Competitive development in phases refers to the competitive approach used in PCP by procurers to buy R&D from several competing R&D providers in parallel to compare and identify the best value for money solutions on the market to address the PCP challenge.
The R&D is also split in phases (solution design, prototyping, original development and validation / testing of the first products). The number of competing R&D providers is reduced after each PCP phase subsequent to intermediate evaluations.
The phased approach reduces the investment risk for the public procurer, facilitates the participation of smaller innovative companies (SMEs) and rewards the most competitive solutions. Evidence also shows that competitive development in phases that is clearly separated from later deployment contracts, generates significant quality improvements and on average 20% cost reduction in first products for procurers.