“Local public purchases are always a rich source of savings”

2024-10-24 11:00:00

A At a time when public spending must reduce, it is time to take an interest in local public markets. Purchases by local authorities and public hospitals are approaching 114 billion euros in 2023. The principles governing public procurement are relevant but their implementation is not optimal. It would be possible to reduce these costs and increase their quality by decentralizing the definition of public procurement rules. Why don’t local authorities ask for it?

In reality, local authorities are kept in an infantilizing situation, as the state feeds them by providing for them almost a third of their revenue and defines the framework by defining its operating rules. Local governments are made up of competent elected officials, civil servants and contract workers who perform a multitude of services with seriousness, probity and efficiency.

Local public services are very present in the lives of the French who don’t complain about them, on the contrary. But public procurement is not an element of pride. No one questions the central principle of ensuring equality between suppliers. However, national rules, sometimes complemented by local provisions, increase delays and costs, discourage suppliers and reduce the negotiating capacity of public buyers.

Supply facilities

Compliance with procedures that are best applied without discernment requires a lot of time (publications, documentation, etc.). The buyers are forced to enter into contracts with poor quality-price ratio. All reports, from Parliament to the Court of Auditors, highlight in diplomatic terms the main weaknesses, legal risks and the formation of oligopolies in public procurement.

Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Territorial civil service: local elected representatives defend the 100,000 positions created since 2010

Add to your selections

More and more provisions facilitate procurement. Local authorities can purchase without advertising and without tender in the cases provided for by the decree. These are contracts for works after destruction, orders for unique works, innovative solutions with a value of less than 100,000 euros, products sold off by companies that are going out of business or the renewal of a supplier for an identical service.

But being an exception to the rule is a dead end. Collective purchases by local authorities or hospitals, or delegated to the Union of Public Purchasing Groups, if they allow savings, do not call into question the delays and exorbitant cost of the procedures. The public procurement code is based on an anachronism according to which the State replaces local officials to defend the general interest.