RATP and SNCF have embarked on a real race against time to complete, before January 29, the call for tenders for the mega contract for the renewal of RER B trains in Ile-de-France. .
A market displayed at 2.5 billion euros which involves the firm order for 146 new trains and a conditional order for 34 additional trainsets.
Two offers were presented: one by Alstom and the other by the alliance between the Canadian Bombardier and the Spanish CAF.
On paper, the French manufacturer was certain to win.
Or directly, if his proposal was accepted.
Or indirectly via Bombardier, since on January 29, the French manufacturer will officially own its Canadian competitor for around 6 billion euros.
And yet, since November 23, the date of Alstom's first appeal before the Paris judicial court, the manufacturer has embarked on a legal battle against its customers, accusing them of having modified the current call for tenders. of road.
A mini-earthquake in the hushed business world: “In general, we avoid attacking our customers, especially when their names are SNCF and RATP,” confides a business manager.
You are mortgaging your chances for future markets.
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Alstom wants to save time
Ultimately, it was the RATP that took the hare: Alstom wants to save time.
The public company was convinced of this when the builder filed an summary before the administrative court on December 16, while its previous appeal was due only on December 17.
Why ?
"It's an open secret, but the winner of the tender will probably be Bombardier-CAF," says a source familiar with the matter.
And that, Alstom does not accept.
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"If she loses in the scratch, winning the draw does not interest her either, analyzes another source.
In other words, it believes that if Bombardier wins the contract, the Canadian offer will not be sufficiently profitable or even not economically viable.
If the winner is chosen after January 29, Alstom will have plenty of time to review Bombardier's offer.
"An analysis contested by two sources within public companies:" The Bombardier-CAF offer was studied by an outside firm which found nothing abnormal ", confides one of them.
For the Ile-de-France region, avoid additional costs
According to other sources, Alstom's offer would be 500 million euros more expensive than that of Bombardier.
“I am furious, loose Pierre Serne, regional environmental advisor for Ile-de-France.
In 2016, for the new generation RER contract, calls for tenders had to be re-launched three times to save Alstom.
Siemens, disgusted, withdrew, CAF backed off.
But in the end, the taxpayer lost 200 million euros.
What does Alstom play?
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On the side of Ile-de-France mobility - which manages transport in the Paris region - and public companies, there is no question of being let down.
They have speeded up their designation process.
The stakes are high: an additional cost of several million euros, but above all, train delivery times that are delayed by several months or even years if the call for tenders were to be re-launched.
“On December 9, we therefore voted without knowing who was the winner of the call for tenders,” says an elected official from the Ile-de-France region.
It saved time without being illegal.
Indeed, we cannot designate the winner as long as the appeal has not been studied by the courts.
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New offers submitted on January 4
Same thing with the SNCF, which presented on December 17 to its board of directors the project of orders to Bombardier-CAF of the trains of the RER B. The legal department of the company, rather confident, had predicted that the recourse of Alstom in court, studied the same day, would be rejected.
Failure!
Justice ruled in favor of the builder and ordered the two companies to allow market candidates to modify their offer.
These were re-filed on January 4.
And this Wednesday, the SNCF is organizing a new board of directors to validate the choice of the winner.
RATP plans to do the same.
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On the side of Alstom, we reject any attempt to save time.
We recall that "the irregularities" had been reported to RATP for several months.
“Moreover, justice proved us right,” says the company.
"Alstom is a bad player," annoys Jacques Baudriers, administrator (PCF) Ile-de-France mobilities.
It could cost us several months.
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