This is a prior information notice for an upcoming market consultation in the field of Data and AI, which will be published in November 2026.
Prior announcement – Market Consultation Data & Artificial Intelligence
The Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands (Procurement Directorate COMMIT) intends to publish a market consultation on Data & Artificial Intelligence (Data & AI) in November 2026. With this prior announcement, the Ministry of Defence informs the market in advance so that interested parties can prepare their participation for the actual market consultation.
Why Data & AI matters:
In the coming years, Data & AI will largely determine how fast and how well the armed forces observe, decide and act. Data & AI strengthens the information position, supports military decision-making, enables uncrewed and autonomous systems and makes logistics and business operations more effective. The technology develops rapidly and specialist expertise remains scarce. The Ministry of Defence expects structural and substantial demand in the upcoming years and cannot provide all the required knowledge, capacity and innovation independently. The Ministry of Defence therefore seeks structural, Ministry-wide collaboration with the market.
Scope of the consultation:
The consultation covers the full Data & AI lifecycle: from governance, policy, architecture and the responsible use of AI to the design, development, deployment, scaling, operation and further development of solutions, including adoption, knowledge transfer and Data & AI literacy. The requirement spans three Key Development Areas (Decision Support Systems, Autonomous Systems and Combat Service Support) across the maritime, land, air, cyber, space, joint and business operations domains. Responses covering only part of the scope are welcome.
Out of scope:
The Ministry of Defence organises the following areas through other contracts: storage and compute infrastructure, information management, generic cybersecurity, transmission and connectivity, and the hiring of individual professionals. Data security, AI-specific security, running models on edge equipment and the logic of data transport do fall within scope. The consultation documentation describes these boundaries in more detail.
Innovation and short-cycle delivery:
The Data & AI requirement develops in weeks and months rather than years. The Ministry of Defence therefore seeks a way of working with the market based on short cycles, rapid validation and demonstrable value. Innovation forms an integral part of the work, not a separate experimental track: successful experiments and proofs of concept must move quickly to production, scaling and operation. The consultation explores how the Ministry of Defence can organise this, including access to specialist suppliers, start-ups, scale-ups and research institutions, and how co-sourcing with Ministry of Defence teams can strengthen knowledge transfer.
Intended market approach:
The Ministry of Defence presents its intended market approach, based on collaboration with multiple market parties in one Data & AI ecosystem. The consultation addresses, among other topics, the structure of the requirement, the contractual model, assignment and pricing models, ecosystem collaboration, the route from innovation to production, intellectual property and exit, security and sovereignty, and barriers to participation. The Ministry of Defence presents this approach as a working hypothesis and invites the market to help refine it. The Ministry of Defence welcomes constructive, well-founded input, including points for improvement, practical alternatives and an explanation of any aspects that could hinder participation.
Who may participate:
The consultation is open to all interested parties, Dutch and foreign, including large and small enterprises, generalist and specialist suppliers, start-ups, scale-ups, technology partners and knowledge institutions. Geographical participation and sovereignty form part of the consultation topics.
How to prepare:
The questionnaire includes a capability mapping and questions on capacity, security-cleared personnel, innovation and the intended contractual approach. The consultation itself is unclassified and requires no security clearance. Participants receive approximately four weeks to respond. We advise interested parties to register on Mercell in advance.
Procedure and language:
The Ministry of Defence announces the consultation on TenderNed and conducts it through Mercell. The documentation describes the procedure, timeline and moments for interaction with the Ministry of Defence. The documentation is drafted in English; participants may submit their questions and responses in English or in Dutch. The Ministry of Defence treats responses confidentially and shares an anonymised summary report afterwards. The Ministry of Defence uses the outcome to prepare a possible future procurement.
CPV code: The contracting authority will use the following CPV code when publishing the actual market consultation: "72000000 IT-diensten: adviezen, softwareontwikkeling, internet en ondersteuning"
Status:
This prior announcement and the yet to be published market consultation do not constitute a procurement procedure or a (pre-)selection of economic operators. Participation creates no advantage and non-participation creates no disadvantage. No rights may be derived from this prior announcement.
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Prior Information Notice market consultation Data and AI.
This is a prior information notice for an upcoming market consultation in the field of Data and AI, which will be published in November 2026.