Question from Daniel de Nantes: “As part of my professional duties, I discovered on the Nantes Métropole site, a call for tenders for a communication consultancy market of 5.4 million euros. What does it correspond to? And isn’t that huge? “
You mention Daniel this call for tenders broadcast on September 22, the maximum regulatory amount of which actually reached 5.4 million euros for a period of four years. Launched by Nantes Métropole, the City of Nantes and its Communal Social Action Center (CCAS), this market aims to find several communication consulting agencies who will have to “build the story of the Territory Project, deploy relevant information around public actions and services and develop the relationship with the citizen. “
In less institutional terms, the com ‘professionals selected will have to offer municipal services and elected officials a strategy and tools that enhance the actions of the two communities and the CCAS. All with a “transition” coloring. According to Nantes Métropole, the desired goal is “to coordinate all communication actions and lead to a coherent communication approach focusing on the strategic issues linked to transitions. “. In short: to unify the message of the city and the metropolis on issues of habitat, mobility, climate, water, energy, etc.
Com ‘to millions
To come back more precisely to your question Daniel, the maximum amount of the contract (5.4 million euros) is not exceptional. In 2014 and 2015, at the start of their mandate again, the City of Nantes and Nantes Métropole launched the same type of call for tenders separately. We are therefore faced with the renewal of existing markets, under slightly different terms, the new call for tenders bringing together the city and the metropolis and covering four years (compared to one year renewable in 2014/2015).
During the previous mandate, these communication consulting contracts were awarded to Nantes agencies: Double Mixte (now Sennse), Nouvelle Vague and Nouvelle Moswo. Questioned by Mediacités, Nantes Métropole affirms that “the current contracts reach the same overall amount of service (in three batches instead of two in this new call for tenders)”.
The interested companies
have a month to respond. This was also the case in 2014 and 2015. According to Nantes Métropole, “the budget does not only concern the purchase of consulting services (it is even the smallest part of the market): the most important part of the expected work concerns the implementation of the campaigns with the realization of all the tools and supports print, web… (except printing). ”
60 to 70 agents
If the figure of 5.4 million euros seems “enormous” to you, know Daniel that it represents only a small part of the sums devoted to communication. Certainly, as noted the satirical blog Nantes Plus, this amount would make it possible to hire “almost 34 full-time communications managers for four years. “. But the communication of the city and the metropolis is much more than that.
Headed by Xavier Crouan, the “information and citizen relations department” brings together between 60 and 70 agents. Spicy detail, we even find among them the referent En Marche de Loire-Atlantique, Stéphane Gachet. The one who has also been an LREM regional advisor since the last elections is in charge of “the multi-channel relationship with users” at Nantes Métropole. This workforce dedicated to communication – sorry, “information and citizen relations” – could grow in the coming months with a reorganization in progress.
A number “in the nails”
Finally, on the budget side, if the figure of 5.4 million euros over four years makes you tick, Daniel, it nevertheless represents only a small part of the communication expenses incurred each year by the communities. We asked the city and the Metropolis what their annual communication budget was. Answer: a little over 1.3 million euros for each of the two entities. An astonishing figure because, according to Cap’Com, local authorities spend, on average, 33 euros per year and per capita on communication expenses. If we are to believe this specialized cooperative, which nonetheless brings together 25,000 public and regional communication professionals, the communication budget of Nantes communities could therefore be estimated at 22 million euros per year.
In short, difficult to see clearly because unfortunately nothing for the moment obliges the communities to communicate their budget com ‘…. This is why, in March 2020, the LR senator of Hérault, Jean-Pierre Grand, has tabled a bill, “aimed at guaranteeing the transparency and fairness of communication spending by local authorities and their groups”. Article 1is provides that municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, departments and regions publish “a summary statement of communication expenditure during the year”, annexed to the administrative account.
This report should specify “the expenditure for the creation and printing of the various communication media, the costs of personnel assigned to communication and advertising expenditure by media and by online communication services to the public”. Submitted a year and a half ago, this bill has still not been examined to date …
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