The past few months saw some of the most important outputs of the project both for the supplier and user community of OCRE. In this general update webinar, the project will provide an update on some of the key developments in the project including the conclusion of the OCRE IaaS+ Tender and the signing of more than 400 framework agreements, the presentation of the OCRE Cloud Catalogue of commercial cloud services for the European research community, the validation test suite for suppliers, research projects selected to receive adoption funding support. as well as some of the work in progress for Earth Observation digital services procurement.

1. OCRE update webinar 24 March 2021
Adoption funding update
Jan Meijer, Uninett
OCRE Funding lead

2. OCRE objectives: establishing EOSC's portfolio of commercial
services
1. OCRE will establish procurement vehicles to provide
the European not-for-profit Research & Education
(R&E) community access to a portfolio of
A. commercial infrastructure cloud services
B. commercial Earth Observation Platform Services
2. Following this, OCRE will use its Adoption Fund to
stimulate adoption of these services by the research
community
3. By developing and executing the processes required to
execute the aforementioned, OCRE will develop the
capability for procuring and brokering commercial
services in the EOSC
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additional to purchases
made by any of the 1000s
of eligible institutions in
the green countries using
own funding (EC, NRC, 3rd
party etc.)

3. oAdoption by individual researchers (vouchers)
and projects with institutions
oStrategy established with OCRE external
advisory board
oAim for bigger, research-relevant projects
that really show the research community how
OCRE's portfolio of services can help to
achieve great research outcomes, e.g.
o new outcomes enabled by services
o improved execution: time, money, quality
o impact amplifier - allow small groups to do
large undertakings
o allow for smaller groups to achieve great
things
Adoption Funding strategy and targeted impact
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Inspiring showcases
case studies which inspire
other researchers to adopt
infrastructure-cloud
services for their research

4. 1st call for adoption projects infrastructure cloud
o31 proposals received, 15 awarded in December 2020
oGood balance in countries, type of project, services used
o€ 1.200.000 funding allocated
1st call for adoption projects Earth Observation services
o20 proposals received, 6 awarded in February 2020
oProject portfolio has good balance in countries, types of project, type of EO
services used
o€ 500.000 funding allocated
Results 1st calls
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revise strategy and plan
based on results of 1st calls

5. 1. For each project: small procurement exercise to select best supplier for that
project's functional requirements
o Each project defines functional requirements and evaluates proposals
obased on OCRE DIY package
o OCRE executes procurement-compliant process
2. Géant buys voucher for services with selected supplier
3. Project enters in to contract with supplier, uses services, pays with voucher
Developing methodology with 4 pilot projects
-> input for DIY package for remaining projects
Next steps: making services available
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6. oComplicated subject matter:
o European cross-border VAT + vouchers
oAbility to claim adoption funding on the OCRE EC grant
oSubstantial financial risk for OCRE consortium, needs to be resolved
o alternatives to vouchers also explored but does not resolve challenges
oPromising path forward with vouchers, but do not expect Green Light before 2nd
half May
oMeans services to projects delayed
o Cloud: earliest July
o EO: earliest August
oBut project also extended with 6 months
A challenge and a delay
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OCRE's 3rd objective: learnings for EOSC!

7. oThe DPS is very much a first try at a pan-European procurement vehicle for EO
services
oWe expect most of the DPS use to come from the OCRE adoption funding
oWhen you open a DPS, the contract to be used MUST be final
oWe can not finalise the DPS contract until we have resolved the issue of the exact
way to disburse the adoption funding:
o European cross-border VAT with vouchers
o Ability to claim adoption funding on the OCRE EC grant
oWhen Green Light comes, we'll have a better idea of realistic timeline for DPS
Consequences for the Earth Observation Services DPS
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8. o Balanced portfolios for both cloud (15 projects) and EO (6 projects)
o will make for good showcases
oPlan for making services available in scalable way.
o Delays due to cross-border European VAT compliance with vouchers + cost
claim challenge
o Which in turn delays the EO DPS
oissues are being addressed
oRevised funding strategy and plan for remainder of adoption funding based on
learnings from first two calls
o revision to resume after Green Light
oProject expected to extend with 6 months
Summary
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OCRE's 3rd objective: learnings for EOSC!