An open market consultation is an open dialogue between procurer(s) and the market, in which the procurers ask for the view of the market to identify the ability thereof to meet the needs of the procurer(s). All potentially interested economic operators on the market are invited to attend the open market consultation (via announcement of the open market consultation in the European Tender Database).
An open market consultation will reveal whether the need is met by a readily available commercial solution or whether R&D (PCP) or close-to-market innovation (PPI) is needed to meet the need. When the solution to the need is not readily available, the open market consultation will help the public procurer to choose the right form of innovation procurement. If R&D is still required to meet the need, a PCP is the suitable choice (potentially followed by a PPI). If there are already suitable innovative solutions close to the market that have already passed the R&D stage and are ready for commercial deployment by a launch customer, a PPI is the suitable choice.