Open Market Consultation: On-site treatment of hospital wastewater

PROCURE4HEALTH wish to engage with interested suppliers in the marketplace through an Open Market Consultation (OMC) for the future Pre-Commercial Procurement of R&D services concerning on-site treatment of hospital wastewater.

The PROCURE4HEALTH project aims to address the challenges faced by Health & Social Care systems in the European Union through innovation procurement. The PROCURE4HEALTH project receives funding under the European Union’s Horizon Europe framework program for research and innovation. The EU is however not participating as a contracting authority in the procurement.

Opportunity Information

Get to know further details on the challenge by clicking here.

Scope and main objectives

Through this OMC, the Public Buyers Group (PBG) of PROCURE4HEALTH with Reseau Des Acheteurs Hospitaliers IDF (RESAH) as lead procurer, aims to challenge the market to develop innovative solutions to effectively remove toxic substances, infectious compounds, pharmaceutical residues, and pathogens from hospital wastewater on the hospital’s premises.

Hospitals discharge considerable amounts of chemicals and microbial agents in their wastewaters, such as antibiotics, X-ray contrast agents, disinfectants, and pharmaceuticals. Many of these chemical compounds resist normal wastewater treatment. The presence of those substances in hospital wastewater poses an environmental and health risk (e.g. the risk of waterborne transmission and potential outbreaks or contamination of drinking water sources).

In this context, the purpose of the OMC is to inform technology providers and other relevant stakeholders about the needs of the PBG and to gather their input about the PROCURE4HEALTH challenge for developing a solution to sanitize hospital wastewater onsite with the following required functionalities:

• Channelling the hospital wastewater into a centralized treatment facility.
• Separating/treating highly soluble reagents like sodium azide or other hazardous chemicals.
• Removing large solid debris and coarse materials from the wastewater.
• Working stably despite high concentrations of disinfection agents.
• Treating persistent organic pollutants.
• Meeting the required wastewater discharge standards by disinfecting hospital wastewater.
• Reducing nutrient concentrations (like nitrogen and phospherus).
• Filtering and separating HWW through advanced treatment technologies.
• Handling properly any sludge that might form.
• Including monitoring devices and sensors to measure important parameters like pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pollutant concentrations.
• Odor control
• If possible, depending on local regulations and requirements, reusing the treated hospital wastewater for non-potable applications within the hospital, such as irrigation, toilet flushing, or cooling tower makeup water.

Another objective of the OMC is to understand the technology providers’ capabilities to satisfy the public buyers’ needs and to obtain their input on the viability of the procurement plans and conditions as described in this document and annexes. In sum, the objectives of this OMC are to:

1. Validate the findings of the State-Of-The-Art (SOTA) analysis and the viability of the set of technical and financial provisions.
2. Raise awareness of the industry and relevant stakeholders regarding the upcoming PCP.
3. Collect insights from the industry and relevant stakeholders (including users) to finetune the tender specifications. This OMC is performed under the law of the lead procurer (RESAH), which is French law. The contracting authorities involved in the PROCURE4HEALTH project are not legally bound in any way by the outcome of the OMC.

Who can participate?

The target groups of this OMC are technology providers and end users. All interested parties are invited to take part in the OMC. However, please note that technology providers established in countries not eligible to participate in Horizon Europe Innovation Actions in any capacity cannot participate in the PCP procedure. Nevertheless, it is possible to form alliances of technology vendors (consortia).

Key Dates

- 5 January 2024 - Publication of the general Prior Information Notice (PIN) on TED, click here

- March 2024 - Publication of the Prior Information Notice (PIN) on TED (specific for this challenge).

- 4 March 2024 - Publication of the OMC documents, click here. Publication of the EU Survey questionnaire, click here

- 3 April 2024 – OMC Event - this event has now passed. A recording is available to re-watch, click here

- 18 April 2024 - Deadline for the submission of questions via the OMC questionnaire (17:00 CET).

- 6 May 2024 - Publication of the OMC findings, including all questions and answers to the OMC questionnaire.

- 8 May 2024 - Closure of the OMC.

Further Information

Join the upcoming online Open Market Consultation session on 3rd April 2024 from 10:00-11:30 CET. Sign-up here

Get to know further details on the challenge by clicking here.

Please submit questionnaires and any questions regarding the OMC as directed via the following link: OMC – On-site treatment of hospital wastewater – Procure4Health

Please note: This is an Open Market Consultation (OMC) for pre-tender supplier engagement only.