Buying a fleet of passive detectors and the software that supervises them is not a camera order. The need is written as outcomes — see, qualify, document — and the file has to stand up later. This guide is for French public buyers under the Code de la commande publique and for private buyers who want a written competition. The downloadable Word file is the technical specification to adapt. It states no product prices.
Which document for which buyer
A French public contract for supplies and services — sensors, software, installation, training, maintenance — follows the Public Procurement Code. The buyer writes tender rules, technical specifications (CCTP), a response form and, separately, administrative clauses (CCAP) and the engagement deed. The template covers the CCTP, a skeleton of the rules, the compliance matrix, acceptance tests and a blank price schedule.
A private buyer does not have to use those forms. A written request with the same CCTP is often enough: offers are compared on the same tests, and there is a record for insurers, auditors or the end client. The Code does not apply. The brand can be mandatory.
This guide is not legal advice. Thresholds change. The buyer, or its legal team, checks the articles cited on the day the notice is sent.
Choosing the procedure from the estimated value
For supplies and services, the markers in force in autumn 2026 are these. They come from the notice in the Official Journal of 13 January 2026 (NOR ECOM2600976V) and from Decree No 2025-1386 of 29 December 2025.
Below €60,000 excluding VAT, since 1 April 2026, article R.2122-8 allows a contract without prior advertising or competition. A written consultation of more than one supplier remains sound practice, especially when the deployment affects site security.
From €90,000 excluding VAT, advertising in the BOAMP or in a publication authorised for legal notices is due when an adapted procedure applies. Between that level and the EU thresholds, the buyer organises the adapted procedure (article R.2123-1) with enough time for a serious bid.
A formal procedure starts at €140,000 excluding VAT for a central government authority, at €216,000 for other contracting authorities (local authorities, local public bodies, hospitals), and at €432,000 for a utility or a defence and security contract. Open tender is then the default. A negotiated procedure or competitive dialogue is justified when the need cannot be met without adaptation, not because it is more comfortable to discuss price.
Write the outcome before naming a brand
Article R.2111-1 allows market consultations before the need is written, including with DECTYR, provided there is a record and one candidate is not given information the others will not have. A site trial with a single vendor, then copied line by line into the specification, is a classic ground for annulment.
The outcome to write is operational. A cooperative drone that enters the watched volume is seen, positioned and, when the frame allows, tied to an operator identifier and an estimated pilot position. A consumer drone without Remote ID remains detectable from its usual radio link, within the limits the contractor must describe. Birds and traffic without Remote ID do not raise a cooperative alert. Every sensor is read in one hypervisor, including without Internet. A PDF report protected against silent modification can be produced per flight.
The system detects. It does not intercept. Jamming, spoofing and kinetic effectors are out of scope, and unlawful for most buyers. Writing them into the specification exposes both the contract and the buyer.
Naming DECTYR RX-5 and Hub without distorting competition
Article R.2111-7 forbids reserving the contract to a brand, an origin or a patent where that favours or eliminates operators. Naming a brand remains possible when the subject matter justifies it — a fleet already in service, a protocol that must be kept, an integration already paid for — and the words “or equivalent” are then mandatory. The Word template carries them on the reference solution: DECTYR RX-5, DECTYR RX-15 as a range option, DECTYR Hub.
Equivalence is shown requirement by requirement, not by a brochure. The template’s matrix asks the bidder to answer Compliant, Non-compliant or Equivalent, with the document that proves the same result: a measurement, a standard, a test report. An unmet mandatory requirement makes the bid irregular.
“Made in France” is not a condition of admission. An origin clause that eliminates other Member States is discriminatory. The template asks for the countries of design, software development and manufacturing, and suggests scoring that as part of technical quality, not as a pass/fail. Requiring deployment on the buyer’s own infrastructure, with no mandatory third-party cloud, is a data-control requirement. It is legitimate if it is required of everyone.
A French user interface and French documentation are justified by the teams who will run the system. English may be accepted in addition, not as a reason to reject an otherwise equivalent bid that provides French.
One lot or several
Article L.2113-10 makes allotment the principle. Two structures work for a fleet and its hypervisor.
A single “detection system” lot groups sensors, software, installation and maintenance. It is justified by indivisibility: tracks must be fused natively, acceptance is single, and end-to-end liability is single. That is the simplest structure for a first DECTYR RX-5 and Hub deployment.
Three lots — sensors, hypervisor, maintenance — remain possible. The interface then has to be mandatory (API, event format, ONVIF), and joint bids accepted. Without that clause, the software lot will not supervise the sensor lot, and the buyer will pay for the integration.
- Firm tranche: the number of 5 km detectors, the hypervisor, installation, training and maintenance.
- Optional tranches, so the firm need stays lean: 15 km range (RX-15 or equivalent), PoE, remote antennas, rejection of spoofed Remote ID, a passive ADS-B receiver, a SAPIENT interface, display into a DJI O4 Ground Station already on site.
- DJI display is an option for a site that already has the equipment. The sensor does not fly DJI drones and is not a DJI product.
What the technical specification must require
The values in the template match the level published for the RX-5 and the Hub. An equivalent must meet them. It does not have to carry the brand.
On the sensor: passive listening, with no ANFR transmit authorisation; Wi-Fi Beacon and NaN on 2.4, 5.1 and 5.8 GHz; Bluetooth Legacy and Long Range; reading of EN 4709-002:2023, ASTM F3411-22a, the French order of 27 December 2019, JANS 0401 and Singapore B-RID; at least 5 km in free field; drone position and estimated pilot position when the frame contains them; a database of at least 387 models, updated during maintenance; IP67; −20 °C to +50 °C; pole mount from 30 to 65 mm; 6 to 18 V supply; battery of at least 5 hours; Ethernet and 4G with failover; a local web interface; RTSP H.264 1080p and ONVIF; a signed or protected PDF report.
The 5 km range, and 15 km for the option, means free field. The specification must not promise 5 km in a masked courtyard. It must require a site survey and a coverage prediction before installation.
On the Hub: a real-time map and history for the whole fleet; offline maps; sensor health and remote actions; alerts in the interface and by email; accounts, perimeters and a second factor; an audit log; on-premises or private-cloud deployment; encrypted access; an API toward the VMS, SIEM or PSIM; backup and export at the end of the contract.
The cooperative detection threshold to write today is the law in force: drones above 250 g that broadcast Remote ID. EASA Opinion No 06/2026 proposes 100 g or more, and it is not adopted. The specification asks the contractor to describe how the solution will follow that threshold if it enters into force. It cannot date the law. Under that opinion, drones already sold at 900 g or below would stay exempt from retrofit: a fleet that only read Remote ID would miss small aircraft for a long time. The requirement to listen to ordinary consumer links is there for that reason.
How to score the bids
The Code does not impose percentages. The template offers an example to adapt: 55% technical quality, 30% price over the full term (hardware, software, maintenance and updates), 10% schedule and organisation, 5% sovereignty and control of data. Price remains a real criterion. It should not, alone, award a bid that fails acceptance.
The price schedule in the template is empty. No DECTYR price is printed. Quantities in brackets are the buyer’s. Options that are not firm are not added into the ranking unless the tender rules say so explicitly.
A site visit, if held, uses the same conditions for every candidate. So does a proof of concept during the procedure: same protocol, same drones, same metrics (detection rate, latency, distance, false alerts), same duration. A private trial with one vendor before the specification is written cannot become the scoring scale.
Acceptance, maintenance and data
Acceptance happens on the site, not on the datasheet. The template’s protocol blocks acceptance if the cooperative drone is not seen, if birds raise a Remote ID alert, if an account without admin rights changes the configuration, or if the offline map does not work. Ethernet-to-4G failover, the battery and a drone without Remote ID open reservations when the technical offer had promised the result.
Maintenance includes software updates, Remote ID standard changes and the model database for the whole term. The time to acknowledge a critical incident and the hypervisor availability target belong in the administrative clauses, not in a brochure.
Operator identifiers and pilot positions can be personal data. The contract sets the retention period, the notice to people on site, an impact assessment when monitoring is systematic, and a ban on publishing those identifiers. The contractor does not query AlphaTango instead of the competent authority. At the end of the contract, the buyer exports configurations, history and accounts.
The template also states what is not guaranteed: a home-built drone that is silent on the radio, the pilot’s civil name, nominal range behind an obstacle, and any interdiction capability.
What a private buyer can simplify
- Require DECTYR RX-5 and DECTYR Hub by name, without “or equivalent”, when that is the product wanted.
- Drop the advertising rules, the Code deadlines and mandatory allotment.
- Negotiate the price schedule after a demonstration, provided the tests were written before the comparison.
- Keep the matrix, the acceptance tests, on-premises hosting, reversibility and the ban on jamming as they stand.
- Ignore the €60,000, €90,000, €140,000, €216,000 and €432,000 thresholds: they do not apply.
Download the template and adapt it
The Word file is at the top of this article. It is dated October 2026 and written in French, because that is the language of the Public Procurement Code. Before publishing it, the buyer fills the bracketed fields, removes the sources page if it should not be annexed, has the rules and the administrative clauses read by counsel, and checks the thresholds of the day.
The DECTYR RX-5 and DECTYR Hub product pages, the buyer’s guide and the guide on EASA Opinion No 06/2026 set out the technical level this specification turns into requirements. For a first conversation about a specific site, the contact form is enough: it does not replace the tender file.
Official source: French legal affairs directorate — EU procurement thresholds applicable from 1 January 2026
FAQ
Can a French public contract require the DECTYR brand?
Not on its own. Article R.2111-7 allows the brand to be named when the subject matter justifies it, for example a fleet already in service, provided “or equivalent” is added and equivalence is judged on measurable requirements. A private buyer may require the brand.
What is the 2026 threshold for a drone-detection tender?
For supplies and services: a possible exemption below €60,000 excluding VAT since 1 April 2026; usual advertising from €90,000; a formal procedure from €140,000 (central government), €216,000 (other contracting authorities) or €432,000 (utilities, defence and security). Check the figures before publication.
Does DECTYR Hub need its own lot?
Not necessarily. A single system lot is justified when sensors and hypervisor are indivisible. Separate lots need a mandatory interface, or the buyer will pay for the integration.
Does a passive detector need an ANFR transmit authorisation?
No, as long as it does not transmit. The specification should say so, and should forbid jamming and spoofing, which belong to another regime and are not part of the contract.
Must the specification already impose the 100 g threshold?
No. The applicable cooperative threshold remains above 250 g. EASA Opinion No 06/2026 is not adopted. The contract asks for an update path, not a date the contractor cannot set.
Where are the prices in the Word template?
Nowhere. The price schedule is blank. Bidders propose unit prices. The euro amounts in the template are procedure thresholds, not detector prices.