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French to English translations [PRO] Bus/Financial - Law: Contract(s) / Oil services industry
French term or phrase:est passé en mode
Under Article heading MODE DE PASSATION is the following:
"Le présent contrat est passé en mode de Gré à Gré simple par la legislation et la réglementation en vigueur."
I have translated the header as "Procurement Process", but struggling with the term "passé en mode". Is this just another way of saying "rentré en vigueur"? French, BTW is from North Africa (Algeria)
Explanation: I partly agree with Kim, but not about "passé", and I think "de gré à gré simple" needs a little clarification.
"Passer un contrat" means to enter into a contract. "Ce contrat est passé" means, in my opinion, "this contract is (being) entered into". It is part of the text of the contract itself, as I understand it.
I think the crux of this is a matter of parsing. "Ce contrat est passé" is the basic clause and "en mode de gré à gré simple" is an adverbial phrase qualifying it. You say it's from North Africa. This expression is current in Algeria.
It is to do with public tendering, or lack of. The latest (I think) revamp of Algeria's Code on Public Tenders explains that:
"Art. 41. Le gré à gré est la procédure d'attribution d'un marché à un partenaire cocontractant sans appel formel à la concurrence. Le gré à gré peut revêtir la forme d'un gré à gré simple ou la forme d'un gré à gré après consultation ; cette consultation est organisée par tous moyens écrits appropriés. La procédure du gré à gré simple est une règle de passation de contrat exceptionnelle qui ne peut-être retenue que dans les cas énumérés à l'article 49 du présent décret." http://www.joradp.dz/FTP/jo-francais/2015/F2015050.pdf
Article 49 explains the circumstances in which public contracts may be awarded in this way without going through a tendering procedure.
"mode de gré à gré" is found as an expression with this sense:
"Son Excellence Monsieur Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA, Président de la République a adopté deux marchés de gré a gré concernant le secteur des travaux publics. Ces deux marchés passé, selon le mode de gré à gré simple, entre l’Agence Nationale des Autoroutes et des groupements d’entreprises pour la réalisation, des travaux du lot Est de l’autoroute des Hauts Plateaux – Section reliant Khenchela à Batna sur 102 kms." http://www.mtp.gov.dz/fr/permalink/6443.html
The expression I've proposed is used by the International Financial Law Review in a 2011 article on a previous version of the Code:
"Further, Article 27 provides that contracts awarded pursuant to the "simple direct negotiation procedure" (gré-à-gré simple) are not bound by the obligation to invest. The simple direct negotiation procedure may be used only in the circumstances listed in Article 43 of the new Code, including when there is a monopoly situation, in case of extreme emergency to a good, property or investment, in case of an urgent supply required to protect the functioning of the economy or the essential needs of the population, or when a preferential project of national importance is involved" http://www.iflr.com/Article/2855624/Algeria-Open-for-busines...
It goes on to explain about the direct negotiation procedure after consultation (gré à gré après consultation).
I think this is quite a good solution. Alternatively, you could just say something like "without going through a tender process", but I prefer the IFLR version.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 16 hrs (2016-10-13 09:17:27 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Two different interpretations of “le présent contrat est passé” have been offered. Phil and I say it means “this contract is entered into/signed”; Daryo and Kim say it means “this contract has changed/turned into”.
I think the former is inherently more plausible, firstly because “le présent contrat est passé” is commonly found with that meaning in contracts (referring simply to the contract being entered into/executed and not implying any change) and it is natural to read “passer” here in the sense of “passation”, and secondly because although it is possible that a contract could have started out as one kind of contract and changed to a different kind, it doesn’t seem likely.
Such arguments are not conclusive, and the second reading is not linguistically untenable, I think. However, it can be definitively excluded by reference to the legislation. Daryo argues that it refers to a change of awarding procedure, that it is a type of contract that “used to require the full competitive tendering procedure but now can be agreed directly with a chosen supplier”. Is this possible? No, it isn’t.
This contract, Timothy tells us, is recent: this year. It is therefore governed by the latest version of the Algerian Code des Marchés Publics, which was issued in September 2015. The previous version was issued in January 2012.
Daryo’s reading requires that a type of contract that was not subject to gré à gré simple under the 2012 Code became so under the 2015 Code. But there is no such type of contract. All the types of contract subject to this procedure in the current Code were already so under the previous one. On the contrary, the current code is not less restrictive that than one before, but more so: there are certain types of contract that could be gré à gré simple between 2012 and 2015 but can no longer be so. The hypothesis is therefore inherently impossible.
Under Article 49 of the current Code, the gré à gré simple procedure can be used in six cases (I have abbreviated them below to save a bit of space, but the full text can be found in the source cited):
“Art. 49. Le service contractant a recours au gré à gré simple exclusivement dans les cas suivants : 1- quand les prestations ne peuvent être exécutées que par un opérateur économique unique qui détient soit une situation monopolistique, soit pour protéger un droit d’exclusivité, soit pour des considérations techniques ou, culturelles et artistiques. [...] 2- en cas d’urgence impérieuse motivée par un péril menaçant un investissement, un bien du service contractant ou l’ordre public, ou un danger imminent que court un bien ou un investissement déjà matérialisé sur le terrain, et qui ne peut s’accommoder des délais des procédures de passation des marchés publics [...] 3- dans le cas d’un approvisionnement urgent destiné à sauvegarder les besoins essentiels de la population [...] 4- quand il s’agit d’un projet prioritaire et d’importance nationale qui revêt un caractère d’urgence, et qui ne peut s’accommoder des délais des procédures de passation des marchés publics [...] 5- quand il s’agit de promouvoir la production et/ou l’outil national de production. [...] 6- quand un texte législatif ou réglementaire attribue à un établissement public à caractère industriel et commercial un droit exclusif pour exercer une mission de service public [...] http://www.joradp.dz/FTP/jo-francais/2015/F2015050.pdf (pp. 12-13)
All six are present, as I’ve said, in the corresponding article of the 2012 Code (Art. 43), but the latter also contains the following additional cases:
“– quand les prestations sont exécutées dans le cadre des dispositions de l’article 7 du présent décret ; – quand les prestations doivent être exécutées d’urgence, et ne peuvent s’accommoder des délais des procédures de passation des marchés publics [...]” These are followed by the same six paragraphs contained in the current Code. http://www.joradp.dz/FTP/JO-FRANCAIS/2012/F2012004.pdf (p. 9).
So they broadened the article in 2012 by adding two further cases, but then removed them in 2015 and reverted to the previous situation, restricting the scope of this procedure.
Usually, the altered meaning suggested by a misquoted sentence is plain wrong and alarm bells start ringing immediately but ...
you have produced a very good example of how a truncated sentence sample can occasionally twist completely the meaning of a term into something perfectly plausible but wrong!
@Margarida Martins Costelha Méfiez-vous de la première impression, c'est toujours la bonne!
Having said that, it's not your mistake to have given a sample of what is not in the ST ...
My answer, the first one of the lot, was that 'passé en mode could mean 'switched/changed', but disagreement form various colleagues had me convinced I'd got it wrong and I removed it. And now Daryo suggests 'contract has changed' with level-5 certainty.
yes, it does - gives it a completely different twist, and to make it worst, the "alternate meaning" of the whole sentence is perfectly plausible!
Rules do change, and it's perfectly conceivable to have a sentence stating: this type of contracts can now be negotiated directly, without competitive tendering.
There are many ways you might express it, but I think something like that would reflect the meaning. Personally I would be inclined to include both "direct", to imply bypassing the tendering process, and "simple", since there are two versions of "gré à gré" in Algerian law, "simple" and "après consultation", and different rules apply. I still like "under the X procedure", because to me it reflects the idea that this is an recognised and legally regulated mode of public contract, not an ad hoc arrangement, but it's not essential, and there's something to be said for brevity.
In British English we would usually say procurement rather than procuration, but procuration may be standard in the US, I don't know.
Thanks for all the comments and research. I believe that the best formula seems to me to be that "the contract was awarded by simple mutual agreement (by direct agreement) pursuant to the procuration directive E025 of 01/02/2013". Any comments?
I don't know what the 2013 directive says (I can't find the text online); apparently it's a Sonatrach directive, so it must be oil and gas-related. But I can't see that this fuller context supports the idea that the phrase refers to a change of procedure. After all, this directive, which apparently determines the contractual procedure applicable to the contract, is three years old.
"mode de passation" definitely removes any doubt: "le marché est passé" (French tends to use "passation de marché" rather than "passation de contrat") then means "the contract is awarded" and cannot mean "has changed to", and by the way "mode" should be replaced with "procédure" or removed altogether as I had suspected
Maybe this will clear things up... and my apologies... the complete sentence is: "MODE DE PASSATION: le présent contrat est passé en mode de Gré à Gré simple en application de la directive de passation des marchés E025 du 02/01/2013. "TEXTE DE REFERENCE: Le présent contrat est régi dans toutes ses dispositions par la législation et règlementation algérienne en vigueur."
I unfortunately mixed my sentences. Apologies. NOW, does that make a difference?
I have added a note to my answer (I wasn't allowed to add a reference entry) to show that the latest Algerian Code des Marchés Publics (2015), which governs this 2016 contract, is more restrictive than the previous Code (2012), and there is no type of gré à gré simple contract currently allowed that was not allowed under the previous Code. The phrase therefore cannot mean that this contract has become gré à gré simple as a result of a change of awarding procedure.
1st meaning: "has been changed to OTC mode" 2nd meaning: "is awarded/drawn/signed"
The issue is IMO the word "mode"; "est passé de gré à gré" should be for sure 2nd meaning, because "passation de marché" is the standard wording
At first I did read like Daryo, "has switched to mode"; however we should support that with a change in law or regulations: thresholds for tendering for example, but this should be mentioned with "nouvelle législation", a date, a reference, and changing the type of a contract after signing it for a regulatory change is unlikely.
Other clues: improper French: capitalization of "gré à gré", "par la legislation": mispelling and improper use of "par" (should be "en vertu de", "selon", etc). The term "mode" by itself is improper: should be "type" or rather "procédure" per reference texts: http://www.marchespublicspme.com/avant-la-reponse/les-proced... The last clue is perhaps the most concluding "en vigueur": this means current and does not imply any change; for a switch, we should have "maintenant en vigueur" So I believe "mode" is poor writing
My feeling at the moment is that we have two different readings, both of which are linguistically viable, I think (I would like to see others' views on that), though in my view one is inherently more plausible than the other in context. But research may reveal whether or not Daryo's suggestion could be right. I'll look into it myself when I've finished what I'm doing.
May I ask whether the contract in question is recent? Could you give us the approximate date? This is material, now that Daryo has proposed an alternative reading whose viability depends on a change in the rules.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
40 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
[see my explanation]
Explanation: I think you're parsing the sentence wrongly.
"Passé" means "signed", as the very last translation in my first dictionary reference shows.
"En mode de gré à gré" literally means "in over-the-counter mode". "Over-the counter" is one possible translation:
"Un marché de gré à gré — ou **over-the-counter** (OTC) en anglais (hors Bourse) — est un marché sur lequel la transaction est conclue directement entre le vendeur et l'acheteur. Il s'oppose à un marché organisé (ou en Bourse), où la transaction se fait avec la Bourse." http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_gré_à_gré
Depending on what type of contract it is, you could also say "off-market" or simply "directly between the parties".
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 46 mins (2016-10-12 17:46:08 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
So if you want a translation, and again depending on what the contract is for, you could say 'This over-the-counter/off-market/private contract has been drawn up/signed in accordance with current legislation and regulations.'
philgoddard United States Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 317
Notes to answerer
Asker: Phil, AHHH, parsing! Well the parsing is helpful. However, I disagree with the rest. "en mode de gré à gré" I think in this context means "by mutual agreement. So I would lean towards, "The contract is signed by simple Mutual Agreement according to laws and regulations in force."
Asker: Okay, just read Charles, note, and I rescind. I see how this refers to a "non-tender" type of process.
peer agreement (net): +2