This article covers a French regulatory framework: the French Public Procurement Code (code de la commande publique), the French Climate and Resilience Act (loi Climat et Résilience), Decree No. 2022-767, and guidance published on the French interministerial sustainable procurement portal with the support of the Directorate for Legal Affairs (Direction des affaires juridiques, DAJ) of the French economic and financial ministries. It applies to public tenders governed by French law.

For contracts launched on or after 21 August 2026, a French public buyer that wants to award a contract on a single criterion no longer has a choice: price alone is excluded, and only the cost criterion, determined either through a comprehensive approach factoring in environmental considerations or based on life-cycle cost, remains admissible. The rule stems from Article 2 of Decree No. 2022-767 of 2 May 2022, which prepares the entry into force of Article 35 of the Climate and Resilience Act (loi Climat et Résilience).

We covered the full reform in our article on the Climate and Resilience Act and public procurement (FR). That article does not revisit here the timeline or the bidding exclusions. This one addresses a single point, the most technical and the most differentiating for a company bidding on a contract: life-cycle cost, what it covers legally, how it is calculated, and what data a company must be able to produce so as not to lose points.

What the Public Procurement Code Means by Life-Cycle Cost

Life-cycle cost is not a marketing concept. It is a legal category defined at Article R. 2152-9 of the French Public Procurement Code, which transposes Article 68 of Directive 2014/24/EU. Under this European provision, life-cycle cost covers, to the extent that they are relevant, all or part of the following costs:

  • costs borne by the contracting authority or other users: costs relating to acquisition, costs relating to use (consumption of energy and other resources), maintenance costs, end-of-life costs such as collection and recycling costs;
  • costs imputed to environmental externalities linked to the product, service or works during its life cycle, provided their monetary value can be determined and verified. These costs may include the cost of greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutant emissions, as well as other climate change mitigation costs.

Two takeaways for a bidder. First, energy consumed in use and product lifespan carry as much weight as, sometimes more than, the listed price. Second, greenhouse gas emissions can enter directly into the price score, provided they are monetized according to a method announced in advance.

Whole-Life Cost and Life-Cycle Cost: The Distinction That Matters

The two expressions are often used interchangeably. They do not sit at the same level.

  • Whole-life cost (coût global) is the criterion category. Article R. 2152-7 of the Code provides that the buyer may rely on a single criterion, which is either price, on condition that the contract's sole object is the purchase of standardized supplies or services whose quality cannot vary from one economic operator to another, or cost, determined through a comprehensive approach.
  • Life-cycle cost (coût du cycle de vie) is one of the possible methods for building that comprehensive approach. The Code explicitly refers to the definition at Article R. 2152-9.

What changes on 21 August 2026 is one door closing and the other narrowing. The single price criterion disappears. And if the buyer retains a single cost criterion, it must mandatorily factor in the environmental characteristics of the bid. In practice, most buyers will continue working with multiple criteria, with at least one environmental criterion now mandatory, also under Article 35 of the Climate and Resilience Act.

How a Buyer Builds and Weights the Criterion

Article 68 of Directive 2014/24/EU strictly frames the exercise. When the buyer assesses costs using a life-cycle-based method, it states two things in the tender documents: the data that bidders must supply, and the method it will use to determine the life-cycle cost from that data.

When the method covers environmental externalities, it must meet three cumulative conditions:

  • it is based on objectively verifiable and non-discriminatory criteria; in particular, where the method has not been established for repeated or continuous application, it must not unduly favor or disadvantage certain economic operators;
  • it is accessible to all interested parties;
  • it requires only data that can be provided with reasonable effort by normally diligent economic operators, including operators from third countries party to the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) or to other international agreements by which the European Union is bound.

One special case exists: when a common calculation method is made mandatory by a legislative act of the European Union, it applies. Annex XIII of Directive 2014/24/EU currently only covers a single text, Directive 2009/33/EC on clean vehicles. For the purchase of road vehicles, the method for monetizing energy and emissions is therefore not left to the buyer's discretion.

On weighting, no fixed scale is imposed. Article 67(4) of the Directive merely prohibits award criteria from conferring an unrestricted freedom of choice on the buyer: they must ensure the possibility of genuine competition and be accompanied by specifications allowing effective verification of the information supplied. Article 67(5) requires the buyer to specify in the procurement documents the relative weighting given to each criterion. For a bidder, the practical consequence is simple: the weighting is found in the tender rules (règlement de la consultation), never in the Code.

The French Government's Tools: Where Things Actually Stand

Article 36 of the Climate and Resilience Act provides for the State to make operational tools available to buyers for defining and analyzing the life-cycle cost of goods, for the main purchasing segments. These tools are intended to integrate the whole-life cost linked to acquisition, use, maintenance and end-of-life, as well as external costs: air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, deforestation. The DAJ explanatory factsheet states that they were to be made available by 2025 at the latest, its entry-into-force summary table giving the date of 1 January 2025. Follow-up on this work sits with the National Plan for Sustainable Procurement (PNAD) 2022-2025.

As of 3 September 2026, the interministerial portal achats-durables.gouv.fr, whose dedicated page is produced with the support of the Directorate for Legal Affairs of the French economic and financial ministries and was published on 24 June 2025 then updated on 10 February 2026, references two sector-specific tools, both life-cycle analysis tools:

  • Ecobalyse, for clothing textiles. Developed by the French Ministry for Ecological Transition and Ademe (the French environment and energy agency), free, open source, it calculates an environmental cost based on the 16 impact categories of the PEF method. The portal specifies that public buyers must use the environmental cost excluding extrinsic durability, as that dimension does not apply to public purchasing.
  • SEVE-TP, for public works. An eco-comparison tool made available by the French national federation of public works contractors (Fédération nationale des travaux publics), free and accessible online after registration, whose user manual and methodological guide are in version 6.1 dated 12 June 2025. It covers, among others, roads, road and utility networks, earthworks, civil engineering structures, special foundations, pipeline works, railways, underground works and electrical works.

The portal indicates that further sector-specific tools will be added progressively. This situation should be read without complacency: the tooling made available by the State today falls under life-cycle analysis, meaning impact measurement, rather than full life-cycle cost monetization. At the European level, the European Commission also makes life-cycle costing calculators available for five segments: computers and monitors, imaging equipment, indoor lighting, outdoor lighting, and vending machines.

Consequence for a bidding company: on most segments, the buyer will build its own method and publish it in the tender documents. It will therefore differ from one contract to another.

A Fictional, Illustrative Worked Example

The figures below are entirely fictional. They are used solely to illustrate the switching mechanism, and constitute neither a scale nor market data.

Fictional contract: 200 pieces of electrical equipment, useful life of 8 years as set by the buyer, electricity cost set by the buyer at €0.20 per kWh, monetary value of a tonne of CO2e set by the buyer at €100.

  • Bid A: acquisition price €400 per unit, consumption 300 kWh per year, maintenance €20 per year, end-of-life €15, declared manufacturing footprint 90 kgCO2e per unit.
  • Bid B: acquisition price €520 per unit, consumption 180 kWh per year, maintenance €15 per year, end-of-life €10, declared manufacturing footprint 60 kgCO2e per unit.

Over 8 years and per unit, Bid A totals 400 + 480 in energy + 160 in maintenance + 15 in end-of-life + 9 in carbon externality for manufacturing, i.e. €1,064. Bid B totals 520 + 288 + 120 + 10 + 6, i.e. €944. The bid that is more expensive to purchase becomes the cheaper one over the life cycle, with a gap of €120 per unit, i.e. €24,000 over the fictional contract.

This switch is exactly the effect the legislator intended. It also explains why a company unable to document its in-use consumption and its product footprint loses an advantage it may genuinely hold.

What a Bidder Must Prepare

A life-cycle cost criterion turns commercial claims into scored elements. To be able to respond, a company must have, before even receiving a tender notice:

  • A carbon footprint per product reference, calculated according to a recognized methodology, typically ISO 14067 for product footprints. See our article on the ISO 14067 standard and the one on the link between carbon footprint and life-cycle analysis.
  • In-use consumption data: energy, water, consumables, expressed in the functional unit requested, and tied to identifiable test conditions.
  • A quantified lifespan and maintenance plan: intervention frequency, wear parts, spare parts availability, warranties.
  • End-of-life elements: recyclability rate, take-back channel, disassembly, share of recycled material incorporated.
  • Supporting evidence: test reports, environmental product declarations, supplier attestations, energy invoices, third-party verification reports where they exist.
  • Traceability of the emission factors used and their source, with the base year.

Mistakes That Cost Points

  • Responding with a company-level footprint when the buyer asks for a product-level footprint. The two scopes are not interchangeable.
  • Providing a value without a defined scope: a kgCO2e figure without indication of the stages covered, the gas covered and the functional unit is difficult to score.
  • Ignoring the method published in the tender rules and proposing a homemade method instead. The calculation belongs to the buyer.
  • Neglecting maintenance and end-of-life data, often filled in hastily even though they are weighted.
  • Declaring a performance without supporting evidence. In case of doubt, the buyer effectively verifies the accuracy of the information and evidence submitted by bidders, as required by Article 67(4) of Directive 2014/24/EU. The buyer may also require a test report or a certificate from a conformity assessment body under Article R. 2151-14 of the French Public Procurement Code and must, where the operator has no access to such documents, accept any other appropriate means of proof.
  • Reusing last year's file as is: emission factors and databases are updated, and values can shift.

What Kabaun Contributes on This Specific Point

Kabaun does not write technical bid memoranda and does not replace your sales team. The platform is used to produce and evidence the quantified data this type of criterion requires:

  • product carbon footprint calculation according to ISO 14067, cradle-to-grave, with per-product-reference granularity (CBC-006);
  • GHG Protocol calculation engine backed by 270,000 emission factors from 8 public databases, including the French Base Carbone from Ademe (CBC-001);
  • traceability of each data point back to its source and emission factor (GDD-005), management of supporting evidence attached to each entry (CERT-004), and a tamper-proof audit trail (CERT-003);
  • uncertainty analysis in line with GHG Protocol recommendations (CBC-005a) and export of results to PDF and Excel in your own format (RV-002).

If you regularly bid on public tenders, get in touch with our team to review the carbon data you need to be able to produce.

FAQ

Is life-cycle cost mandatory in public procurement?

No. It is not a general obligation. What is mandatory since 21 August 2026 is the presence of at least one award criterion factoring in the environmental characteristics of the bid. Life-cycle cost, however, becomes the only possible route, together with the whole-life cost approach factoring in environmental considerations, if the buyer chooses to use a single criterion only.

What is the difference between whole-life cost and life-cycle cost?

Whole-life cost designates the cost-criterion approach set out at Article R. 2152-7 of the French Public Procurement Code. Life-cycle cost, defined at Article R. 2152-9, is one of the methods that allow that comprehensive approach to be built, with a precise content: acquisition, use, maintenance, end-of-life, and monetized environmental externalities.

Can greenhouse gas emissions be monetized in the score?

Yes, under two conditions set by Article 68 of Directive 2014/24/EU: the monetary value must be determinable and verifiable, and the valuation method must be objective, non-discriminatory, accessible to all interested parties, and fed by data obtainable with reasonable effort.

Where can I find the life-cycle cost analysis tools announced by the French government?

On the portal achats-durables.gouv.fr, in the documentation and tools section. As of today, two sector-specific life-cycle analysis tools are referenced there, Ecobalyse for clothing textiles and SEVE-TP for public works, with an announcement of progressive referencing of other sectors. The European Commission also makes five sector-specific life-cycle costing calculators available.

What data must my company be able to supply?

Whatever is listed in the tender rules, which vary from one contract to another. In practice, systematically prepare a carbon footprint per product reference, in-use consumption data, a lifespan, a maintenance plan, end-of-life elements, and the evidence that supports them.

Is an SME disadvantaged by this type of criterion?

Not mechanically. The directive requires that the data requested can be supplied with reasonable effort by normally diligent operators. An SME with a documented product footprint can, on the contrary, gain points against a competitor that is cheaper to buy but more costly to operate.

Sources

  • Directive 2014/24/EU of 26 February 2014, Articles 67 and 68 and Annex XIII. Text published in the Official Journal of the European Union and consolidated version of 1 January 2026, Publications Office of the European Union, CELEX 32014L0024 and 02014L0024-20260101.
  • Directorate for Legal Affairs (Direction des affaires juridiques), French economic and financial ministries, explanatory factsheet "Les mesures commande publique issues de la loi Climat et résilience et de la loi Industrie verte en matière d'achat durable", version of 23.09.24: page 7 for Article 2 of Decree No. 2022-767 and for Article 36 of the Act, page 3 for the National Plan for Sustainable Procurement 2022-2025, pages 10 and 11 for the entry-into-force summary table.
  • Interministerial portal achats-durables.gouv.fr, page "Utiliser des outils d'analyse en cycle de vie (ACV) dans les contrats de la commande publique" and factsheet "Un outil ACV pour le secteur textile : Ecobalyse", produced with the support of the Directorate for Legal Affairs of the French economic and financial ministries, published 24 June 2025 and updated 10 February 2026.
  • French Public Procurement Code, Articles R. 2111-11, R. 2151-14, R. 2152-7, R. 2152-7-2 and R. 2152-9, as cited by the achats-durables.gouv.fr portal.
  • SEVE-TP, official tool website, legal notice and documentation in version 6.1 dated 12 June 2025, publisher Fédération nationale des travaux publics.
  • Ecobalyse, public repository MTES-MCT/ecobalyse, MIT license, and the ecobalyse.beta.gouv.fr website.
  • European Commission, Green Forum, page "Life-cycle costing" and the five associated sector tools.