Drones and public procurement

Posted by: 29. 9. 2026
Update: 29/9/2026

Drones are gradually becoming a common part of a wide range of activities. They are used for infrastructure control and inspection, territory monitoring, aerial photography, mapping, building inspection, environmental protection, or other activities that can also be provided by public institutions.

Related to this is the question, How do drones affect public procurement?

Where drones and public procurement meet

At first glance, it might seem that these are mainly contracts for the purchase of unmanned systems themselves. However, this is far from the only option.

For example, the contracting authority may ask:

supply of drones and related equipment,
service and maintenance of unmanned systems,
aerial photography and data acquisition,
monitoring of a certain area or objects,
inspection of buildings, bridges, energy facilities or other infrastructure,
mapping and creation of 2D or 3D materials,
or a comprehensive service that includes drone operation, data processing and evaluation.

In this case, the client does not have to purchase their own drone at all. They can ask a result or service that is provided via drones.

And this is where an interesting intersection arises. right public contracts a air law.

Drone as a subject of the contract, or as a means?

For the correct legal setting of a public contract, it is essential to know what the contracting authority actually needs.

For example, if a municipality needs to regularly check the condition of its building roofs, its goal may not be to own a drone. Its real goal may be regular roof inspection and obtaining relevant data.

Likewise, a public contracting authority may need regular aerial photography of a certain area, inspection of line infrastructure, or monitoring of specific objects.

In such a case, the drone is primarily a means of providing the requested service.

This may be important not only for defining the subject matter of the public contract itself, but also for setting qualification requirements, technical conditions, liability and contractual terms.

How to correctly set the subject of the order?

Therefore, one of the first questions might be:

What does the client actually need to obtain?

There is a difference between the requirement:

"Delivery of an unmanned aircraft with specific technical parameters"

and the requirement:

"Ensuring regular inspection of facilities via an unmanned system including data acquisition and processing.”

In the first case, the main subject of the contract is technologyIn the second case, the subject is service, in the provision of which the supplier uses a drone.

This is also important because if the client does not actually need a specific technology – a drone, it may not be appropriate to define the contract through the parameters of a specific drone. It is more expedient to describe desired result, scope of service and its quality parameters.

Technical requirements must correspond to real need

If a drone is part of the solution, we come to the question of technical conditions.

For example, the client may need a certain:

flight endurance,
load capacity,
capture quality,
measurement accuracy,
sensor type,
resistance to weather conditions,
ability to operate in a specific environment,
or compatibility with the software used.

It is essential, as with all public procurement, that the requirements are based on the real needs of the client and have not been arbitrarily set to correspond to only one specific product or solution.

This risk can be quite significant for drones. The market is developing rapidly and the technical parameters of individual systems can change over time.

Technical specifications alone are not enough

For drone-related contracts, need to think about the operation itself.

A drone may be technically suitable for the required service, but that does not automatically mean that it will be possible to operate it under the given conditions.

It is therefore necessary to take into account, for example:

where the operation will take place,
in what mode,
who will operate the drone,
what qualifications will be needed,
whether specific authorization will be required,
what operating procedures will be required,
and who will be responsible for meeting the relevant aviation requirements.

This is where public procurement comes in. aviation law.

Who is actually the operator?

This issue can be crucial, especially in service contracts.

If the contracting authority only purchases a drone and subsequently operates it itself, the legal situation will be different than if, for example, it orders regular aerial inspections and the supplier operates the drone itself. This then determines the setting of the tender conditions themselves.

The contract should therefore clearly state, for example:

who ensures the operation of the UAS,
who provides remote control pilots,
who is responsible for fulfilling the operating conditions,
who provides the necessary permissions,
who is responsible for the damage,
who handles any incidents,
who should be insured, for what and to what extent,
and what is the responsibility of each party.

How are the dates?

For many drone services, the main result will not be the flight itself, but the data that will be generated.

This may include, for example, photographs, videos, maps, 3D models or other sensor outputs.

Public procurement should therefore also address issues related to:

ownership and use of outputs,
by transferring data,
their archiving,
security,
processing of personal data,
or further use of the obtained data.

For some contracts, data handling may be inherently more important than the operation of the drone itself.

So what should the client think about?

For public procurement related to drones, I would therefore recommend proceeding from the needs of the contracting authority, not from the technology itself.

First ask yourself a question. What problem do we want to solve with a drone and only then what solution do we need for it?

It can be a purchase of technology. It can also be a service in which the supplier uses a drone as one of the tools to achieve the desired result.

The correct distinction between these situations can be key to setting the terms of reference and the subsequent contract.

What should the supplier pay attention to?

Of course, the supplier must also look at the public contract. And it may be important for him to check before submitting a bid, What will he actually have to provide to fulfill the contract?.

It is not enough to simply own a suitable drone or have experience in operating it.

The supplier should pay particular attention to:

whether it meets all the required qualifications,
whether it has the appropriate technology and personnel available,
whether it will be able to ensure operation to the required extent and in specific locations,
whether it has the necessary permissions for the intended operation,
who will be responsible for the individual parts of the performance,
what outputs and data it will have to submit to the contracting authority,
and whether the client's requirements are realistically achievable under the specified contractual conditions.

Also worthy of attention is the contractFor example, if a supplier guarantees regular monitoring of a certain area, it may be important what happens if the flight cannot be carried out due to weather, traffic restrictions, technical failure or other circumstances. It is good to think about this at the beginning of the process to avoid unnecessary disputes.

Likewise, the supplier should know in advance, what the consequences will be if a deadline is missed, data quality is insufficient or a specific flight cannot be carried out.

For drone contracts, it is therefore worth reading the tender documentation not only in terms of whether we are able to provide this service technically, but also whether it can we provide under these legal, operational and contractual conditions?

It is the second question that can be decisive for the supplier.

What does this imply?

A drone may not appear in a public procurement contract just as an item in the specification of the equipment being purchased. It may also be the means by which the supplier provides the requested service.

Whether it is the purchase of UAS, aerial photography, infrastructure inspection, territory monitoring or complex data processing, in addition to the procurement law, it is always necessary to think about drone operation rules, liability, data protection and practical feasibility of the entire solution.

Because with drones, the hardest question may not be, which drone to chooseSometimes it is much more important to correctly determine what does the public contracting authority actually need to order and what is most suitable for it. At first glance, purchasing your own drone may be the most economically advantageous, but it is necessary to consider whether the entity is able to provide everything necessary for proper operation and whether it is not more appropriate to request a pre-defined service.