Opening up to competition allows the Transport authority to focus on its regulatory missions. All the other players in the sector will then be assigned a role in 'subcontracting' mode. The experience of the financial sector in the 2000s shows that the process is definitive, with the roles played by the AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers in France) and the European Central Bank. Financial institutions had to apply new ratios. Their activities have evolved, and they have logically submitted to the new rules of the game.

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The IDFM tenders are the first step in this change. One of the objectives of the tenders is to collect data in order to coordinate, monitor and control, like a principal with his subcontractor. The reading of the first tenders shows the importance of the information system (specifications of the request and procedures) and the little latitude left to the operators in their answers. The operator does not design the offer as such, but responds to the specifications, and the selection criteria evolve. Data therefore takes on a strategic value: knowledge and understanding of demands and needs. The data becomes fundamental for the Transport authority, in its desire to open up to fair and transparent competition. The operator then becomes a subcontractor in the production of this data, with an invasive process for the Transport authority (by integrating the information system with the subcontractor). The production of the data takes on value and it is necessary to establish the level of remuneration for this production.

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The strategic positioning of the operator should change, with a new place for data. Before these new tenders, the operator imagined and proposed a transport offer with variants, and the Transport authority selected on the basis of proposals. The operator used its know-how in designing transport services. Now, it is more the Transport authority who communicates its vision of transport, associated with a set of specifications (constrained and with a short time to respond). The operator's area of intervention is narrowing and is less about the object ('I propose a bus line because there will be validations') than about technological innovation. The challenge for the operator will be to invest in innovation, in intelligent data, to enhance the territory through data. The acquisition and mix of available data of all types will become a determining factor, to know how to do things, for the benefit of new mobility!