How a city buys adaptation

Bought like infrastructure

A city does not buy a dune the way it buys software. Adaptation works are public works, and they follow the same rules: a published need, a competitive process, a contract that can be audited.

We see three routes. A framework agreement lets a water agency call on us site by site without a new tender each time. An open tender suits a single large project, such as a setback levee. A monitoring-only lot lets a buyer keep its own contractor for the works and hire us to measure them.

What every contract carries

Whatever the route, five things are written in: a named indicator, a monthly public report, an independent annual review, an open data licence and ten years of sensor maintenance.

The indicator matters most. At Port-Aven, agreement PA-2021-033 says peak flood depth at the quay must stay under 0.80 m for a 1-in-100 event; the last reading is 0.71 m. Anne-Laure Kervella, Deputy Mayor for the Coast, puts it plainly: “They gave us one number to hold them to, and they publish it every month.”

If you are preparing a tender, our procurement pack lists the documents your legal team will ask for: insurance, certifications, a sample monthly report and the data licence.