PUBLIC LAW – PUBLIC CONTRACTS
“Public law has become a structuring tool in many projects and investments.”
Today, it goes far beyond the scope of administrative law and litigation to embrace a much broader dimension at the heart of economic and environmental life.
We have understood and anticipated these developments and assist all stakeholders, whether public authorities, companies, financial institutions or foreign States, within the framework of a global, transversal and operational approach to all aspects and issues of public law.
Our team has developed a practice particularly dedicated to energy, environment, urban planning and development, enabling us to assist you in obtaining the administrative authorizations you need and in the regulatory audits that may be required.
Our practice in public economic law, regulated sectors and public services, allows the firm to regularly provide its expertise in public contracts and complex contractual arrangements to major industrial groups, banking institutions, service operators, the State, local authorities and public companies, in France and abroad, both for public contracts and procurement, concessions – public service delegations, and the various forms of public-private partnerships (PPP), and contracts for occupying the public domain (temporary occupation permits, administrative emphyteutic leases).
We also work alongside the firm’s financing, corporate and real estate teams on acquisition or project financing transactions, conducting audits, particularly environmental audits, and advising you on all public law aspects of your development projects (administrative, environmental or urban planning authorizations, for operations involving the establishment of industrial or commercial sites, etc.).
To advance your projects and secure them, you can count on our proven experience, our technical rigor and our perfect knowledge of the workings of public institutions and authorities.
Our expertise
PUBLIC CONTRACTS & PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
- Public procurement law :
Our Public Law team has recognized expertise in public procurement law, particularly in assisting both private operators and public purchasers (State, local authorities, public establishments, semi-public companies, local public companies, etc.) in the award and performance of all types of public contracts, as well as in litigation before the administrative and commercial courts. We are particularly involved in the structuring and setting up of public/private projects, at the stage of setting up local public companies or semi-public companies, in the awarding of public contracts, as well as in the monitoring of these contracts.
Our transversal expertise allows us to assist our clients in complex public contracts involving a wide range of legal fields (environment, energy, transportation, etc.).
- Public contracts :
- Public procurement (Amended procedure contracts (MAPAs), formalized procedures, etc.) ;
- Concessions (public service contracts, service and works concessions, leasing, management) ;
- Public-private partnership contracts ;
- Complex structures and public domain (administrative emphyteutic leases, temporary occupation permits), leases in future state of completion, transfer with charges, etc. ;
- Semi-public companies, local public companies, single-contract public-private companies; in-house exceptions ;
- Project management, negotiation ;
- Litigation concerning the award of public contracts (pre-contractual/contractual summary proceedings) ;
- Litigation concerning the execution of public contracts.
ENVIRONMENT
The Public Law team has a recognized practice in environmental law, particularly in the areas of ICPEs, waste, polluted sites and soils, water law, biodiversity - protected species, chemical products, CO2 emission quotas, etc.
The team assists numerous international industrial companies in operating their sites, complying with regulatory obligations and implementing their innovative projects, in order to contribute to the fight against global warming and to reduce their carbon impact in order to preserve the environment.
In the context of M&A transactions or company restructurings, the Public Law team has developed expertise in assisting with the transfer of industrial sites and the management of environmental liability. It also assists in the drafting of due diligences covering all aspects of environmental law.
In collaboration with our real estate team, it also provides expertise in regulatory areas such as impact studies and the management of air, water and soil pollution, as well as in the drafting and negotiation of leases and in the sale of real estate assets.
- ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION - ICPEs: WATER LAW
- Assistance in preparing and obtaining environmental authorizations ;
- Assistance in relations with the administration (public inquiry, consultation) ;
- Follow-up and assistance in the operation of ICPE sites ;
- ICPE litigation, water law, protected species.
- ENVIRONMENT AND M&A / REAL ESTATE
- Analysis of targets in acquisition projects ;
- Preparation of contractual documentation.
ENERGY
The Public Law team has a strong expertise in energy law, more specifically in the renewable energy and energy performance sectors, as well as in electric mobility.
Fully aware of the new growth sectors and in order to support energy transition, our Public Law teams actively participates in the development of the renewable energy sector (wind, photovoltaic, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass, methanization - biogas), hydrogen, energy storage and new mobilities, by assisting public and private actors in the implementation of their projects (determination of the carrying structure, securing the land, filing the necessary administrative authorizations or in the context of applications for public support).
Acting in concert with the firm’s project finance and M&A team, our Public Law team is regularly commissioned by lenders and sponsors to conduct project audits in the context of project finance or M&A transactions involving energy assets.
RENEWABLE ENERGIES AND ENERGY PERFORMANCE
- Advice on regulatory aspects (installations, connection, production, etc.) ;
- Audit of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects ;
- Energy performance contracts; Green leases and environmental annexes, energy audits and energy performance diagnoses; energy saving certificates ;
- Electric vehicles and recharging infrastructures, production and distribution of hydrogen.
PROJECT SETUP
- Securing land ;
- Advice and regulatory support (administrative authorizations, impact studies, public inquiries, etc.) ;
- Litigation assistance.
URBAN PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT LAW
The team’s knowledge and expertise in urban planning law and public property management completes the practice of the firm’s real estate team with an approach related to sustainable development and the ecological transition.
Our lawyers deal with all issues related to the filing and implementation of building permits and all forms of authorizations required for the conduct of real estate operations, whether for commercial or industrial premises or for housing.
- Urban planning and development
- Audit of building permits/urban planning authorizations ;
- Litigation of urban planning authorizations - PLU (local urban planning scheme) ;
- Assistance in the setting up of real estate and development operations ;
- Expropriation and right of pre-emption.
- Commercial town planning
- Assistance in the preparation of CDAC (Commercial operation authorization request) files and the evolution of CDAC authorizations.
- Public real estate
- Valuation of the public domain and setting up of complex real estate arrangements.
- Ecological and sustainable construction
- Assistance to project owners ;
- Construction litigation, particularly in relation to environmental performance and energy efficiency issues ;
- Assistance in the application of the tertiary sector decree and energy performance measures ;
- Green lease and environmental annex, energy audit and energy performance diagnosis.
[Jurisprudence] Flexible Law: New Litigation Horizons – Lexbase hebdo éd. publique, 05/19/2022
In a decision rendered on April 8, 2022, the Conseil d’Etat accepted the admissibility of an appeal for misuse of power against an answer published by the CNIL, in a FAQ, which the latter had itself prepared and published on its website, in line with its policy of extending the justiciability of acts and flexible […]
Paris | PUBLIC LAW – PUBLIC CONTRACTS
The adoption of a regulatory framework for hydrogen – Destination climat, 04/01/2022
In the first issue of Destination Climat, Adrien Fourmon discusses the challenges of the new regulatory framework for hydrogen. “The hydrogen market is in the process of defining its legal framework, while many local authorities are planning to set up hydrogen production and distribution infrastructures on their territory. Following European advances, France is progressively adopting […]
Paris | ENVIRONMENT | RENEWABLE ENERGY – RE
[Tribune] Anthony Bron : «The challenge now is to anticipate the slightest hazards » – Achatpublic.info – 05/05/2022
Going back over the “hectic saga” of the end of framework agreements without a maximum, Anthony Bron calls on buyers to be pragmatic, but also to be vigilant: “buyers will have to scrupulously monitor the progress of the execution of the contract, so that the volume of activity entrusted to the co-contractor is not exceeded”.05
Paris | PUBLIC LAW – PUBLIC CONTRACTS
Smart building: solutions to reduce the consumption of local authority buildings – Smart City Mag n°43, Décémbre 2021
Contribution of Adrien Fourmon for Smart City Mag n°43 in the file “Smart building: solutions to reduce the consumption of the real estate of the communities”.
| URBAN PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT LAW
Contrôle des investissements étrangers : protéger l’innovation des énergies renouvelables – Journal de l’éolien, 01/12/2021
The recent decree of September 10, 2021 is an opportunity to revisit the foreign direct investment (FDI) policing system. Through this reform, R&D activities involving renewable energy production technologies benefit from a form of control designed to ensure the protection of activities that are essential to guarantee the greening of the French energy mix. Thus, […]
Paris | ENERGY | MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Two views: New Playing Field – European American Chambers of Commerce, 11/14/2021
The global imperative to reduce greenhouse gases is forcing governments and private enterprise to redefine “business as usual.” Adrien Fourmon et Julien Paulou discuss the world’s changing economic model.
Paris | ENVIRONMENT
Documents d’urbanisme : les objectifs zan contraints par des délais serrés – Le Moniteur, 12/11/2021
Adrien Fourmon proposes a calendar for the evolution of planning documents.
Paris | URBAN PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT LAW | PUBLIC LAW – PUBLIC CONTRACTS
The fight against artificialisation will require planning – Le Moniteur, 22/10/2021
Urban planning – The Climate and Resilience Act leaves little time for local authorities to meet the ZAN target. In line with the proposals of the Citizens’ Climate Convention and in order to anchor ecology in our society, Law 2021-1104 of 22 August 2021, known as the “Climate and Resilience” law, modifies numerous provisions of […]
Paris | PUBLIC LAW – PUBLIC CONTRACTS | ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES LAW | RENEWABLE ENERGY – RE