EU-wide Advantages and Opportunities – HORIZON-CL3-2025-01-SSRI-06

1. Single Market Access (450+ million citizens)

• Civil-security procurement in the EU represents >€35 billion/year. A PCP contract that is compliant with EU directives is automatically recognised by all 27 Member States, giving suppliers a pan-European first reference.

• Harmonised technical requirements negotiated in the project become de-facto common specifications, lowering the cost of re-selling in additional countries.

• The topic explicitly asks for joint-cross-border procurement schemes; this enables bundling of demand and creation of lead markets that are too small at national level.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Minimum eligibility (3 procurers + 3 practitioners from 3 MS/AC) guarantees a multinational test bed for prototypes in different operational settings (urban, maritime, land borders, etc.).

• Joint open-market consultations in ≥3 MS stimulate trans-European SME & start-up participation, enriching the solution pool and avoiding vendor lock-in.

• Practitioners share doctrines, training and lessons learnt, accelerating mutual recognition of procedures among police, civil-protection and border-management authorities.

3. Alignment with EU Strategies

• Security Union Strategy & EU Counter-Terrorism Agenda: addresses capability gaps identified by DG HOME and JHA agencies.

• Digital Europe & Europe’s Digital Decade: drives uptake of EU common data spaces, AI and cybersecurity standards.

• Green Deal & Net-Zero Industry Act: PCP can prioritise low-carbon, energy-efficient security tech (e.g., drones with hydrogen fuel cells).

• Open Strategic Autonomy: supports European supply chains and reduces dependency on third-country tech in critical security domains.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Standardisation

• Results feed into CEN/CENELEC/ETSI working groups, shaping future EN standards.

• Early engagement with EU agencies (Frontex, Europol, eu-LISA, ERA, EMSA) eases later certification or mutual recognition.

• One PCP compliant with Directive 2014/24/EU avoids 27 separate tendering procedures, minimising legal risk and time-to-market.

5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• Fast-track connection to EIC Accelerator, EIT Digital/Security KICs and 300+ Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) for further piloting.

• Synergies with ESA Security & Defence Accelerator and the European Defence Fund for dual-use spin-offs.

• Involvement of top EU RTOs (Fraunhofer, CEA, VTT, TNO, TECNALIA…) provides TRL leap-frogging capacity that individual MS may lack.

6. Funding Synergies & Leverage

• ERDF & Just Transition Funds: co-finance infrastructure needed for large-scale deployment post-PCP.

• Internal Security Fund (ISF) & Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI): can buy successful solutions under Art. 58 CPR.

• Recovery & Resilience Facility (RRF) national plans allocate digital-security budgets compatible with PCP outputs.

• LIFE, CEF Digital, Digital Europe Programme – for complementary cybersecurity, 5G/6G and AI components.

7. Economies of Scale & Market Uptake

• Requirement to validate ≥2 prototypes in real operational environments in multiple MS demonstrates scalability and interoperability, key for wide EU adoption.

• Wide dissemination mandated by Horizon Europe (e.g., EU-funded innovation procurement catalogue) provides free marketing to >5 000 EU contracting authorities.

• Potential to create a European security technology ‘reference architecture’, easing subsequent PPI and framework contracts.

8. Strategic Value Compared to National Schemes

• Pooling demand across borders mitigates fragmented spending and enables lot sizes large enough to justify industrialisation.

• Shared IPR conditions under Horizon-PCP MGA favour SMEs: suppliers keep ownership yet grant buyers access rights – far more flexible than many national grants.

• Facilitates benchmarking of alternative technologies under identical KPIs, providing robust evidence for national ministries of interior/justice to fund roll-out.

9. Actionable Recommendations for Applicants

• Build a consortium that reflects geographical and functional diversity (e.g., law-enforcement + civil-protection + critical-infrastructure operators).

• Map your challenge to at least 2 EU policy priorities (e.g., AI Act compliance + Green Deal) to score highly on impact.

• Leverage prior CSA outputs (e.g., iProcureNet, H2020-ENLETS) to shorten preparation phase and prove demand aggregation.

• Engage standardisation bodies from day one and budget for pre-normative work.

• Draft a clear post-PCP scale-up roadmap linking to ISF/BMVI or RRF funds in the participating Member States.

• Consider the fast-track PCP (2-phase) option if at least one procurer commits to direct purchase during the project; this raises evaluation scores on viability and sustainability.

By capitalising on these EU-level advantages, consortia can de-risk innovation, unlock larger markets, and accelerate the deployment of cutting-edge civil-security solutions across Europe.