The contracting process

The different stages of the purchasing process are:

• the statement of requirements
• the consultation strategy
• the call for tenders
• the analysis of the technical and commercial tenders
• negotiations and signing of the contract
• the performance of the contract and its monitoring
• feedback

Calls for tenders

EDF is subject to the European Directive 2014/25/UE of 26 February 2014 (on the coordination of the procedures for awarding public procurement in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors), as well as its transpositions in French legislation.

Besides the regulatory thresholds, tenders are subject to prior publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

The companies already listed have online access to EDF’s calls for tenders on the Group Procurement Portal.

The other competing firms must follow a qualification process.

The contractual documents

Gerenal Conditions of Purchase

EDF’s general conditions of purchase are available on the Group Procurement Portal. They apply to the contracts that refer to it. To cover the diversity of types and the challenges of purchasing, EDF makes examples of standard contracts available to its buyers. These documents, written in a unified contractual architecture, insures coherence among all the contracts awarded by EDF – while leaving room for the particularities of each type of purchase. Standard contracts are made up of:

• general conditions of purchase (CGA) topics
• specific purchasing conditions (CPA), adapted to the object, characteristics and scale of the purchase

In particular, standard contracts adapted to start-ups have been developed to facilitate contracting with EDF.

Our general conditions are available on the Group Procurement Portal.

They apply to the contracts that refer to it.

Conformity undertaking

In 2017, EDF reinforced its monitoring mechanism for its suppliers, by setting up a conformity undertaking. Its suppliers are required to comply with the Group’s values. Suppliers may not take part in any tendering procedures unless they have signed a compliance undertaking relating to bribery and corruption, money laundering, terrorist financing and conflicts of interest (see below).

This commitment and any other document attached are taken into account to assess suppliers involved in call for tenders.
Our ambition is that 100% of suppliers sign this undertaking every year. This objective was reached in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
 

Reverse factoring

Reverse factoring offers EDF suppliers the possibility of pre-financing their invoices before the contractual payment date, on issue of the payment approval by EDF.

EDF offers this solution to its suppliers via the partner factoring company BNP Paribas Factor (BNPPF). EDF thus allows them to benefit from an interest rate based on its own financial risk and its credit standard.

Suppliers wishing to take advantage of this possibility must first sign a bipartite contract with BNPPF. They can then ask BNPFF, either as the need arises – i.e. invoice by invoice – or systematically, for immediate payment of their invoices validated by EDF. Exchanges with BNPPF are made through a dedicated Internet platform. All the invoices issued by a supplier having signed a contract with BNPPF are paid by BNPPF into the bank account of the supplier, who can request pre-financing or not. All invoices of suppliers that have joined the programme are paid by EDF to BNPPF on the normal due dates for these invoices.

The benefits of reverse factoring for suppliers:

• benefiting from an alternative financing offer
• optimising their cash flow
• improving their working capital needs