1. What is the current status of the PCP process undertaken by PREVENT PCP?
We have selected six Contractors and over eighteen proposals to enter Phase 1 (Solution Design) after the launch of the tender last year. During this phase, we have organized bi-weekly meetings with Contractors.
During those sessions, specialists worked on the detailed requirements and the building of the solutions that could meet PREVENT PCP challenges, such as detection features, tracking of the owner features, and crisis management, as well as technical, hardware, and security features. Those meetings helped the PREVENT PCP consortium and the Contractors to design the future solution. To conclude Phase 1, Contractors submitted their “End of Phase 1” reports, which were assessed by the TMC members.
2. Which aspects were taken into account when evaluating applications?
The TMC has evaluated multiple aspects:
3. Which Consortia were qualified for the next stage of work?
The assessment of Phase 1 had two goals. The first one was to evaluate the progress of the Contractors’ work in Phase 1 (satisfactory work). The second objective was to define if the contractors had successfully completed Phase 1, and are eligible for Phase 2 tender.
After the TMC evaluation and PEC approbation, out of six contractors, five were selected to be eligible for the Phase 2 tender. Those were the DAIMON Consortium, Protecting Railway Transportation via Artificial Intelligence Consortium, BULL SAS Atos, PANOPTES Consortium, and AI-Transportation Consortium.
4. What was the main challenge faced by the project team until now?
The PREVENT PCP project gathers 22 partners, including 11 Public Buyers. As a part of Phase 3, the pilots will take place in four countries with six Public Transport Operators (PTO) and seven pilot sites.
Thus, one of the main challenges was to define the common needs and requirements for the future solution, as well as the functional and technical needs, hardware and cybersecurity requirements, and specificities of the environment of the 6 PTOs involved in the pilots. This challenge impacted the Contractors as well. They had to adapt their solutions, hardware, and implementation plans to the number of cameras, image quality, and the technical environment of each PTO. The involvement of four different countries also led to a legal framework analysis per country, to define what is authorized by the national laws.
5. The PCP works are still ongoing. However, did the project team draw any conclusions regarding the usefulness of the PCP process in the context of public buyers’ needs?
The 3-year PREVENT PCP project is halfway through, and we have some intermediate conclusions regarding the PCP process. Phase 1 dedicated to Solution Design, helped in understanding the solutions by facing the requirements of the projects to the Contractors’ solutions and proposals.
The discussions with the Contractors allowed the Public Buyers to have a first view of several possible solutions with mock-ups, and to be convinced (or not) about their capabilities to develop the solution in the following phases. Hence, the first PCP phase was interesting for Public Buyers to concretely confront their needs for the R&D capabilities on the market. So, even at this early stage of the project, the benefits of the PCP process for Public Buyers are important.
6. What are the next steps?
Five Contractors have submitted their offer for the Call-off for Phase 2, and by the end of May, TMC members will evaluate their technical offers. Selected Contractors will enter Phase 2 dedicated to the prototype development, installation of the solutions in SNCF premises, and prototype evaluation. This phase is a challenge for the PREVENT PCP consortium and the Contractors, who will develop their solutions based on the design confirmed in Phase 1. The prototypes will be installed and connected to real cameras of Paris Nord station (SNCF) and provide the first view of the successful implementation of the solutions during two months of technical tests. In 2024, as a part of Phase 3 of the PCP, the best prototypes will be operationally tested in four countries: France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal.
 | Armand Raudin is the Head of the Video & Innovation Program in the SNCF Security Directorate. Within PREVENT PCP project, he plays the role of the Chairman of the Technical Management Committee. Over the last few years, he conducted experiments on video analytics. He went through many use cases that led him to better understand the technologies and the maturity of the market. |
* TMC gathers 11 representatives of PREVENT PCP Public Buyers. Its role is to assist the Procurement Evaluation Committee (PEC) activities for all the technical aspects of the project. The TMC reviews the documentation submitted by the contractors within all PCP phases, verifies the compliance of the products with the technical requirements, expresses comments and, taking into account the remarks of the industry and finally proposes to the PEC the acceptance or the rejection of the deliverables submitted by the contractors. The TMC Chairman consolidates the partners opinions and ratings, and lead the technical discussions with TMC members.
