall evaluate all tenders submitted
by tenderers that have access to the R&D procurement on the basis of objective and
non-discriminatory criteria by applying the applicable exclusion grounds and
selection criteria laid down in Articles 13, 14 and 15, the minimum requirements to
be met by all tenderers and the applicable award criteria referred to in Article 17,
including the innovation -related award criteria, and they shall draft a ranked list of
evaluated tenders.
8. After the submission of the initia l tenders, public buyers may conduct interviews
with the economic operators and may conduct negotiations in one or several rounds.
Public shall ensure that in any given round of negotiations the number of solutions
discussed allows for genuine competition. After each round, and depending on the
outcome of the negotiations, the economic operators participating in the negotiations
shall be invited to submit a revised tender and public buyers may decide to reduce
the number of participants based on the award c riteria set in accordance with Article
17. Public buyers shall inform economic operators when a new round of negotiations
will start and whether or not they will be invited. Public buyers shall inform all
tenderers, whose tenders have not been eliminated, of any changes to the
specifications or changes to other parts of the procurement detail as a result of the
negotiations. Public buyers shall provide sufficient time for tenderers to modify and
re-submit amended tenders, as appropriate. Economic operators may submit revised
tenders depending on the outcome of the negotiations. Where a public buyer has
decided to conclude the negotiations and proceed to the award of the R&D
procurement contract, it shall invite the remaining economic operators to submit a
final tender.
44 Regulation (EU) 2024/2747 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 October 2024
establishing a framework of m easures related to an internal market emergency and to the resilience of
the internal market and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2679/98 (Internal Market Emergency
and Resilience Act) (OJ L, 2024/2747, 8.11.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024 /2747/oj).
45 Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2372 of 24 October 2022 on a framework of measures for ensuring the
supply of crisis -relevant medical countermeasures in the event of a public health emergency at Union
level (OJ L 314, 6.12.2022, p. 64, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/2372/oj).
46 Regulation (EU) 2022/2371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 November 2022 on
serious cross-border threats to health and repealing Decision No 1082/2013/EU (OJ L 314, 6.12.2022,
p. 26, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/2371/oj).
9. Not later than 30 days after the conclusion of the R&D procurement contract, public
buyers shall publish a contract award notice in the Official Journal of the European
Union and, after that, also on their national procurement portal , excep t where the
publication would be contrary to the security or public safety interests of the Union
or one or several of its Member States within the meaning of Article 28(2).
The contract award notice shall indicate that the procedure concerns an R&D
procurement and relates to innovation. The public buyer shall include, where
applicable, the words ‘pre -commercial procurement’ in the field ‘title of the
procurement’ and shall mark the field ‘innovation’ in the contract award notice.
The contract award noti ce shall include information on the value of the awarded
contract or contracts and any awarded lots.
Source: European Commission, proposal for a Regulation establishing the European Innovation Act, COM(2026) 567 final, 9 September 2026. Read the official proposal (PDF). Text may change during the legislative process.
Anthony Bochon’s analysis
Procedurally this article keeps the R&D call for tenders within the recognisable architecture of Union procurement — OJEU publication, national-portal follow-up, CPV codes and an innovation marker — while adding the security-driven derogations that let buyers withhold sensitive information or restrict invitations to operators identified in market consultation. The compressed timescales are what I would underline: a one-month minimum for tenders, shortenable under the various crisis and internal-market-emergency regimes, and a firm 60-day cap on evaluation and award, which is unusually demanding by public-procurement standards and signals a genuine intent to move at innovation speed.
The most consequential paragraph for advisers is paragraph 8, which authorises interviews and multi-round negotiations with progressive reduction of participants, subject to genuine competition, transparency and equal treatment. My reading is that this is closest in spirit to the competitive procedure with negotiation and the innovation partnership, and it places a heavy premium on rigorous documentation of each round; tenderers should prepare for an iterative, resource-intensive process and buyers should be scrupulous in notifying changes and allowing adequate time to revise tenders, because that is where challenges will crystallise.