The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Is it possible to reserve 5% of public contracts for companies in the Social and Solidarity Economy?

2021-04-13T15:13:53.218Z


An amendment to the climate law intends to reserve a share of public orders for companies in the Social and Solidarity Economy. Is it achievable?


It was indeed a good idea

”.

Olivia Grégoire, Secretary of State in charge of the Social and Solidarity Economy recognizes that the amendment to the Climate Bill which intends to reserve part of the public contracts for companies in the Social and Solidarity Economy, “

in substance

”, will in the right direction.

However, the Secretary of State interviewed this Tuesday on Radio J, does not think that this modification can be done in practice.

Read also: Launch of the emergency fund of 30 million euros for the social and solidarity economy

"Greening the economy".

This is the objective of article 15 of the Climate and Resilience bill being debated in the National Assembly.

To achieve this goal, the bill intends to activate the powerful lever of public orders which represent 200 billion euros or 10% of GDP.

The public order code which regulates the conditions of attribution and execution of public contracts is, in this spirit, modified: henceforth "

the conditions of execution [of the services] take into account considerations relating to the environment

" .

But for some deputies, this environmental clause must be supplemented by a social clause: an amendment was therefore presented and adopted, against the advice of the government, by deputies from all political families.

This amendment seeks to create the obligation for all public tenderers to reserve a minimum share of 5% of the estimated amount of a contract for solidarity companies of social utility.

Impossible to implement

For the government, in particular Olivia Grégoire, this modification will unfortunately not be useful because it is impossible to implement.

In order not to waste “

too much time in litigation

” it is better to go “

through the regulatory field

”, considers the Secretary of State.

She fears in particular a conflict with European law which prohibits favoring "one type of

structure

" in public procurement clauses.

Reserving 5% of public contracts for the ESUS (Solidarity Company of Social Utility) would cause numerous disputes.

An announcement effect

"

Much ado about nothing

".

For Maître Laurent Frölich, this amendment is more of the “

announcement effect

” than of a real advance displayed by the deputies.

Dissecting the amendment, the lawyer specializing in public procurement sees no change in scope from the point of view of public procurement: "

It is not 5% of public contracts

[in general]

but only orders public that pursue an 'environmentally responsible objective'

”which greatly reduces its scope.

In addition

,

"we are talking

about 5% of the amount of the contract already awarded, ultimately, it is something tiny

" analyzes the lawyer.

No wonder, then, that this amendment has brought together deputies from different political stripes: it commits almost nothing.

To be honest, we, public procurement lawyers, do not even look at this kind of bill.

(...) We cannot demand overly restrictive clauses.

Public procurement is very rigid

”concludes Laurent Frölich.

Source: lefigaro

All business articles on 2021-04-13

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.