Article 31 — Common rules on joint R&D procurement
In brief
This article sets the common rules for joint R&D procurement by two or more public buyers from one or more Member States. Where buyers wish to procure jointly, they must conclude a joint procurement agreement that establishes a buyers’ group and appoints a lead buyer. It also frames how central purchasing bodies and Union institutions may be involved.
Key points
- The joint procurement agreement must set out at least the financial commitments of each buyer, the division of roles and responsibilities, the applicable law on matters such as dispute resolution, and the mechanism for allocating and exploiting the results.
- Members of the buyers’ group jointly fund the procurement and jointly run the market consultation, draft the documents and evaluate tenders.
- The lead buyer launches the procedure and awards contracts in the name of and on behalf of all members, and joint procurement may be conducted in any official language of the Union.
- Buyers may act through central purchasing bodies, which may buy and re-sell R&D services or results, act as intermediaries, and provide ancillary procurement support; a buyer using a compliant central purchasing body is deemed to meet its obligations.
- Union institutions, bodies or agencies may carry out R&D procurement, including pre-commercial procurement, under the referenced Union financial rules.
What it means in practice
Contracting authorities that want to pool needs and budgets across borders gain a structured route to do so, with clear governance through the lead buyer and a written agreement. Innovative firms, start-ups and SMEs may find themselves bidding into larger, cross-border procedures, potentially in any Union language, and dealing with a single lead buyer or a central purchasing body rather than several separate authorities.
Official text — Article 31 (COM(2026) 567)
1. Public buyers carrying out joint R&D procurement shall comply with the rules laid
down in this Regulation.
2. Public buyers may organise joint R&D procurement with two or more public buyers
from one or more Member States. Public buyers. Where two or more public buyers
from one or more Member States wish to conduct a joint R&D procurement, they
shall conclude a joint procurement agreement establishin g a buyers’ group and
appointing the lead buyer. That agreement shall specify at least the following:
(a) the financial commitments provided by each public buyer in the buyers’ group
for the joint R&D procurement;
(b) the division of roles and responsibil ities between the lead buyer and the public
buyers that are members of the buyers’ group regarding the R&D procurement
procedure, contract performance and post -contract interactions with former
contractors as referred to in Chapter 2, Section 1 and 2;
(c) the applicable Union or national law related to dispute resolution, related to
any procedures or approvals needed for testing prototypes or first products,
services or works developed during the R&D procurement and any other
aspects of the conduct of the joint R&D procurement that are not governed by
this Regulation;
(d) the mechanism for the allocation and exploitation of the results of the joint
R&D procurement.
In addition to the elements listed in Article 10, the procurement documents for joint
R&D procurement shall include the information referred to in the first subparagraph,
points (b), (c) and (d), of this paragraph.
3. The members of the buyers’ group shall jointly provide the financial commitments
for the R&D procurement and jointly conduct th e market consultation, draft
procurement documents for their common R&D procurement need, and carry out the
evaluation of tenders.
4. The lead buyer shall launch the joint R&D procurement procedure and award the
R&D procurement contracts in the name and o n behalf of all public buyers that are
members of the buyers’ group. Public buyers that conduct joint R&D procurement
may do so in any of the official languages of the Union and they may allow tenderers
to submit tenders in any of those official languages.
5. Public buyers may organise joint R&D procurement through central purchasing
bodies of one or more Member States.
6. For the purpose of this Regulation, central purchasing bodies shall be any public
buyer that carries out the following R&D procurement related activities:
(a) acting as a wholesaler by buying and re -selling R&D services procured on the
market or results of those R&D services;
(b) acting as an intermediary, by publishing notices and awarding R&D
procurement contracts for public buyers;
Central purchasing bodies may also, in addition to the activities set out above, carry
out or take part in joint R&D procurement activities or provide ancillary R&D
related procurement support services to public buyers, including infrastructure,
advice or te chnical assistance, including the preparation and management of R&D
procurement procedures on behalf and for the account of the public buyer concerned.
Public buyers shall indicate in the notices referred to in Article 4(5) when they are
acting as a central purchasing body.
Any public buyer may procure R&D services and obtain their intended results from
or through any central purchasing body established in the Union offering centralised
purchasing activities. A public buyer shall be deemed to fulfil its ob ligations
pursuant to this Regulation when it procures research and development services from
or through a central purchasing body which for that R&D procurement was obliged
to and has applied this Regulation. Central purchasing bodies that are not themsel ves
a public buyer shall conduct R&D procurement procedures in accordance with this
Regulation.
7. Union institutions, bodies or agencies may carry out R&D procurement, including
pre-commercial procurement, for themselves, jointly with or on behalf of oth er
Union entities and jointly with or on behalf of public buyers in Member States
according to the rules set out in Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the
European Parliament and of the Council.
Chapter 3
COMMERCIALISATION OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
RESULTS
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
The common rules on joint R&D procurement are, to my reading, where this Regulation reveals its ambition to build genuine cross-border demand aggregation for innovation. The mandatory joint procurement agreement — fixing financial commitments, the division of roles between lead buyer and buyers’ group, the applicable law on dispute resolution and prototype testing, and crucially the mechanism for allocating and exploiting results — is the legal backbone that will determine whether these consortia function in practice. In advising public bodies on collaborative procurement, I have seen that it is precisely the allocation-of-results clause and the choice of applicable law that later generate friction, so their elevation to mandatory content of the agreement is welcome.
The framework consciously echoes the joint and central-purchasing structures already familiar from the general procurement directives, while extending them to central purchasing bodies acting as wholesalers or intermediaries and to Union institutions procuring under the Financial Regulation. What I would watch is the multilingual regime and the cross-border liability that flows from a lead buyer awarding “in the name and on behalf of” others: for participating buyers, my reading is that the internal agreement, not the contract notice, is where their real exposure is defined.