the water union announces having signed a contract with Veolia

This signing comes a few days after the rejection of a new legal appeal from Veolia’s competitor, Suez.

Sedif, the Ile-de-France water union, announced on Tuesday March 19 that it had signed a new concession contract with Veolia on Saturday relating to the management of the public drinking water service in Ile-de-France ( outside Paris).

On Thursday, the Paris administrative court rejected a request from Suez aimed at canceling the award of this contract to its competitor, paving the way for this signature, according to a court decision that AFP was able to consult.

During the hearing on February 27, Suez requested the cancellation of the procedure for awarding the concession for this contract, considering in particular “wronged” by “distortions of competition”. Among Suez’s grievances, the research carried out on the project at the heart of this new concession, which plans to install in the three drinking water plants a system of membranes making it possible to obtain purer, chlorine-free water.

A market worth 4.3 billion euros over 12 years

Suez “does not provide any element which would, at least, allow us to presume” that his candidacy was harmed, the court argues in its decision, rejecting all the legal arguments raised by the group’s lawyers.

Sedif decided, on January 25, to re-award this contract worth 4.3 billion euros over 12 years to Veolia, which has held it for a century.

The call for tenders was marked, in spring 2023, by a bug on the Sedif IT platform, which caused confidential documents intended for Suez to land at Veolia, and in particular elements of the latter’s offer. The procedure was then frozen for several months. In October, the Sedif finally decided to continue the investigation on the basis of the offers received before the incident, a decision unsuccessfully contested by Suez.