Chair in Public Contract Law

Launch of the Chair in Public Contract Law

On Tuesday 15 September 2020, 28 participants attended the launch of the Chair in Public Contract Law at the Institut d'administration des entreprises de Paris (IAE Paris).

The choice of venue for this first meeting is explained by the cooperation agreement between IAE Paris, which houses Professor Stéphane Saussier’s Chair in the Economics of PPPs, and Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University, which could lead to joint work, but also by the attendees: members of the legal affairs department of MINEFI (French Ministry for the Economy, Finance and Industry), the Council of State, FIN INFRA (body providing advice on the legal and financial structuring of infrastructure projects, attached to the Treasury Directorate-General), major public contractors and large public procurement companies, who will take part in the work of the Chair alongside nine renowned academics.

Special thanks are due to all the participants, in addition to the Chair’s private and public financial partners: Eiffage Génie civil, NGE, Demathieu Bard, Vinci Autoroutes, Société du Grand Paris, SNCF Réseau, Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile and, soon, ENEDIS.

 

The Chair in Public Contract Law

The Chair in Public Contract Law was born out of two observations. First, the current application of the rules on public contracts is poorly understood. Second, the growing difficulties between public bodies and companies during the performance of public contracts (public procurement and concessions in particular) lead not only to increasingly numerous and costly disputes but also to a loss of mutual trust, which in turn leads to further litigation. It was therefore useful to establish a research facility to respond to the problems of the various actors involved. In this context, the academic world seems best placed to conduct in-depth and objective research on these issues and to propose solutions to meet the expectations of the various stakeholders.

Jean Moulin University offers a learning and research environment focused on the humanities and social sciences. With seven doctoral schools and 19 research units, it develops interdisciplinary research, linked to the major issues of society. These research units include the Lyon Public Law Team (EDPL) of the Faculty of Law, which is a Welcome Team (EA 666) joining three research centres that cover the main disciplines of domestic public law: constitutional law, administrative law, public finance and taxation. Mr Lichère, a professor of public law specialising in public contract law, wanted to address this issue in the public contract sector and to establish a Chair in order to better understand the implications of the legal rules for public contracts and to better accommodate them.
 

“This research Chair was designed to bring together buyers and concession-granting authorities, co-contracting companies, interested public institutions (MINEFI, FININFRA, administrative jurisdictions in particular) and specialist academics in order to work on this public contracts research.”