The eafip initiative will support 6 procurers in developing a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) by providing assistance (including legal assistance) in the start-up and implementation of an innovation procurement. All public procurers from EU member states are eligible to apply for assistance.
PCP is a public procurement of Research and Development (R&D) services involving risk-benefit sharing under market conditions and competitive development in phases, where there is a clear separation between the procurement of the R&D from the deployment of commercial volumes of end-products.
In general, there are 3 phases in a PCP project. Phase 1 comprises solution exploration, Phase 2 comprises prototyping, and Phase 3 comprises original development and testing of a limited volume of first products or services in the form of a test series.
More information here.