Country Perspective: France
Charles-Edouard Escurat
Position: Vice CEO
Organisation: Resah
Country: France 
What is your professional background and which country insights do you share with us?
I am currently working at Resah, an organisation that aims to support the performance of organisations working in the health sector (including the medico-social and social sectors), through the optimisation of purchasing and logistics, particularly by means of a central purchasing body. Resah currently intervenes with more than 500 organisations.
How is procurement in healthcare being organised in your country?
In the health sector (especially hospitals), and more specifically in the public sector, procurement is mainly organised around 137 local hospital groups that use regional groupings and 3 central purchasing bodies with the capacity to act nationwide.
What are the current/ main challenges you see in procurement?
Several challenges are to be considered, including digitalization, overcoming the price/volume logic to achieve greater value while keeping costs under control, the ability to anticipate and be positioned ahead of projects, to implement innovation and to meet public policy objectives (particularly CSR – corporate social & environmental responsibility).
How will the future of procurement be in the next 5 to 10 years?
In the next 5 to 10 years, procurement will be increasingly digitalised, decompartmentalised both in functional and geographical terms (European level). Legislation, although still substantial, will be softened to facilitate legal innovations and adapt to the economic models that will be put in place. In light of these models, the role of the procurer will be increasingly important within the structures. Procurement strategies will have to be reviewed more frequently to take into account the rapid changes in the industrial ecosystem. Procurement will become more significant in the implementation of public policies (e.g. CSR, energy transition, relocation of certain industries).
