Bidding process : The Council of State rules that the most rigorous bidding procedure should apply when options within the bidding process may lead to several kinds of contracts e.g. concession scheme or real estate lease (Port autonome de Marseille)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. CE, 10 June 2009, Port autonome de Marseille, n° 3 17671 Determining the legal nature of a public contract poses a number of difficulties in so far as the boundary between the different legal categories may appear arbitrary and uncertain. In addition to exercising control over the obligations of advertising and competitive tendering incumbent on contracting authorities and entities, the judge hearing pre-contractual applications for interim measures must carry out a preliminary operation: the operation of classifying the dis puted contract. In the present case, the Port Autonome de Marseille decided to launch a call for tenders for projects for the