Public Robot Procurement

Talk to the market before you specify

Robotics changes quickly, so most buyers learn a great deal from suppliers before writing a specification. Cabinet Office guidance on the Procurement Act 2023 explains that section 16 covers preliminary market engagement and section 17 requires a preliminary market engagement notice, or an explanation of why none was published. The guidance lists purposes such as developing requirements, designing the procedure and identifying potential suppliers, and it requires you to make sure that suppliers taking part are not put at an unfair advantage. In practice, invite several makers to demonstrate, ask the same questions of each, and publish a summary of what you shared. Record any conflicts of interest and how you handled them.

Write requirements around outcomes

A specification that names a favourite robot invites challenge and shuts out better ideas. Describe the job instead: the assets to inspect, the spaces to clean, the visitors to help, the conditions the machine must survive and the data it must hand over. State the formats your asset or case management systems accept, the accessibility your services must meet and the support you expect over the robot's life. Ask bidders to price training, maintenance, software licences, spares and end-of-life disposal alongside the hardware, so whole-life cost is visible. Leave room for different kinds of machine, since a drone, a crawler and a legged robot may all meet the same outcome in different ways.

Choosing a procedure that allows testing

Robots are hard to judge on paper, so choose a procedure that lets you see them work. Cabinet Office guidance on competitive tendering explains that section 20 of the Act offers the open procedure, a single stage in which any interested supplier can bid, and the competitive flexible procedure, which the authority designs to suit the purchase. The guidance notes that a flexible procedure can include negotiation and stages such as demonstrations or site visits that test whether key parts of a tender can be delivered. Under section 19, the contract goes to the most advantageous tender. Weight your award criteria so that performance in a trial on your own site counts, alongside price and support.

When the solution does not exist yet

Sometimes no product on the market does what a service needs, such as inspecting an unusual culvert or guiding visitors in several local languages. In the EU, Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement includes an innovation partnership procedure for developing and then buying solutions that are not yet available. In the UK, the competitive flexible procedure can be shaped to include development stages. Either way, settle intellectual property, data ownership and what happens if development fails before the contract starts. Plan the route from pilot to wider roll-out at the outset, because a successful trial that cannot lawfully be extended to other sites leaves the service where it began.

Sources and further reading

• Procurement Act 2023 guidance: Preliminary Market Engagement — Cabinet Office, GOV.UK.
  How sections 16 and 17 of the Procurement Act 2023 govern talking to suppliers before a tender, and the fairness duties.
• Procurement Act 2023 guidance: Competitive Tendering Procedures — Cabinet Office, GOV.UK.
  Explains the open and competitive flexible procedures, demonstrations and the most advantageous tender test.
• Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC — European Union, EUR-Lex.
  The EU's main public procurement directive, including the innovation partnership procedure for new solutions.

Common questions

Can a council buy a robot without running a tender?

Sometimes. Low-value purchases follow your own standing orders, and existing framework agreements may let you call off without a fresh competition. Direct awards above the thresholds are allowed only in narrow cases set out in law, so involve your procurement team before discussing prices with any single supplier.

Is a free trial from a robot maker a problem for later procurement?

It can be. A free trial may give that maker inside knowledge or an unfair head start. Offer comparable opportunities to other suppliers, agree written terms covering data, liability and insurance, and keep the trial clearly separate from any later competition.