Muntstroom

The Project in Brief
Why the name Muntstroom?
What is a PCP?
Budget
Collaboration with business support services
Support from Innoviris and EAFIP
Results PCP phase 0: Market consultations
Participation in a PCP

The Project in Brief

The Muntstroom project is the first Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) in the field of pedestrian flow analysis in Europe and is intended to make the Brussels-Capital Region more attractive to pedestrians. Measuring and analysing people flows provides insight in how people use the city. On the basis of these insights, it is possible, for instance, to determine the shortest, safest, and most convenient routes for going from point A to point B. Information that could, for example, be added to mobility apps.
The Muntstroom project is initiated by four public buyers: STIB-MIVB (lead), CIRB-CIBG, Brussels Mobility and parking.brussels. Those public buyers would like to be the launching customer for an integrated end-to-end solution for the outdoor and indoor monitoring of people flow. Indeed, research showed that the desired integrated solution, and specific elements thereof, do not yet exist.
After the successful completion of the project, the public buyers intend to initiate a public procurement around the developed solution, based on the lessons learned from the project. This is phase 4: Procurement of Innovative Solutions, in the figure below.

Why the name Muntstroom?

The name Muntstroom on the one hand refers to the Place de la Monnaie/Muntplein in Brussels, where we want to test the developed solution, and on the other to pedestrian flow (stroom in Dutch).
The Place de la Monnaie/Muntplein is the perfect ecosystem in which to carry out a people flow analysis, as it is home to car parks, tram and bus stops, metro trains and buses, cycle parks, a library (Muntpunt), shopping centres, shopping streets, a large number of offices, restaurants and catering establishments, hotels and the Opera. It is a busy, complex location that is traversed by a lot of people each day.

What is a PCP?

PCP stands for Pre-Commercial Procurement or Pre-Commercial Purchase. Via a PCP project a government or local authority seeks to buy/acquire innovation, more specifically the development of services/products not yet commercially available. A PCP is an important instrument to:

• Strengthen the international competitiveness of trade and industry;
• Enable the government to optimise its own performance and services and address major social challenges in the most efficient way possible.

A PCP has 4 phases:  

• Phase 0: Market Consultation
• Phase 1: Solution design
• Phase 2: Prototypes development
• Phase 3: Prototypes testing in living lab

An evaluation is carried out after each phase and eligible businesses are invited to submit a tender for the next phase. A PCP usually results in a solution which has been developed to a TRL level of 7 or 8, and so not fully ready for use.
On the basis of the PCP outcomes, the public buyers can place a follow-up innovation order in the form of a Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions (PPI).

Budget

The foreseen total maximum budget for co-financing the R&D is € 500.000. This budget does not include the public procurement of the to-be-developed solution (PPI), as a result of this PCP. The budget will be allocated among the selected consortia and across the 3 PCP phases. The exact figures will be included in the PCP’s specifications.

Collaboration with business support services

To create sufficient exposure for the Muntstroom project, the public buyers will work together with four intermediary organizations: EASME, Agoria, BECI and hub.brussels. These parties will help reach the most innovative businesses within Brussels, Belgium, and Europe. Additionally, they will help identify the matchmaking needs and – if and when required – subsequently support the matchmaking activities by reaching out to their respective networks.
 

Support from Innoviris and EAFIP

The project is supported by:

• Innoviris, the institute for the promotion of scientific research and innovation of the Brussels-Capital Region.
• European Assistance For Innovation Procurement (EAFIP) – this initiative, set up and funded by the European Commission (DG CONNECT) supports European procurement services in their procurement of innovative IT solutions, promotes best practices and provides assistance and information in the field of innovation procurement.

Results PCP phase 0: Market consultations

PCP phase 0 took place in 2020. Two market consultations were drawn up:

• an Open Market Consultation (OMC) to give technology suppliers the possibility to provide feedback
• an Open Client Dialogue (OCD) to give potential end-users of people flow data the possibility to provide feedback

Available documents:

• The Market consultation document comprised a general part (click here) and two appendixes: Appendix 1) Scope of the project (click here) and Annex 2) Use cases (click here)
• The information notice (click here)
• The report on the two market consultations (click here)

Participation in a PCP

The specifications of the Pre-Commercial Procurement are currently being drawn up. The invitation for submitting a tender will be published on the Belgian e-notification platform and the European TED (Tenders Electronic Daily). Further communication will take place, among other channels, via the business support organisations.

Registering for notification of publication

If you wish to be notified at the moment of publication, please send an email to muntstroom@stib-mivb.brussels. The notification will only concern the imminent publication of the specifications and the request to submit a tender. It does not offer any guarantees whatsoever regarding the subsequent process.

Register now on the Belgian e-Tender platform

The Belgian e-Tendering platform will be available for asking questions regarding the specifications and submitting tenders electronically. As the registration process takes some time, we recommend that interested parties submit their registration for this platform well ahead of time. The following information may be found helpful:

• manual e-Tendering for businesses.  Here you will find the necessary documents such as examples of powers of attorney
• HELPDESK: +32 (0)2 7408000   and e.proc@publicprocurement.be
• The signature of an authorized person must be placed electronically under penalty of rejection. How? manual e-Tendering for businesses (p.54) and the checklist submitting tenders (p.9)
• The CPV codes for which you should register are: 73000000 and 72000000.