A: If I do not participate for the Open Market Consultation events or surveys, can I still leave an offer?
Q: Yes you can. The consultation period only enables the FABULOS Consortium to get a better view of the existing market by talking with potential suppliers and other specialists in the field.

Q: Are you also looking at Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) solutions?
A: The FABULOS project is focused on the public transit and particular on (on-demand) last-mile transport. Project targets specifically automated buses and wishes to have as few changes to the infrastructure as possible. Solutions requiring rail are not what the FABULOS project is looking for.

Q: When will I have a chance to ask more questions?
A: The request for tenders will be published on 1 September and we will have the first webinar on 11 September at 10.00. Registration will be opened in mid August.

Q: Which law applies?
A: The Finnish law applies to all contracts, as Forum Virium Helsinki is the lead procurer. Of course, for the field tests, the applicable laws on field testing of automated vehicles in the respective countries apply.

Q: Is it allowed to try out new business models and investigate this with the local public transport when piloting?
A: Yes, this is allowed.

Q: Will all the Deliverables be publicly available?
A: No. The Deliverables in section 2.3 of Tender Document 1 (such as Concept design reports and end-of-phase reports) are by default confidential and only available for Procuring partners. It is part of the Immaterial Property of the Suppliers.

Q: What is the role of the local public transport operators?
A: They do not have a formal role in the project, only via the cities. With the exception of Procuring Partner STCP, which is the public transport operator in Porto. Public transport operators are considered as key stakeholders and have been included in by the FABULOS partners from the start, for example in the route planning.

Q: We have technologies needed for the FABULOS challenge and would like to put in an offer, but we do not have a vehicle. What to do?
A: The minibuses can be leased. You can contact robotbus manufacturers directly to discuss this. You can also use the Matchmaker Tool find partners or to indicate what you search for.

Q: Is it possible for Suppliers to suggest amendments and/or modifications to the Framework Agreement?
A: No, this is not possible.
Q: When the final Market Consultation report will be available?
A: Report will be available on the FABULOS website by end of June 2018.

Q: Are the Open Market Consultation events in Helsinki and Brussels identical?
A: They are not exactly the same, but there will be overlap in content. The Helsinki event is the main Open Market Consultation event whereas in Brussels, the results from the first Open Market Consultation month will be taken into account. In addition, in Brussels there will not be be Supplier pitches.

Q: Could I receive the participant lists from the Market Consultation Phase?
A: The participant lists for the Open Market Consultation events nor lists of companies who have indicated they are considering putting in an offer are not public. However, on the Matchmaker Tool you can find companies which have indicated their interest to join in a consortium, the areas of expertise they have to offer and the ones they are looking for.
Q: When do you plan to publish the request for tender and when is the submission deadline?
A: The FABULOS call for tender will be published on 1 September 2018 and the deadline for submission is 31 October 2018 (17.00 CET).

Q: Can a research lab be a Supplier?
A: Yes, as long as the solution is credible.

Q: Is there a maximum consortium size?
A: No. But note that there is a maximum available budget.

Q: Can they be international members and is the Request for Tender open to SMEs as well as to Technological Centres?
A: Yes, there can be international members and the tender is open to all kind of organisations. But keep in mind that companies need to adhere to the rule from the Horizon2020 funding scheme regarding the place of performance: at least 50% of the R&D work needs to take place in in EU Member States and/or associated countries to Horizon 2020. This 50% rule applies per tenderer. If suppliers apply as a consortium, the 50% rules applies thus to the consortium as a whole, not to each individual supplier inside a consortium.

Q: Can there be a transport authority with its own fleet in the consortium?
A: Anyone can participate, as long as at least 50% of the R&D work takes place in the EU Member States and/or associated countries to Horizon 2020. Mind that consortia need to be prepared to do the field testing in one of the six Procuring Partner cities in Phase 3 of the pre-commercial procurement (Lamia, Gjesdal, Helmond, Helsinki, Tallinn, Porto). The FABULOS partners decide where each consortium has to do its field test.

Q: Do you have a forecast of the maximum length for the proposal?
A: The Request for Tenders will have templates that consortia should use, fill and return. See below the forecast for the forms and page limits:
Form A – General Tender Submission Form: 15 pages
Form B – Exclusion Criteria: 5 pages
Form C – Selection Criteria: 25 pages including CVs of key staff
Form D – Compliance Criteria: 5 pages
Form E – Technical Offer: 35 pages
Form F – Financial Offer and Cost Breakdown: 25 pages
Form G – Financial Offer Phase 1: 3 pages

Q: What kind on consortium do you imagine answering to the FABULOS Request for Tenders? Can you detail the type of actors (manufactures, engineering companies, laboratories etc..)?
A: Any consortium that has a proposal for the full solution. It can be one company or a consortium of multiple companies.

Q: Do local actors (belonging to countries of the FABULOS Procuring Partners) must be included?
A: No. But companies need to adhere to the rule from the Horizon2020 funding scheme regarding the place of performance: at least 50% of the R&D work needs to take place in in EU Member States and/or associated countries to Horizon 2020. This 50% rule applies per tenderer. If suppliers apply as a consortium, the 50% rules applies thus to the consortium as a whole, not to each individual supplier inside a consortium.

Q: Can a main actor be part of several consortia?
A: Yes, but all partners need to agree on this. And because of this there cannot be an exclusivity agreement. Partners that are in multiple consortia must ensure that they have resources available in case all consortia are approved.

Q: Is digitalisation of R&D & testing of interest to FABULOS and/or part of the Tender?
A: Yes. With reference to Tender Document 2 (Functional Specifications, Function 7): In Phase 2 a substitute vehicle, technology mule or prototype may be used and the fleet management system can be shown with computer simulated vehicles. However, the FABULOS project seeks "all inclusive" solutions and companies cannot put an offer for only one element of the Tender. If company has expertise that is only relevant for some (but not all) of the Phases, it can either become partner in a consortium or subcontractor for a specific task in a specific phase. The Matchmaker Tool can help to find suitable partners. It should be noted, that partners cannot be removed or added during the project, subcontractors can.

Q: Do the page limit of the Forms include Annexes?
A: No, the page limits apply to the Forms only.

Q: What can be annexed to the Forms? Can the forms be optimised?
A: Forms A-G cannot be altered and need to be fully filled. It is allowed to submit annexes with the offer, but they will not be evaluated.

Q: In Tender Document 2 a minimum of three vehicles per fleet is specified, but Tender Document 1 does not mention anything about this. Can you confirm the size of the fleet?
A: As per Functionality 7.1 (in Tender Document 2), a fleet of minimum three vehicles in operation is required in order to verify that the system can be operated as a fleet. Note that vehicles need to charge or can be out of order, so to have three vehicles in operation, more vehicles are likely needed. It is up to the Supplier to describe in Function 7 in the Technical Offer (Form E) how they will deal with this.

Q: Can you elaborate on the format and documents that need to be handed in to be allowed to start Phase 1?
A: Forms A-G, fully filled in and signed.

Q: We provide the tools to test vehicles during development with products varying from steering and pedal robots, ADAS soft targets to our award winning synchro and path following software. Do you see a need for our services? If so, at what stage?
A: The details of our request can be found in Tender document 2: Functional Specifications. Testing takes place during phase 2 (prototyping and lab testing) and in Phase 3 (field testing). Note that the Procuring partners only accept offers from consortia that are able to deliver the entire turnkey solution, including fleet, software, hardware, sensors, services etc. You can use the matchmaking tool on fabulos.eu to find partners, if needed. You can also act as a subcontractor for certain parts of the testing. The Procurers do not impose uniform testing of the solutions: it is every Suppliers' responsibility to validate their solutions based on Procurers' specifications.

Q: Tender document, Form D: Is it sufficient to have the signature only from the Lead Tenderer?
A: Yes, only the Lead Tenderer signs on behalf of the consortium.

Q: Tender document, Form A: It is unlikely that our consortium would need to subcontract anything in the Phase 1, and we do not yet know the possible subcontractors for Phases 2 and 3. Is a list of subcontractors in the Tender document Form A still required?
A: No. It is essential to indicate which parts of the solution will be subcontracted (Form A) and how the budgets will be divided between the consortium and subcontractors (Form F). You can already name the subcontractors for future phases if you know them, but this is not mandatory. However, keep in mind that the offer should convincingly show how the full solution could be developed and it will be evaluated based on that. No essential part of the solution or project management can be subcontracted.

Q: Tender documents, Form B: Is a separate form from each consortium member required?
A: Yes, for clarity please submit a separate form from each consortium member.

Q: In our offer, do we need to describe all the phases now or only the first phase?
A: The offer needs to cover all the 3 Phases. For example, in Form E it should be described if/how all "must-have" functions and "all nice-to-have" functions for all phases will be achieved. With the 10 winning consortia we will sign both a Contract for phase 1 as well as a Framework Agreement covering all 3 phases.

Q: Form D, question D2: ”Does this research involve personal data collection and processing?” Does this refer to the consortium and subcontractors?
A: It refers to research data collection within the project, such as the R&D work and piloting. Suppliers need to comply to GDPR and local data and privacy protection regulations.

Q: NFR 1.8 in TD2: “The Safety plan and risk assessment should be verified by an Independent Safety Assessor”. Is it possible that this task is done by a consortium member?
A: If this definition is fulfilled, then yes: "Independent safety assessment is the formation of a judgement, separate and independent from any system design, development or operational personnel".

Q: Tender document 1: A max budget per phase is defined with a max budget per supplier. With the term “supplier”, do you mean per consortium member or can subcontractors also be named as suppliers?
A: the term “supplier” refers to the entire consortium. You are able to divide the budget between your consortium members as you wish.

Q: Phase 3 Field tests can be done in parallel or consecutively. However, the planning of Phase 3 (par 2.3.3 in Tender Doc 1) does not seem to foresee the possibility of consecutive field tests. Are you open to a new planning for Phase 3?
A: Yes, latest in the Phase 3 call-off documents, two options for the detailed planning for Phase 3 will be provided: One in case the field tests are done in parallel and another in case field tests are done consecutively.

Q: Do you prefer to have all the information inserted in the designated forms in word and excel – or can we enter in the Form for instance “see appendix XX” which refer to another document that we can style as we please and insert, for example, images?
A: You are allowed to submit annexes, but the evaluation will be based only on the content of the Forms. Therefore, all crucial information should be in the Forms.

Q: Function 2.2 in TD2: We do not understand how a remote driver person in the control room could manually drive a vehicle in case of loss of communications. Can you specify the expectations on this point?
A: This is an error: It should not have been one sentence: these requirements are actually two separate things. Ability for… does not apply in case of total communication loss.

Q: We are a company providing Demand Responsive Transport. We noticed that on-demand is referred as “nice-to-have” in the Functional Requirements of Request for Tenders. How does our knowledge fit to FABULOS?
A: In the evaluation the "nice-to-haves" offer a great way to distinguish a company from the other consortia. Scoring high on "nice-to-haves" will give additional points and help stand out. With the weighting this can be a significant advantage. There are several piloting cities in the FABULOS project that would like to have on-demand solutions piloted.

Q: In the Phase 1 it says there will be 10 contracts. Does this mean 10 Consortia or 10 independent suppliers are awarded with the contract?
A: There will be 10 contracts for 10 different Consortium. The number of suppliers within the consortium is not restricted, as long as the Consortium is able to provide the full solution.

Q: Some of the requirements required in Phase 3 will be a bit difficult to answer exactly at this point since we don’t have the vehicle or all the suppliers and subcontractors chosen yet. Do you expect a specific answer to every functional requirement?
A: The credibility of the solution to fulfil the requirements is the key. We want to know what is your idea on trying to tackle the problem. We're not expecting the exact solution in those most difficult ones yet at this point, but we need to see how the process behind tackling that problem is. Those who will have more elaborated solutions already now, will likely score better in the evaluation. So please extrapolate your ideas as much as possible.

Q: Are the vehicles provided by the FABULOS consortium?
A: No, the fleet is expected to be provided by the Supplier consortium as part of the full solution.

Q: What is the duration of the pilots?
A: Each pilot should have the duration of minimum 50 days, you are able to do the pilots consecutively or parallel.

Q: Is the contract financed hundred percent as an R&D activity?
A: Yes, this is a R&D procurement and, like regular procurements, it is 100% funded. There is no specified minimum amount of co-financing for the Suppliers. However, we do expect companies to put in their own resources in as well.

Q: Some of the requirements required in Phase 3 will be a bit difficult to answer exactly at this point since we don’t have the vehicle or all the suppliers and subcontractors chosen yet. Do you expect a specific answer to every functional requirement?
A: The credibility of the solution to fulfil the requirements is the key. It is important to show that your idea is trying to tackle the problem. Therefore, the exact solutions in most challenging requirements is not expected at this point, but revealing the process that is expected to tackle the problem. Those who will have more elaborated solutions already now, will likely score better in the evaluation. So please extrapolate your ideas as much as possible.

Q: In the case we apply and do not get the permissions and exemptions in every six cities for Phase 3, will Phase 2 considered not satisfactorily completed? Will there be financial consequences for the payment of phase 2?
A: No, it will not be considered as unsatisfactorily completed, if the permission process was started but no final answer was obtained yet. There will not be financial consequences, if this Deliverable 2.5 is not fully completed due to external factors that you could not influence.

Q: If a "must-have" requirement is not reached, will there be financial consequences concerning the satisfactory completion and the payment?
A: If a "must-have" requirement is not fulfilled, the evaluation scores will be lower. If the overall threshold for the Function (scores for all must haves and nice to haves combined) is not reached the Consortium cannot proceed to the next Phase. As for the payment of the current Phase: yes, there will be penalties and ultimately non-payment is an option. This is decided on a case-by-case basis by the Procuring Partners.

Q: Framework Agreement page 9, 6.1: “The Contractor shall not without prior permission in writing by Forum Virium Helsinki Oy subcontract the performance of any part of his obligations under the Framework Agreement to any other subcontractor(s) than that (those) which is (are) named in the Framework Agreement”. As we do not know now the two operations sites (two sites among six) in Phase 3, is it possible to add new subcontracting for the operations execution task during field test?
A: Yes, as long as budget has been reserved for these subcontractors in the Phase 3 offer/specific contract.

Q: Overview of travels, paragraph 2.3.5: We do not understand why the supplier should arrange pay travels for the Evaluation Committee. Can you modify that?
A: Yes, modifications will be made when submitting the Call-offs for Phases 2 and 3. The reviewers of the European Commission will be paid by the EC, the Technical Evaluation Committee has its own travel budget.

Q: Framework Agreement, page 6, Definition of applicable laws and all laws, treaties, rules, regulations and orders of any local, national or other authority having jurisdiction over the Contractor. Can you clarify the applicable laws?
A: The solution must work within the boundaries of existing laws. There is some information on current legislation in TD2 Annex 3. This document will be elaborated by the Procuring Partners throughout the project and by the end of Phase 2 it will be sent to Suppliers. The Procuring Partners support Suppliers in navigating with the specific local regulations during Phase 3 field testing. It is the responsibility of Supplier to ensure that the work done under this Framework Agreement complies with all applicable regulations and laws in the countries when their field tests take place.

Q: Can you clarify the liability of the Lead tenderer and the liability of other members of a consortium?
A: All members of the consortium are jointly and separately bound to fulfil the terms of the contracts. The Lead Tenderer shall be mandated to act on behalf of the consortium for the purposes of the contracts and shall have the authority to bind the consortium. Therefore, a joint Tender must specify the role, qualification and experience of each member of the consortium. A single authorised representative of the association or consortium, with sufficient powers to exercise the rights and comply with the obligations that arise from the FABULOS pre-commercial procurement procedure shall be appointed and be mandated as the Lead Tenderer.
Q: How will be selected which company delivers what, in each phase? Do suppliers need to share anything with each other?
A: It is a competitive process. Suppliers work in parallel on their own solution and do not need to share any information. In other words, every supplier must answer all requirements fully: an all-inclusive solution is needed from each partner or consortium. After the end of the FABULOS project, from 2021 onwards, suppliers are naturally welcome to join forces and create spin offs.

Q: Can partners be added or consortia be changed between phases?
A: Phase 2 suppliers will be selected from the successful Phase 1 pool of suppliers. Phase 3 suppliers will be selected from the successful Phase 2. It is a closed process and no one can join in between phases, however, suppliers can add subcontracts in between phases?

Q: One of the benefits of the pre-commercial procurement is that "risk and benefits are shared". What benefits do you mean exactly?
A: Benefits for procurers are, for example, royalty free access rights to use the end result of the process. Whereas, benefits for suppliers include getting funding and clear set of requirements / wishes from the partnering cities. A pool of cities is made available to test the prototypes and obtain a proof-of-concept. Through the Preferred Partners, a large potential group of buyers can be reached after the solution has been commercialised. Companies have the right to commercialise the IPR and this is in fact expected.

Q: Is it also possible for suppliers to join that have proven technology that are past the prototyping phase?
A: No, in a sense that there is no solution yet on market that satisfies our demands – that FABULOS consortium knows of. This will be validated during the Open Market Consultation in the spring of 2018. The FABULOS Consortium is not searching for a automated bus, but for a full solution that can integrate fleets of buses in transport system of a city. It is evident, that some parts of this solution are in the market or are close-to-market. The idea is to further develop different components, by combining and building on them. Companies that have the elements ready still have to go through the full process of 3 phases of the pre-commercial procurement. But they might have a competitive advantage, such as lower price or higher innovation potential.

Q: Why there are four finalists in Phase 3 and only three vehicles are chosen?
A: We hope to end up with at least four consortia in Phase 3 who can execute the field testing. Depending on the success of Phases 1 and 2, and depending on the financial offers of the consortia, this might also become two, three, five or six consortia. There needs to be a minimum of two consortia in Phase 3. Each of the consortia in Phase 3 must have a full fleet available for the field testing. The exact required size of the fleet is still under discussion and will be announced in the Request for Tenders on 1 September 2018.

Q: Could you directly award the contract for the Commercial Phase to a finalist of Phase 3 – or once Phase 3 is finished, will another open call be opened for the Commercial Phase?
A: The Commercial Phase is out of the scope of the FABULOS project.

Q: What are the main selection criteria?
A: At the moment it looks that there will be five award criteria: Technical quality, Non-functional requirements, Project management, Commercial feasibility, and price.

Q: There is tension between asking for a fixed offer combined with a requirement level that nobody today can be sure of matching. This provides the risk of having to accept compromises in a late stage of the project. That would not be fair to candidates who have declined participation at the start because of not being sure to meet all requirements. How will you handle this in a fair way in the FABULOS project?
A: The FABULOS project wants to be ambitious. However, the specifications that have been presented are not final yet. As for the "fixed offer", the maximum budget per Supplier is indeed fixed, but companies are expected to also put in their own funding as well as to see the commercial benefits in a long run. The FABULOS procurement will have three Phases and is a closed process, meaning no new companies can join in half-way. From the bids received, the vision/ambition and capacity will be evaluated against current requirements and level of expectations for the entire project. In addition: after Phase 1 and after Phase 2 there will be a "call off" for the existing Suppliers in that particular Phase: a (non-public) document that fine-tunes the requirements for the next Phase since it might be necessary to adjust to the fast-developing technological and legal progresses. Therefore, if the requirements would change, they change for all Suppliers equally.

Q: Framework agreement section 19.4: The Lead Procurer may have the rights to terminate the Framework Agreement (FA) and/or Specific Contract (SC) with immediate effect under some circumstances. Is it also possible for the Supplier to terminate FA and/or SC?
A: Yes, Suppliers are free to not apply to the following stage. However, payments are based on satisfactory completion of milestones and deliverables of the phase. So if Suppliers do not submit the Next Phase Offer Deliverable (D1.5 and D2.6, see section 2.3 in TD1), then the result is not satisfactory and there will not be a full payment. The level of payment is in that case decided on a case-by-case basis by the Procuring Partners.
Q: If the tender is accepted, when the funding is provided: before or after the phases of the Pre-Commercial Procurement?
A: Payments corresponding to each Pre-Commercial Procurement phase will be subject to the satisfactory completion of the deliverables and milestones for that phase.

Q: Is the approval of the European Commission needed for the payments for the selected Suppliers?
A: No. As the Leading Procurer Forum Virium Helsinki manages the budget.

Q: What happens to the unused budget if fewer suppliers than planned participate or get awarded a contract?
A: The maximum budgets per supplier per phase (as indicated in section 2.7 of Tender Document 1) cannot be increased. If there is left-over budget from a Phase, it will be taken to the next phase and used to possibly sign a contract with an additional Supplier.

Q: During the preparations of the Phase 1 proposal we need to estimate budgets for Phase 2 and 3. Can we still change these estimates in it later stages?
A: Yes. When submitting the offer by 31 October 2018, the Phase 2 and 3 budgets are indicative. When you submit the offer for the phase 3 you put in a final offer. However, note that unit prices are binding throughout the total duration of the Framework Agreement. Also note that the maximum budgets per phase per Supplier (section 2.7 in Tender Document 1) cannot be increased.

Q: The budget per supplier looks an issue. Our driving products are not cheap and we would struggle to supply a complete system for less than £250k. Is this amount flexible?
A: No, the maximum budget per supplier per phase is fixed in this financing instrument (Pre-commercial Procurement), and therefore there is no room for negotiation. Participating successfully in all three Phases enables the maximum budget per consortium, and exceeds 1 M€. FABULOS project offers financial support for companies’ R&D, but it is expected that the Suppliers invest their own money into developing the solutions. Note that leasing the vehicles and/or other equipment is allowed.

Q: In a case of a consortium, what will be the invoices payment flow?
A: The Lead tenderer is paid by the Lead Procurer and then the Lead tenderer pays the other members. Par. 5.5.3 in Tender Document 1 indicates the payment schedule.

Q: At the start of each phase, is it possible to have a 20% payment in advance?
A: No. Payments are made after satisfactory completion of the Phases and in case of Phases 2 and 3 also at satisfactory mid-term evaluation. See paragraph 5.5.3 in Tender Document 1 for payment schedule.

Q: In case the payment schedule is delayed by the Lead Procurer whereas the supplier has completed his mission, are there any financial interests?
A: No.
Q: Has the FABULOS Consortium plans to test the autonomous buses – or have any other kind of activities – anywhere in Africa?
A: The FABULOS is a EU funded project with partners from Norway, Finland, Estonia, Netherlands, Greece and Portugal. In all of these countries, pilots with fleets of self-driving mini-buses will take place in 2020. Therefore pilots are not foreseen elsewhere. But after the project ends in 2020, the solution will be available for commercial procurement globally, also in African countries.

Q: You are talking about testing a fleet of vehicles in phase 3 of the pre-commercial procurement. What size fleet are you thinking about?
A: The size of the fleet will be discussed during the Open Market Consultation phase, but likely not more than 10 vehicles per pilot.

Q: Is it intention to have no safety steward or driver on board during the piloting?
A: Indeed, no one in the vehicle. In exceptional cases operation can be done from a control room.

Q: Will the smaller form factor of vehicle be considered? For example, eight seater pods could also cater for MaaS provision and deliver an equivalent transport service.
A: Yes. It's likely the FABULOS Consortium prescribes the minimum number of seating places on the move during the field testing, thereby leaving some flexibility to the configuration of the vehicle sizes.

Q: When will the field testing locations be decided?
A: The decision over the pilot locations will be made as early as possible. But note that only after evaluation of the phase 2 of the pre-commercial procurement it is known how many and which consortia proceed to the last phase. Decision on pilot locations cannot be made before these facts are known. However, consortia will get a chance to indicate their preferences in an early stage.

Q: Piloting is planned in one out of six cities. To be able to make a meaningful offer, the individual use-case of each city should be known. This is basic for configuration of vehicles, development of safety concept, object oriented programming and obtaining permission to operate.
A: A desired outcome of the FABULOS pre-commercial procurement is, that after commercialisation cities or Public Transport authorities can procure autonomous public transport services as a "one-stop-shop". Of course final local adjustments and integration will always remain necessary, but will need to be done at the start of phase 3 of the pre-commercial procurement.Certain information on each partner city will be available in the tender documents, like e.g. on APIs, type of traffic light systems, current local PT operations and draft pilot route. This data set will continue to increase throughout the project.

Q: We are worried about the fleet size, especially if a consortium would need to do more than 1 pilot. The budgets for phase 3 of the pre-commercial procurement seem to be quite low and the vehicles are expensive.
A: For phase 3 of the pre-commercial procurement, a fleet of minimum three vehicles in operation at the same time is requested. In case a consortium will execute two pilots in phase 3, these can be done simultaneously or consecutively. Furthermore, it will be allowed that vehicles are leased and not owned by a consortium.

Q: Will 4G and/or 5G internet be available in Phase 3? Who covers the costs?
A: We have six cities in six countries and thus no uniform internet service. The assumption is that all sites will have 4G coverage. Furthermore, in some sites there will be 5G coverage in 2020. This will be specified in the Phase 3 call-off, which will be sent to the Suppliers towards the end of Phase 2. The Suppliers cover the costs needed for the solution.

Q: How is the implementation in two pilot cities planned – in parallel?
A: No. Pilots can be done either simultaneously or consecutively. The fleets need to have at least three vehicles in operation per city. Doing consecutive pilots allows also Suppliers with smaller fleets to participate. Therefore the minimum pilot time is 50 days.

Q: Applications for waivers for the field testing need to be done in Phase 2, but the pilot sites will be allocated only at the end of Phase 2. Does this mean Suppliers need to apply for waivers in each of the six cities?
A: Yes. Suppliers need to apply for permissions for the field tests in all six cities, even though they would only do field tests in two cities (or even none, if they do not proceed to Phase 3).

Q: Will Suppliers need to obtain a line permission for operating a Public transport service?
A: The operation needs to be done by the Supplier for the period of the testing. For piloting there is no need for such a permission.

Q: Will Suppliers be charging fees from passengers in Phase 3?
A: No. Suppliers only need to present the plans which show that the integration into local public transportation ticketing systems is possible.

Q: Currently, European standards do not allow teleoperated driving on public roads. How to deal with this?
A: United Nation and EU regulations on this are the process of being adapted. In various countries, for example in Finland, legislation already is more flexible and teleoperation can be done if safe enough. It is not known what is the legal status by the time of the piloting but it should be technically possible that the fleet is teleoperated.

Q: How will the field test in Phase 3 be evaluated?
A: In addition to commercial feasibility, all requirements as set out in Tender Document 2 will be evaluated. We will not provide a fixed list of Operational Design Domains: the field tests in two different cities will naturally offer a large variety of scenarios.

Q: Are cities prepared for infrastructural adjustments?
A: Yes, if these are essential for the route and for the functioning of the solution. Essential requirements (such as the need for smart traffic lights) will need to be indicated by Suppliers as early as possible, latest in their Phase 3 Offer.

Q: How to deal with language barriers?
A: We recommend that you reserve a subcontracting budget for a local-language partner, in case your consortium does not have native speakers of the country where you do your pilot in Phase 3.

Q: Are cities prepared for infrastructural adjustments?
A: Yes, if these are essential for the route and for the functioning of the solution. Essential requirements, such as the need for smart traffic lights, will need to be indicated by Suppliers as early as possible, latest in their Phase 3 offer.

Q: For safety reasons, we think that manual remote-control driving requirement is not a suitable option. Nevertheless, we have some proposal to answer this point but it does not strictly fit the requirement. Do you allow an argued proposal slightly different from the original "must have"?
A: In the FABULOS project, technology neutrality and applaud innovation is strived. You can propose a solution you see best for each “must have”, and the reviewers will decide if the proposal is suitable for the FABULOS project’s needs.

Q: Phase 3 Field tests can be done in parallel or consecutively. However, the planning of phase 3 (par 2.3.3 in Tender Doc 1) does not seem to foresee the possibility of consecutive field tests. Are you open to a new planning for phase 3?
A: Yes, latest in the Phase 3 call-off documents, we will provide two options for the detailed planning for Phase 3: one in case the field tests are done in parallel and another in case they are done consecutively.

Q: What is the duration of the pilots?
A: Each pilot should have the duration of minimum 50 days, you are able to do the pilots consecutively or parallel.

Q: Are the vehicles provided by the FABULOS consortium?
A: No, the fleet is expected to be provided by the Supplier consortium as part of the full solution.

Q: For phase 3, it seems that not all cities will get 5G. In those cities, it can be an important disadvantage in order to fairly compare field tests between competitors. How will this issue be managed in phase 3 to ensure fair conditions?
A: We cannot rely on any commercial 5G network anywhere for the field tests. Consortia may be able to make their own dedicated 5G network for testing purposes in Phases 2 and 3. During Lab tests in Phase 2 Suppliers will have an opportunity to show their low latency remote controlled system. Procuring Partner cities are strongly recommended to have 5G, but local regulations are a factor (availability of bandwidth). Note that Phase 3 will not have a “winner”; Payments are made based on successful completion of deliverables, regardless of the performance of the other consortia.
Q: Is the scope focusing on the IT back-end and fleet management or also on new types of vehicles?
A: The FABULOS project looks for a solution that integrates software, hardware, fleet and services. The vehicle is one part of a turnkey solution that encompasses all these elements.

Q: Are the technical requirements optional? For example, are there different requirements for the individual pilot locations regarding operating temperatures.
A: The technical specifications in the Request for Tenders will have both, the "must-haves" and "nice-to-haves". The technical requirements are the same across the different pilot locations, as the proposed solution must work in all urban environments.

Q: How to deal with the upcoming technical developments: 1,5 years is a long time for the product development – what if certain technologies becomes obsolete?
A: After each phase of pre-commercial procurement, requirements for the next phase will be refined in a so-called call-off. This way, the technological developments will be taken into consideration. Also, per phase new subcontractors can be added to the consortium if needed.

Q: Is a power supply of 400 Volts possible for charging vehicle batteries?
A: See Tender Document 2, Function 4.1: Suppliers must arrange the charging system for the fleets. If you require 400V, this needs to be indicated in the Phase 3 offer. The Procuring cities will provide storage space with electricity for the fleet. It is likely that all cities can provide 400V if needed, but it cannot be guaranteed upfront.

Q: The remote operation and having no steward on board are the most challenging functions. This can also be a risk, especially in bad weather. At the same time, safety is crucial. What is the fallback if it proves not be safe to do these things?
A: Pre-commercial procurement by default pushes innovations so it is expected that the companies provide solutions for this kind of challenges. On the other hand, if at the end of Phase 2 none of the Suppliers can proceed to Phase 3 due to these challenges, the Phase 3 requirements need to be re-evaluated. Solutions that do not seem safe enough, will not be piloted. Throughout the process there are reality checks, as situations and laws may change.

Q: Request for Tenders, Tender document 1: What is meant by “the procurers must receive rights to use the R&D results for internal use and licensing rights subject to certain conditions”? Which type of use? To whom the IPR would be licensed and will the procurers receive a compensation from licensing?
A: Under a pre-commercial procurement, suppliers will retain the ownership of their IPRs, during and after the project. The precondition is that the Procuring Partners have the right to access results (i.e. the developed prototype solution and the learnings), on a royalty-free basis, for their own use without commercial exploitation. They can also grant the same right to linked third parties (i.e. entities belonging to or being part of the same procuring partner organisation). The details of this agreement will be subject to negotiation between the supplier and the City after the end of the project.