Client: European Commission (EC), Directorate-General of Energy and Transport (DG TREN)

As stressed in the European Commission White Paper on European transport policy for 2010, the EU needs an independent satellite navigation system. Galileo is Europe’s contribution to . This worldwide system will be complementary with the current GPS system. Satellite radio navigation is an advanced technology. It is based on the emission of signals from 30 satellites indicating the time extremely precisely. This enables any individual to determine his or her position or the location of any moving or stationary object (e.g. a vehicle, a ship, or a herd of cattle, etc.) to within one metre.

Since the inception of the Galileo programme, the Council has advocated that the project should be a PPP whereby a private organisation is awarded the obligation to deploy the infrastructure and the exclusive rights to the use of the infrastructure for a period of 20 years, in return for which the organisation bears at least two-thirds of the infrastructure construction costs. Following a competitive tender procedure the Commission was in the process of negotiating a contract with a preferred bidder.

Components of the consultancy services provided by ECORYS included:

• Cost analysis;
• Demand analysis;
• Risk analysis;
• Public Sector Comparator;
• Bid review.