DSIT & NI Project Barbara PoC

DSIT (OLS) proposes awarding a twelve-month research and development contract to the Neurodegeneration Initiative’ (NI) to carry out a proof-of-concept feasibility study which will lead to creation of the Project BARBARA platform, as an exempted contract under Schedule 2, paragraph 22 of the Procurement Act 2023.

The R&D services exemption under Schedule 2 paragraph 22 gives contracting authorities the freedom to design R&D programs that could seek to develop products or technology for the benefit of the market as a whole, and for which the authority itself has no requirements. For example, government contracts for research by public research institutions, universities or the private sector.

The exemption, at Schedule 2 paragraph 22(1), applies where the services to be procured are intended by the contracting authority to be for a public benefit or result in a public benefit. This is satisfied because the purpose of the contract and services is to create a platform that will benefit the public - solely for the supply of R&D services; this is also satisfied.

The services must also consist of one or more of the activities listed in paragraph 22(2) (a)-(d). The most relevant of these is paragraph 22(2)(c):

“(c) development which uses existing knowledge to initiate the manufacture of new materials or products, establish new processes, systems or services, or to achieve a substantial improvement in existing materials, products, processes, systems or services"