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Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

marché libre

English translation:

unrestricted / non-restricted contract

Added to glossary by Thomas Miles
Jul 21, 2020 07:39
3 yrs ago
40 viewers *
French term

marché libre

French to English Bus/Financial Law: Contract(s)
This is a form that a company initiating a call for tenders requests tendering companies to complete for their subcontractors, to enable the latter to be vetted.

One section of the form asks for the type of contract to be specified. Options include
'marché classifié'
'marché sensible'
*marché libre*

In this context of a 'marché public' (itself mentioned elsewhere) where all other instances of 'marché' appear as individual agreements with specific conditions, i.e. contracts, I am very reluctant to translate 'marché libre' as 'free market' alone.

I am considering:
'freely awarded contract'
'unrestricted contract'
'open contract'
'free-market contract'

Any guidance from other public procurement projects would be welcome.

xxx
Proposed translations (English)
3 +4 unrestricted / non-restricted contract
5 -3 Open market
2 informal, unclassified procurement contract
3 -4 free trade

Discussion

Daryo Jul 22, 2020:
@ Thomas Miles you are creating a bit of confusion.

If you talk of "marché public" it would apply to tenders where the buyer is the State or some public bodies. Your "company" must be a state-owned company ... which would also explain the preceding 'marché classifié' / 'marché sensible' options.

But one way or another it's simply a "tender open to anyone".
Daryo Jul 22, 2020:
here "un marché" is one single procurement contract, referring to the contract itself but also to the whole associated procedure.

At the stage where the buyer has published "un marché" it would be called a "tender" or "procurement tender". Only later, when a supplier is selected it would become a "contract".

'marché classifié' / 'marché sensible' / 'marché libre' at the stage of "a company initiating a call for tenders" would be about various types of "tenders"

The "tendering" of supply contracts is often compulsory for public bodies, but many companies also do it.
Cyril Tollari Jul 21, 2020:
Agree Libre accès = unrestricted access
http://www.cea.fr/entreprises/Documents/BrochureCGA-CEA.pdf
https://cdn.nouma.fr/partials/www.marches-publics.gouv.fr/ur...
http://www.cea.fr/english/companies/Documents/general-purcha...
philgoddard Jul 21, 2020:
Why don't you put that as an answer, Tony?
Thomas Miles (asker) Jul 21, 2020:
@Tony Yes, the scale from 'libre' to 'classifié' became clear when writing up the question, and rather mimics the scale from 'restricted' to 'confidential' and 'secret'.
Tony M Jul 21, 2020:
@ Asker I suspect you are mis-reading this as 'free'; in the light of your other 2 items, I would surmise this is something to do with the degree of confidentiality, and so only your 'unrestricted' is probably going in the right direction.

Proposed translations

+4
13 hrs
Selected

unrestricted / non-restricted contract

You do first need to decide which wayy to go with 'marché' — clearly this is not a 'market' in the widest sense of the term; in fact, the nearest sense to FR 'marché' is really a 'deal' — which encompases the whole notion of the procurement process, contract award, etc. Sadly, though, that word simply couldn't be used in this register in EN.
I think the overall idea here is probably "we are inviting tenders for a contract that has a 'non-restricted' confidentiality rating." Note that in this sort of context 'non-restricted' and 'unrestricted' are not necessarily precise synonyms.
Note from asker:
Thanks Tony.
Peer comment(s):
agree Daryo : or any variation on "open to any bidder" = anyone (who is capable enough of delivering the goods / services requested) is "free to bid" // a small correction: at this stage it's only a "tender" - it becomes a "contract" only when one bidder is chosen.
11 hrs
Thanks, Daryo! However, I don't believe it means 'open to anyone' / yes, that is always the problem translating FR 'marché'.
agree Cyril Tollari : I normally translate 'contract' by 'marché' in French. I think you're right. Libre just means the content of the contract is not classified/sensitive information. It doesn't mean it's open to any bidder.
11 hrs
Merci, Cyril !
agree AllegroTrans : Yes, I think you're right about confidentiality level bearing in mind the other two levels in the source text
15 hrs
Thanks, C!
agree philgoddard
19 hrs
Thanks, Phil!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you for your guidance"
-3
43 mins

Open market

Anyone can bid
Note from asker:
I hope you are enjoying al-maghrib!
Peer comment(s):
neutral writeaway : any refs to back so much confidence?
1 hr
disagree AllegroTrans : 'Marché' doesn't mean 'market' here
4 hrs
disagree Tony M : That in itself is a very specific set expression — and it not translated by the S/T here.
12 hrs
disagree Daryo : in this case 'un marché' doesn't mean 'the market / marketplace'
23 hrs
Something went wrong...
1 day 6 hrs

informal, unclassified procurement contract

At first sight, looked like an over-the-counter bargain on the stock exchange or
a contract by private treaty: contrat conclue de gré à gré, but - in that list opening with 'marché *classifié*' and shamefully piggybacking Tony M's 'classification' idea - I am sitting on the fence of informal or impomptu and unclassified vs. non-classified.

Obiter, I feel that public procurement needs to preface the type of deal in point,
Example sentence:

These international sales are in addition to other transactions that were finalized by private treaty in the barns and alleyways of Agribition. sca-fcc.ca Ces ventes internationales s'ajoutent à d'autres transactions qui ont été conclues de gré à

s architectes, bureaux d'études et géomètres sont choisis soit sur appel d'offres, soit de gré à gré. ketb.com Architects, design firms and land surveyors are selected through bidding procedures or private agreements.

Reference:

http://www.acquisition.gov/content/14409-1-award-unclassified-contracts

http://dpi.wi.gov/school-nutrition/program-requirements/procurement/methods/3-bids

Note from asker:
As always, an interesting perspective!
Peer comment(s):
neutral AllegroTrans : I cannot conceive of an "informal" contract somehow, given the amount of red tape attached to the procurement process plus the fact that confidentiality levels are involved here
12 mins
The informal was meant to pre-empt the idea of 'unclassified', plus public procurement contracts in certain countries are awarded by 'word of mouth'..
Something went wrong...
-4
8 hrs

free trade

There's very little information but I believe 'marché libre' refers to free, as in unrestricted, trading or business sales enterprise. The information refers to the tender of sub-contractors in which company managers complete forms as part of a tendering process (offer surrounding the supply of goods or services). However, this suggests that the 'free trade' is in respect to the trade or perhaps exchange of labour, which concerns services as opposed to the trade of goods or commodities. The information also mentions that the forms completed are purpose designed to vet sub-contractors (check them for approval and suitability). Therefore the free trade or open market is somewhat limited within realms of approval.
('marché classifié, marché sensible'
'classified and sensitive trade or market')
(Collins gem new English dictionary, latest reprint 2001)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 hrs (2020-07-21 23:19:20 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Je crois que le 'marché libre' se traite du commerce libre ou des ventes libres des entreprises. Il s'agit des offres, des demandes ou des propositions de quelques sous-traitants dedans un procédé dont la gestion d'entreprises doit remplir des formulaires comme partie du procédé de la vente (offre autour de la provision des merchandises ou des services). Cependant, ça sugère que le marché libre respecte le commerce ou peut-être l'échange du travail en ce qui concerne des services au lieu des merchandises comme des commodités. L'information mentionne aussi que les formulaires remplis existent pour faire des vérifications des sous-traitants qui sont soigneusement filtrés. Le marché libre ou le commerce libre est donc un peu limité dedans des raisons de vérification et d'approbation.

If one considers the question posed, one reads that a company which intends to tender has been requested to complete application forms as part of a process to allow subcontractors to be vetted. The market arrangement is not totally unrestricted.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days 3 hrs (2020-07-23 11:20:19 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

www,ukmarkets.com
www.ecnmy.org/learn/your-world/globalization/what-is-free-t...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days 3 hrs (2020-07-23 11:22:40 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

www.ukmarkets.com
Note from asker:
I appreciate the time you spent writing up your answer.
Peer comment(s):
disagree Tony M : That is absolutely NOT what it means in any way, shape or form! And plucking dictionary definitions and stringing them together is not what professional translation is all about.
4 hrs
disagree Daryo : there is no need nor reason whatsoever to "believe" anything - there are enough clues if you can recognise them to be 99.999% sure.
16 hrs
disagree AllegroTrans : Totally agree with above two comments. This is an industry TERM (I will repeat, TERM) - not two separate isolated words. You need to look seriously at what you are posting on this forum as you seem to be unable to recognise and respect context.
19 hrs
disagree philgoddard : Your explanation makes even less sense than your answer.
1 day 20 mins
Something went wrong...
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