Governance of European critical infrastructures: TELT secures its 4,500 Franco-Italian third-party partners

TELT (Tunnel Euralpin Lyon Turin) is a French-Italian simplified joint-stock company created in 2015, responsible for the construction and subsequent management of the cross-border section of the 57.5 km railway tunnel that will connect Lyon to Turin. This major European project, a true critical cross-border infrastructure, requires exemplary third-party governance to coordinate the intervention of thousands of partners between France and Italy.

Faced with the challenges of securing financial flows and harmonizing binational regulatory processes, the French-Italian company chose Aprovall to structure the assessment of its 4,500 third-party partners. This approach fits perfectly within the framework of new European requirements, particularly the NIS 2 directive which imposes strengthened governance of sensitive infrastructures.

Context: The challenges of third-party governance for critical European infrastructures

The Lyon-Turin project represents one of Europe’s most ambitious infrastructure undertakings, with a 57-kilometer tunnel crossing the Alps. This major geopolitical achievement is part of the Mediterranean corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), connecting Spain to Eastern Europe via France and Italy.

For a project of this scale, third-party partner governance becomes a strategic issue. The company must coordinate thousands of stakeholders while complying with the regulations of both countries, in a context where European transport infrastructures are now considered essential under the NIS 2 directive.

The Franco-Italian regulatory complexity requires standardization of evaluation processes, particularly crucial when considering that 58% of payment fraud risks come from suppliers. This statistic, highlighted by TELT, underscores the importance of a structured approach to supplier due diligence.

Specific challenges of cross-border infrastructure projects

Challenge	Organizational impact
France-Italy regulatory harmonization	Multiplication of controls and frameworks
Management of 4,500 multi-level partners	Complexity of coordination and monitoring
Prevention of banking fraud risks	Need for enhanced controls on financial flows
Adoption by binational teams	Need for ergonomics facilitating cross-border use

The Lyon-Turin tunnel project owner faces unique governance challenges related to the cross-border nature of the project. Aligning processes between two different legal systems represents a major challenge, particularly in the current context where essential infrastructures are subject to increased regulatory attention.

The simultaneous management of thousands of external stakeholders, from major construction companies to local craftsmen, requires a collaborative approach that transcends national borders. This issue fits perfectly with the challenges of decarbonization in the construction industry, where subcontractor traceability becomes essential for measuring the Scope 3 carbon footprint.

The prevention of banking fraud risks is a particularly sensitive issue for this type of infrastructure project. As TELT emphasizes:

This vigilance is all the more crucial in a cross-border context where financial circuits can become more complex. Also, faced with these complex governance challenges, the company has developed a structured collaborative approach to transform these constraints into operational advantages.

The solution: a collaborative platform for strategic infrastructure governance

Selection criteria and objectives

The Franco-Italian company directed its selection toward a solution capable of addressing the specific needs of its cross-border project. User-friendly ergonomics facilitating adoption was a determining criterion, as explained by the tunnel operator:

“Aprovall is a very pleasant solution to use, which greatly facilitates user adoption, whether in France or Italy.”

This ease of use proves crucial for ensuring process harmonization between French and Italian teams. The platform also needed to offer multi-country management capabilities, allowing centralized evaluation of 4,500 partners according to the standards of both jurisdictions.

Reducing banking fraud risks represented a priority objective, in a context where securing financial flows constitutes a major challenge for essential infrastructures. This concern is part of a broader approach to supplier cybersecurity assessment, essential for protecting sensitive infrastructures.

Implementation and support

The simultaneous France-Italy deployment required coordinated collaborative assessment, with the training of binational teams in the use of the platform. Adaptation to local regulatory specificities made it possible to maintain compliance in both countries while harmonizing evaluation processes.

This collaborative implementation perfectly illustrates the benefits of a shared approach, where external partner management becomes a coordination factor rather than an administrative burden. The Franco-Italian company’s experience demonstrates how critical infrastructure can optimize its operational resilience through structured partner evaluation.

Results and concrete benefits

Successful alignment of Franco-Italian processes constitutes the first tangible benefit of this approach. TELT was able to standardize the evaluation of its 4,500 partners according to a common framework, while respecting the regulatory specificities of each country.

The facilitated adoption thanks to the solution’s ergonomics allowed for a rapid skill development of binational teams. This ease of use, emphasized by the company, directly contributes to the operational efficiency of the infrastructure project.

The securing of financial flows represents a major gain, particularly in a context where the prevention of banking fraud is a paramount issue. The continuous monitoring of 4,500 partners enables permanent vigilance over financial risks.

The continuous monitoring of partners offers real-time visibility into the subcontracting ecosystem, essential for maintaining compliance and anticipating operational risks on a project of this scale.

Mutual benefits: a collaborative approach for critical infrastructures

The tunnel operator’s experience perfectly illustrates the advantages of pooling evaluations between contracting authorities. This collaborative approach significantly reduces the administrative burden imposed on subcontractors, a phenomenon known as “supplier fatigue.”

The reduction of “supplier fatigue” for subcontractors constitutes an indirect but crucial benefit. By avoiding the multiplication of redundant evaluations, the collaborative approach improves response quality and strengthens partner engagement in the compliance process.

The European standardization of processes naturally emerges from this cross-border approach. The successful harmonization between France and Italy prefigures standards that could be deployed at the European level for strategic infrastructures.

This collaborative approach aligns perfectly with the objectives of the NIS 2 directive, which encourages cooperation between Member States for securing European critical infrastructures.

World-class infrastructure governance

The long-term vision of the TELT project goes beyond the construction phase to encompass post-construction management of the tunnel. This comprehensive approach requires sustainable third-party governance, capable of evolving with the operational challenges of the infrastructure.

The Lyon-Turin project thus becomes a reference model for European critical infrastructures, demonstrating how a structured evaluation of third-party relationships can contribute to the operational resilience of a major cross-border project.

The transferable expertise developed in this context can benefit other large cross-border projects, whether they involve transport, energy, or telecommunications infrastructures. This capitalization of experience strengthens Europe’s position in the governance of essential infrastructures.

The approach developed by the Franco-Italian company fits perfectly into the current challenges of digital transformation of infrastructures, where partner supervision becomes a key factor for competitiveness and resilience..