2023-11-29 13:08:46
November 29, 2023 Today at 05:00
The operator who came first in the call for tenders for the newspaper distribution market submitted an offer almost half the price of those of its competitors, according to the decision rendered by the administration.
It was the “price” criterion that put bpost out of the running for the concession of newspaper distribution between 2024 and 2028 and its 83.9 million annual subsidies. According to the “reasoned decision” drawn up by the Federal Public Service Economy and of which L’Echo was able to read, its competitor PPP submitted an offer almost half as expensive as those of the two other bidders, bpost, therefore, and the group of French economic operators Proximy-France Routage.
This is significant because the price accounts for 60% of the final rating which must decide between the three candidates. The latter were held in a pinch for the two other criteria set by the European call for tenders, namely the quality of service and compliance with delivery timesweighing respectively for 25% and 15% of the rating.
As regards the second batch of the public market (41.9 million per year) relating to distribution of periodicals and for which PPP did not compete, bpost narrowly lost to Proximy. But not on the price.
The price gap raises questions behind the scenes. In the press sector, rather angry once morest the announced eviction of bpost, as within the government.
Unbeatable
But back to the newspapers. The public contract specifications require bidders to submit a price including VAT per newspaper distributed. Bpost presented itself as the most expensive with 0.3204 euros, compared to 0.3006 euros for Proximy and… 0.1797 euros for PPP. This gives 60 points for PPP, 35.87 for Proximy and 33.65 for bpost. The game therefore seems almost made from the first criterion.
Not having the offer submitted by the Belgian company, we are unable to provide an explanation for this spectacular discrepancy. But he asks questions behind the scenes. In the press sector rather angry once morest the announced eviction of bpost and where some are already complaining regarding PPP services, such as in government.
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The “quality” criterion leads candidates to take advantage of a high-performance IT system making it possible to accurately measure the proper distribution of newspapers, a level of complaints not to be exceeded (7 per 10,000 distributions) as well as the possible possibility of organizing later rounds to deliver the newspaper to subscribers who have not received it in due time.
On this criterion, bpost displays a high level and a rating of 22.5 out of 25. PPP lags behind on this level with 20 points out of 25 while Proximy reaches the maximum rating of 25.
There remains the delivery times, for which bpost comes first (15/15 compared to 12/15 for the other two). However, this does not allow the postal company to move up in the final ranking. She is good last with 71.15 pointsProximy second with 72.87 points, far behind PPP and its 92 points.
The expected government
For the distribution of periodicals, bpost was only opposed to Proximy, which outweighs the promised quality of service. The two candidates in fact submitted the same price offer, the complex mechanism of which we will not detail here. Only four small points out of a hundred separate them on service and delivery times.
It is on this basis that the government must validate the decision of the federal administration before it officially notifies this result to the bidders. Meeting on this issue on Monday, the restricted council of ministers decided to postpone its decision, probably until this Wednesday. After a good discussion between ministerial offices.
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