Lyon City Council runs its first electronic call for tenders – and cuts costs by over 24% – with SynerDeal.

As part of large-scale plans to streamline and increase professionalism in its purchasing department, Lyon City Council worked with SynerDeal to run its first call for tenders and ensuing reverse auction, awarding a € 874,000 annual contract for administrative supplies. Lyon saved € 213,000 – or over 24% of the contract’s value – by doing so.

This way of encouraging bidder competition prompted Lyon authorities to recast their whole sourcing operation. In particular, this city’s purchases were consolidated, and the call for tenders was drafted to enhance competition on each item group. Posting consultation documents on the Internet also helped this project run more smoothly for the client and for potential suppliers alike.

“The economic result, here, was mainly due to the work we did before the consultation, which allowed us to build an attractive call to tenders for potential suppliers. Also, the fact that we used new Internet methods and tools gives a clear sign that our purchasing department is changing – and becoming more professional”, declared Lyon City Council’s assistant director general Olivier Nys.

“Lyon is leading the way in far-reaching efforts to slash public spending. SynerDeal is helping, with its sourcing expertise and Internet tools”, added SynerDeal’s COO Thierry de Cassan.

After this success, Lyon city authorities are thinking about ways of using this system – now only used for common supplies – more generally. They will spread it to services once they are authorised to do so.

Lyon
Geographically speaking, Lyon is very much where Northern Europe and the Mediterranean front converge, in the middle of the Rhône-Alpes region. The economic momentum that Lyon and its surrounding region are enjoying has propelled this area into a top-ranking development powerhouse on a European scale, second only in France to Paris and its environs. A seamless synergy between its economy, research and academia explain much of its success. Lyon City Council has a € 600 million budget, about € 90 million of which goes to external sourcing.