Syndicat des Eaux d’Ile-de-France (SEDIF) has accomplished the process for awarding the brand new concession contract referring to the administration of the general public ingesting water service in Ile-de-France.
The contract will final 12 years and is value round EUR 4.3bn to cowl the provision of ingesting water to over 4 million individuals for over EUR1 billion in investments to supply clear, limescale and chlorine free water.
Lacourte Raquin Tatar supported SEDIF in any respect phases and defended their curiosity within the context of disputes which proceeded the signing of the contract and beneath the phrases of which the Paris administrative courtroom and the Council of the state validated in all respects of awarding the concession.
The workforce was led by Benoit Neveu and composed of Xavier de Lesquen, Marine Hue, Romain Meresse, Claire McDonagh and Arthur Pierre.
Q&A with Benoit Neveu
Benoit, are you able to stroll us by way of your strategic plan when main the workforce on this challenge and why this plan was one of the best ways to method the consumer’s calls for?
For SEDIF, this challenge has vital financial, technical, environmental but in addition authorized implications, contemplating the complexity of the contract and the excessive dangers of litigation.
Our objective has all the time been to offer high-level authorized recommendation to fulfill these challenges, with precision, availability, and adaptableness. I used to be personally concerned each day, main the workforce and the relation with the consumer, which was made simpler as SEDIF additionally arrange a good and environment friendly devoted workforce, with a restricted variety of extremely dedicated contacts.
The success of the challenge vastly depends on the planification of duties and the anticipation of challenges, but in addition on the workforce’s capability to adapt, day by day, to the consumer’s wants. Emergencies and last-minute modifications are quintessential for this sort of challenge, and our workforce is aware of precisely learn how to cope with them.
How did you and your workforce pull your finest and most suited property and expertise to work on this acquisition, what worthwhile expertise did every member carry to the board?
We arrange a devoted workforce, extremely skilled in public contract legislation and composed of legal professionals who’ve nice information of water public companies, the financial operators that may present them in addition to the precise authorized problems with this sector. We used our expertise engaged on earlier concession contracts for the provision of ingesting water, notably in Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lyon, Lille or Marseille.
For this challenge, we’ve repeatedly taken benefit of our robust litigation apply in public contract legislation, which has allowed us to anticipate criticism of the award course of and supply tailor-made recommendation, even when the legislation was silent. We additionally benefited from the invaluable help of my associate Xavier de Lesquen, a former administrative Justice of the Peace. Our experience has been significantly worthwhile in stopping conflicts of pursuits, advising the consumer on the knowledge to be communicated to the financial operators, and extra usually all through the negotiations.
In lots of circumstances, there are not any apparent nor absolute solutions to the questions which carry shoppers to their lawyer. For that reason, past the mere evaluation of the present state of the legislation, our devoted workforce of legal professionals on this challenge has systematically appeared for, discovered, and generally even designed probably the most acceptable options to fulfill the wants of our consumer, all the time maintaining authorized safety as a precedence.
Lastly, this sort of initiatives requires serving to the consumer to take choices whereas bearing in mind quite a few parameters and to reconcile numerous level of views. I consider that my expertise as a mediator helped our consumer within the administration of the challenge, particularly as communication is a key issue of success, as is listening to the consumer and reformulating their must reply them as finest as potential.
Are you able to inform us in regards to the last phases of this concession being awarded and whether or not any challenges arose which needed to be addressed within the strain of the final stretch?
There was an incident which modified the parameters of the ultimate phases of the concession award process. On account of an IT problem, a part of an financial operator’s bid was disclosed to a competitor. This breach of confidentiality has led SEDIF to cease the negotiations and award the contract primarily based on intermediate bids submitted earlier than the IT problem. This resolution was not a straightforward one to take, and we labored intently with SEDIF on all of the potential options accessible to determine and consider the dangers of every resolution.
The choice to attribute the contract on the premise of intermediate bids has been challenged by one of many financial operators by way of a precontractual treatment, earlier than the award of the contract. We efficiently represented SEDIF earlier than the Paris Administrative Courtroom, which dominated that SEDIF’s resolution was compliant with the French concession contract guidelines, and particularly with the precept of equal therapy between the candidates. This ruling was confirmed by the French Council of State, which dominated that SEDIF had taken the most effective resolution within the particular circumstances of the case. We’re proud to have efficiently suggested SEDIF and defended this resolution, even contemplating the strain surrounding it.
As soon as the choice to proceed the process on the premise of the intermediate bids was confirmed, we suggested SEDIF on the evaluation of those bids and on the changes of the concession contract, which was significantly difficult because it was unattainable to proceed discussions with the financial operators. A substantial quantity of labor was subsequently required earlier than SEDIF may problem the choice to pick the concessionaire.
This selection was adopted by one other precontractual treatment, by way of which the unsuccessful financial operator tried to dispute the concession award process on a number of grounds. Nonetheless, the Administrative Courtroom rejected the claims and absolutely confirmed the legality of all points of the concession award process. Contemplating our involvement at each stage of this process, we acquired this resolution with nice satisfaction.
Following this litigation, the contract was lastly signed, however not with no lengthy collection of obstacles and a number of other lengthy months of fixed mobilisation on our half.
As that is such a major challenge, offering clear water to so many inhabitants, how does this challenge align with the values of Lacourte Raquin Tatar?
The SEDIF challenge is an bold one which completely matches the kind of circumstances that our agency is eager on, for not less than three causes.
The primary cause is that this challenge required robust authorized engineering, and the supply of authorized recommendation with excessive added worth, which completely matches the kind of companies that we make a precedence to offer to our shoppers. Certainly, we all the time try to carry a artistic and tailor-made outlook to each state of affairs, to acquire the absolute best outcomes. Within the case of the SEDIF challenge, we’ve needed to mirror so much on the remuneration mechanisms in addition to on the financing preparations of investments, significantly on the billion-euro development works for brand spanking new installations aiming to supply “clear, limescale and chlorine-free water”.
The second cause is that the SEDIF challenge meets social and environmental preoccupations which naturally matter vastly to our agency: sustainable preservation of pure sources, adaptation to local weather change, participating actions favouring the transition to inexperienced energies, guaranteeing free entry to protected water for all. Past the interior pointers and processes that Lacourte Raquin Tatar has developed in its day by day exercise, we attempt to all the time prioritise circumstances with beneficial impacts on social and environmental points.
The third cause is that offering authorized recommendation on such a challenge essentially implies working with a workforce composed of legal professionals who’re complementary to one another, but in addition sufficiently accountable and autonomous. That is the very kind of challenge wherein associates work straight with companions and shoppers, and are subsequently rapidly confronted to conditions that allow them to offer their finest.
General, this challenge has been an amazing alternative to reveal our capability to work as a workforce, and our capability to undertake a world and strategic imaginative and prescient.
What help is obtainable to Lacourte Raquin Tatar because the concession has now been awarded, do your shoppers obtain steady help if wanted to make sure the success of their progress?
Our agency continues to advise SEDIF in the course of the efficiency of the concession. This contract will come into full impact on January 1st, 2025 and we’ve lots preparatory actions to take, contemplating the problems {that a} contract of this scale (greater than 9000 pages in complete…) raises as soon as the efficiency begins.
We subsequently reply all of the consumer’s questions and even take part within the coaching of SEDIF members, who will now need to implement this concession contract, each by way of finishing up the funding works and working the general public service, but in addition by way of monitoring the concessionaire.
About part
LACOURTE RAQUIN TATAR
LACOURTE RAQUIN TATAR enterprise legislation agency is a pacesetter in its areas of experience: mergers and acquisitions, actual property and taxation. Along with these areas of experience, he has acknowledged expertise in public legislation, city planning, financing, monetary regulation and asset administration, and litigation.
With 85 legal professionals, together with 23 companions and 4 counsels, the agency is dedicated to offer his shoppers with options, and promote ethics and long-term collaborations.
LACOURTE RAQUIN TATAR advises and litigates within the numerous fields of public legislation, primarily within the areas of city planning, public contracts and surroundings. The agency’s public legislation workforce acts on behalf of traders, builders, industrialists, skilled federations, in addition to organizing authorities and public service operators for the regulatory, operational and monetary implementation of their initiatives. The legal professionals within the workforce have acknowledged expertise, significantly in the true property, city improvement, renewable vitality, native public companies and infrastructure sectors.
Benoit NEVEU
Benoit Neveu has been a lawyer in public enterprise legislation for 20 years.
Benoit Neveu holds a DEA in Public Financial Legislation (College of Paris II – Panthéon Assas), a DESS in Public Legislation Litigation (College of Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne), and a diploma from the Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales (College of Paris II – Panthéon Assas). He has targeted his apply on public contracts and public companies legislation, in addition to, extra usually, on the legislation of native authorities, each by way of recommendation and litigation.
His expertise in auditing, awarding and negotiating public contracts (delegation of public companies, complicated public contracts, partnership contracts, and so forth.) in addition to within the group of public companies (creation of buildings akin to native public corporations, drafting of guidelines of governance, definition of personnel standing, and so forth.) and administration of the area of public entities has led him to intervene within the context of challenge administration help missions for public entities in most financial sectors.
As well as, Benoit NEVEU is an authorized mediator (College Diploma of Mediator – IFOMENE).