Guidance on selection of objects of procurement and templates
From the roadmaps to the selection of templates
Procurement processes should always align with the strategic goals outlined in the community’s digital transformation roadmaps.
Cities and communities receive a Reference Roadmap based on their assessed digital and technical maturity. The objective of this roadmap is to support communities with the deployment or scaling-up of a digital infrastructure. The roadmap gives communities an idea of the various phases and initiatives as part of their digital journey towards the implementation of a local digital platform (LDP) and a local digital twin (LDT). The roadmaps serve as a guide for communities to outline and drive their transformation journey, across three phases (Foundation, Growth and Accelerate & Expand), and the procurement templates are tools that CAs can utilise to purchase the assets and services needed to carry out the journey. To know more about procurement templates, please refer to the Guideline How to use the templates and guidelines.
What are Local Digital Platforms and TwinsLocal Digital Platforms (LDP) A local digital platform refers to the operating system designed to facilitate various services, interactions, and transactions within a specific community or city. These platforms typically offer digital tools, applications, or websites that integrate data flows within and across the city data ecosystem, integrating sensors, analytics, hardware devices, cloud services, and other components. Local Digital Twins (LDT) Local Digital Twins are a virtual representation of physical assets and processes within a geographically located community, which reflect and derive from cross-sectorial, historical and (near) real-time data. Their purpose is to enhance evidence-based decision-making at the operational, strategic and tactical levels to better meet the needs of communities. LDTs combine multiple technologies, such as data analytics and AI, enabling predictive and simulation models that can be updated and changed as their physical equivalents change. |
1. Reading the roadmap to select the right objects of procurement
The roadmaps include specific initiatives, organised into capabilities and enablers, based on each community's technical maturity and readiness for implementing an LDP and LDT. Among these initiatives, some may require acquiring specific technical products and services, referred to as “objects of procurement.”
Focus box: Selecting the objects of procurementObjects of procurement refer to the tangible assets or services that cities and communities can acquire to support the initiatives in their digitalisation roadmaps. Each roadmap provides a specific list of procurement objects to inform the planning process and identify necessary items, services, and technologies for LDT implementation. These can be acquired using procurement templates available in the Procurement Templates repository. To select the objects of procurement to be purchased, cities and communities can first review the initiatives outlined in their roadmap, and the related objects of procurement listed. The selection of the objects can prioritise the ones that enable the consolidation of the capabilities according to the timeline proposed by the digitalisation roadmap. Overall, to start their procurement process, CAs should follow the timeline outlined in their roadmap and complete the initiatives of each phase before moving to the new one. Some of these initiatives will require the procurement of specific products or services, or objects of procurement. Please note that some initiatives can be implemented in parallel, while others have interdependencies that are indicated in the roadmap. In concrete terms, communities in their early stages of digital maturity may focus for instance on foundational objects, such as establishing a device management strategy implementing objects like IoT devices and IoT platform. On the other hand, more advanced communities, might prioritise sophisticated initiatives, which require objects like Local Digital Platform for collecting data from various systems, applications, and IoT devices, fostering interoperability and collaboration across different domains. A list with the definitions of all objects of procurement is available at this glossary. |
2. Selecting the templates
Once the object of procurements to be purchased have been selected, CAs can make use of a range of templates that are designed to support their procurement process. The table below presents the list of procurement templates with their related object(s) of procurement.
| Template | Objects of Procurement |
|---|---|
| IoT devices | IoT sensors |
| Data and security user-facing application | User authentication federation tool, Cyber threat detection tool, Data governance tool, GDPR compliance tools |
| Backend data SW application | Data analytics tool (3D modeling services), Data Backup tool, Data prediction and simulation models, Real-time data analytics tool, Real-time data collection tools |
| Network infrastructure | Network, Network monitoring tool, Network capacity infrastructure Hardware |
| Network infrastructure - Public Wi-Fi | Public Wi-Fi |
| IoT platform | IoT platform |
| On premises computing | On-premises Automatic Computing Management Tool, On-premises Computing measures Tool, On-premises Computing Provisioning and Cleanup Tool |
| On premises storage | On-Premises Automatic Storage Management tool, On-Premises Storage Provisioning and Cleanup tool |
| Cloud computing | Advanced cloud computing tools, Cloud Automatic Computing Management Tool, Cloud Computing measures Tool, Cloud Computing Provisioning and Cleanup Tool |
| Cloud storage | Cloud Automatic Storage Management tool, Cloud Storage Provisioning and Cleanup tools |
| Software development services | Ad hoc SW development services, PETs (Privacy Enhancing Technologies) application, Middleware Software |
| Information provider services | Data providers |
| User-facing platform | Local Digital platform |
| Cloud connection services (IaaS) | Advanced cloud technologies (IaaS: edge computing, virtual machines, containers, and serverless computing) |
| Cloud connection services (SaaS) | SaaS software (managed in a stack logic) |
| Cloud connection services (PaaS) | PaaS platforms (managed in a stack logic) |
Focus box: The logic behind procurement objects and templatesProcurement objects and templates have been developed based on a Matrix that permits the identification of smart city procurement needs and have been mapped into a Reference Architecture. The following paragraphs provide a deep dive into these topics. Procurement Needs Matrix The Procurement Needs Matrix (see figure below) aims to delimit the scope and type of objects of procurement and procurement templates. It is composed of three verticals, including Infrastructure, Platforms, and Application Services, and six horizontals representing different domains or scopes of the single objects of procurement for smart cities, including Mobility, Energy, Environment, Living & Health, Urban Planning, and Safety & Security. The objects of procurement have been mapped within this matrix across the three verticals, in which, in the first vertical figure IT hardware components and facilities, the second comprises user-facing services and applications, and the third includes IT systems application services and data architecture.  Figure 1 – Procurement Needs Matrix Reference Architecture The Reference Architecture is based on the DIN SPEC 91357:2017-12 “Reference Architecture Model Open Urban Platform” referenced in the “MIMs Plus: Living-in.EU Technical Specifications” and collects the essential elements needed to implement a LDP or LDT. Each procurement template and their related objects is presented in relation to the Reference Architecture components.  Figure 2 – Mapping Procurement Templates and Objects into the Reference Architecture |
