1. he Procurement Organisation of the French State
Michel Grévoul, Director for State Procurement, Ministry of Action and Public Accounts
3RD Global Procurement Conference
Roma
2-3 July 2018

2. Missions of the DAE A real challenge for public finances:
The amount of State procurement, excluding defense and security procurement, is €31 billion per year (€16 billion for Government services and €15 billion for State agencies).
The decree of 3 March 2016 creating the DAE gives it an inter-ministerial field of action and defines its four main missions:
Inter-ministerial tenders to deliver savings and quality;
Procurement organization;
Professionalization of buyers;
Implementation of a procurement information system

3. Strategic governance of the DAE and scope of action (DAE = Direction des Achats de l’Etat = Directorate for State Procurement)
The DAE defines the procurement policy of the State under the authority of the Prime minister. .
At the strategic level, the State procurement conference meets three times a year under the chairmanship of the Secretary General of the Government. These conferences bring together the Secretaries General of the Ministries and the DAE who debate on the main strategic issues and opportunities for the State procurement policy. Following these exchanges, the DAE decide the State procurement policy to be implemented.
The perimeter of DAE’s action includes buyers of Ministries and their regional departments as well as State agencies but excludes local authorities, hospitals and defense-specific procurement contracts. 3

4. Operational governance of the DAE .
A State procurement committee (Ministries) chaired by the “DAE” (quarterly meetings) bringing together ministerial procurement managers and regional procurement platform managers on the implementation of the State procurement policy;
A purchasing committee of the State’s agencies under the presidency of the “DAE” (quarterly meetings) bringing together the 70 biggest entities having more than 40 M€ of purchases spend by year. 4

5. Strategic orientations and targets 2016-2018
Increase procurement savings:
For Ministries: 325 M€ in 2016, 375 M€ in 2017, 400 M€ in 2018;
For State agencies: 250 M€ in 2016, 275 M€ in 2017, 300 M€ in 2018.
Achieve social and environmental objectives through the introduction of contractual clauses or criteria analysis of bids
Increase the share of State procurement from SMEs
Increase the volume of procurement including an innovative solution
Make procurement more efficient through the professionalization of buyers
The DAE submits an annual report to the Prime Minister and the Minister in charge of Action and Public Accounts describing the actions implemented (Ministries & State agencies) and their outcomes. 5

6. To ensure better implementation of the State procurement policy
By relying more heavily on the Secretaries General of each ministry, and by strengthening the role of ministerial purchasing managers and ministerial missions for procurement.
By strengthening the capacity to pool purchases at a regional level (which is good for SME) thanks to the implementation of 13 regional procurement platforms (“PFRA”) under the authority of each Prime minister regional representative (the “Prefect”) 6

7. How to make procurement more efficient?
Enhance the role of State buyers by giving them a strong advisory role from the very start of projects, thus leading to more recognition of their expertise both by Government services and by companies’ sales teams
Create a comprehensive procurement training program offering either end-to-end training or specialized training units
Foster direct communication and exchange of lessons learned/best practices between buyers through a professional social network dedicated specifically to buyers of the State and its agencies (called “RespAE”)
Improve career management by creating a unified career path for more mobility across entities (Ministries and State’s agencies) 7

8. The multi-annual procurement program of the State
The programming, drawn up annually for the next four years by each ministry and consolidated by the “DAE”, covers all purchases above 90k€.
Its objectives are:
To identify new opportunities for the definition of inter-ministerial strategies at national or regional level;
To identify the most efficient purchasing levers to be implemented contract by contract in order to achieve the objectives of the five fields of procurement performance: procurement savings, increasing the share of State procurement from SME’s, sustainable development, social clauses, innovative solutions;
To plan the intervention in support, if necessary, of a "task force" composed of expert purchasers from other Ministries or State agencies;
To build for each Ministry an annual savings target; 8

9. Prior agreement of the ministerial procurement manager
Concerns all procurement projects of its ministry above 1 M€ (works contracts) or 144 K€ (supplies and services).
The aim is to secure an economically efficient procurement and to set up a dialogue to advance the maturity of purchasers .
It ensures or covers:
Proper consideration of the purchasing objectives of the State in the public procurement project;
Compliance with existing inter-ministerial or ministerial procurement strategies;
Relevance of the sourcing with regard to the stakes of the purchase project;
Attention paid to drawing up the specifications in order to encourage as many companies as possible to submit a competitive and innovative bids;
Allotment approach;
Relevance of the public procurement procedure considered;
Relevance of the award criteria (in particular the weight of the price criterion);
Forecasting of a negotiation (where permitted by regulation) 9

10. 3 main objectives for regional procurement platforms under the authority of the regional Prefect
Local support for the implementation of the State procurement policy
To increase regional inter-ministerial tenders from €1 to €2 billion in 3 years (making them more accessible to SMEs than when launched at national level), by developing the pooling of purchases of the State’s regional services.
To offer methodological advice to each ministry’s regional procurement services :
Procurement techniques and buyer's skills;
Allow companies to includes in their bids :
innovative solutions,
social and environmental solutions; 10

11. Local support for the implementation of the State procurement policy
To lead the network of State’s buyers in the region.
To participate in the regional implementation of the State training policy.
To undertake activities towards local companies (supplier information meetings, direct sourcing), in coordination with the chambers of commerce and industry (CCI).
To participate in the procurement component of the State property policy in the regions.
To contribute to the downsizing of the number of representatives of contracting authorities (people allowed to sign public contracts). 11

12. Which are the 5 pillars of the Procurement professionalization?
Procurement professionalisation  the development of public procurement skills is essential for efficient procurement
Dedicated career path
Training
program
Professionnal
social
network
Public
procurement
manuals
Procurement information system
The 5 pillars of buyer’s professionalisation 12

13. Training strategy for State buyers
Each ministry's procurement training plan must be consistent with the framework defined and labeled by the DAE.
All procurement trainings are inter-ministerial in nature and can be attended by buyers from all ministries.
Priority target : people working in procurement over 50% of their time
Secondary objective: improve on less mastered skills
2 options :
Specialization or A-to-Z training
Only trainings labelled by DAE
Provide e-learning options
Provide certification training program
Develop dedicated manuals to complete and support trainings
Ministry of Defense
Ministry of the Economy and Finance
Ministry of the Interior
Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs ….
Trainings are carried out in each ministry 13

14. Building a single reference framework for procurement training
Expert buyer specialisation course
Buying manager curriculum
Specialization in IT equipment and services procurement
Specialisation in
works procurement *
Specialization in supplies and services procurement
Specialization in intellectual services procurement
Buyer
Senior buyer curriculum
Junior buyer curriculum
Introduction to the procurement managing role
Introduction to the procurement role
Procurement strategy
Negotiation - L1
Procurement performance
Sustainable
procurement
Evaluation and definition of needs - L1
Procurement
marketing
Evaluation and definition of needs - L2
Sourcing - L1
Sourcing - L2
Procurement strategy
for managers
Bids analysis
Negotiation - L2
Management of buyers
Suppliers
relationship management - L1
Suppliers
relationship management- L2
Procurement
performance
for managers
* e-learning training available
Cross-functional skills
Legal basics training for public procurement *
Corporate organization
Managing projects
SME access to public procurement
Innovative
procurement
Procurement information system * 14

15. Develop a real buyer’s career path
Implement and monitor the procurement policy according to their performance objectives
Procurement managers
Make sure that procurement meets the qualitative and quantitative needs of services and ensure the performance of procurement
Buyers
Advise and bring expertise to the buyers on expert issues ( sourcing, negotiation, social and environmental responsibility etc.)
Procurement expert advisors
Purchasing managers
Public procurement writers
Implement public procurement procedures and advise buyers on the legal risks and / or benefits of the public contract
Managing the orders of goods and services 15

16. Overall Scheme MINISTERIES INTER-MINISTERIAL
Procurement Policy
Procurement Strategies
Procurement Objectives
Secretary General
Ministerial procurement manager
Prior agreement of the ministerial procurement manager
Procurement programming
Procurement Objectives
Procurement Strategies
Procurement policy
National Ministerial Procurement
Regional Ministerial Procurement
Regional Procurement Platforms which deliver regional interministerial contracts
Information if > 25 K€ 16

17. 2016 Procurement outcomes For the Government services
For the State’s agencies
Objectives
Results
Savings
325 M€
348 M€
Purchases from SME’s (amounts)
25%
28,4%
Purchases (amounts) to innovative SME and innovative intermediate-size companies (as defined by the ministry of economy and finance) 9%
Social clauses
(number of contracts) 5%
4,4%
Environmental criterias or clauses (number of contracts)
10%
12,2%
Objectives
Results
Savings
250 M€
235 M€
Purchases from SME’s (amounts)
25%
24,5%
Purchases (amounts) to innovative SME and innovative intermediate-size companies (as defined by the ministry of economy and finance)
13,8%
Social clauses
(number of contracts) 5%
12%
Environmental criterias or clauses (number of contracts)
10% EP 17

18. 2017 Procurement outcomes For the Government services
For the State’s agencies
Objectives
Results
Savings
375 M€
346 M€
Purchases from SME’s (amounts)
27%
28,09%
Purchases (amounts) to innovative SME and innovative intermediate-size companies (as defined by the ministry of economy and finance)
Social clauses
(number of contracts)
10%
5,3%
Environmental criterias or clauses (number of contracts)
15%
14,9%
Objectives
Results
Savings
250 M€
380 M€
Purchases from SME’s (amounts)
27%
26,9%
Purchases (amounts) to innovative SME and innovative intermediate-size companies (as defined by the ministry of economy and finance)
15%
Social clauses
(number of contracts)
10%
8,3%
Environmental criterias or clauses (number of contracts)
22,5% EP 18