"At the end of the Marine-EO Project, we can say that we engaged in 'school' in an innovative tender procedure whose rules were totally unknown, but that its initial complexity was fading as the different phases of the Project were being completed. It was a pioneer call procedure in the country that gave us great pleasure to conclude successfully and that will certainly serve as a model for future projects of this nature.
Marine-EO is a project funded under the Horizon 2020 Programme (H2020) that aimed to develop customised solutions leveraging Copernicus' Maritime Surveillance Services.
This project, as a joint Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP), integrated a consortium of nine European bodies, composed of five maritime authorities (the Purchasers' Group) and four technical-scientific organisations with significant experience in Earth observation and maritime affairs. All these entities with common needs dependent on the development, testing and validation of a range of innovative Earth observation services aimed at incremental and / or radical innovation in the field of maritime awareness.
DGPM, as Lead Purchaser, had the responsibility to prepare, launch and execute this innovation procurement procedure for pre-commercial procurement.
The Marine-EO PCP is completed and is the subject of one of the case studies produced and made available by the Competence Centre."
Sandra Silva
Director of Programming Services, Direção Geral de Política do Mar (DGPM)