Marko Turudić, Melko Dragojević

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 18 (2023), Issue 1, Page 27 - 39

Directive 2014/24/EU represents a significant step in the right direction for socially responsible public procurement (SRPP). It contains many articles referencing SRPP, of which the most important may be Article 18(2). One such article is Article 57(4)a, which contains discretionary exclusion grounds for violations of SRPP, leaving it up to Member States to decide whether they will make such grounds mandatory or leave them discretionary in national legislation. The aim of this paper is to establish how Directive 2014/24/EU’s approach has affected the use of SRPP exclusion grounds in Croatia, a Member State that decided to leave all of the discretionary exclusion grounds discretionary. This research was conducted by acquiring and analysing all available contract notices from 2022 to establish the percentage, value and other factors associated with SRPP use in public procurement procedures in Croatia. Keywords: socially responsible public procurement; discretionary exclusion grounds

Ricardo Pedro

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 18 (2023), Issue 4, Page 252 - 260

This article addresses the need for disputes arising from public procurement to be resolved quickly and effectively. The Portuguese legislator has adopted measures such as urgent state court proceedings and the creation of specialised public procurement courts to achieve this. Other means of resolution, such as administrative arbitration, has been mobilised. To this end, a specific regime for public procurement arbitration has been developed, imposing its urgent nature. However, the legal nature of public procurement arbitration has been the subject of controversy, especially in relation to its characterisation as voluntary or necessary/mandatory. In this context, this article addresses the legal possibility and the option for a necessary arbitration regime for the resolution of public procurement disputes. Keywords: Public procurement; Arbitration; Dispute resolution.

Dagne Sabockis

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 18 (2023), Issue 4, Page 237 - 243

This paper proposes a reconciliatory approach to the interpretation of the principle of competition and the principle’s role for green public procurement. To ensure consistency when interpreting article 18(1), second subparagraph of the EU Public Procurement Directive, the paper suggests taking guidance from the general principles of EU law. The paper considers the interpretation of “unduly favouring or disadvantaging” economic operators, and examines which factors are relevant to the assessment of whether the principle of competition is violated in the context of green award criteria. Keywords: green public procurement; competition; principles

Mukesh Rawat, K D Raju

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 18 (2023), Issue 3, Page 209 - 220

Government procurement has emerged as a complex and crucial national and international trade policy subject in the contemporary era. The United States of America (US) and the European Union (EU) are recognised as economies with some of the most advanced procurement regimes. Globally, developing countries have struggled to develop robust procurement regulatory frameworks for government procurement. This paper analyses the evolution of procurement in the US and EU and the valuable lessons for developing countries willing to improve their procurement regimes. The findings will be helpful to achieve harmonisation of procurement rules at the international level and to promote efficacy in the procurement process at the domestic level. Keywords: Public Procurement; US; European Union; Developing Countries; India

Nadia-Ariadna Sava

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 18 (2023), Issue 3, Page 177 - 184

As of October 2023, the eForms Regulation will become the mandatory standard for public procurement data collection above the thresholds, including data on sustainability. The eForms have the potential to collect sustainable public procurement data and kickstart the process of monitoring green and social public procurement in all Member States. Nevertheless, in their current form, it is improbable that eForms can achieve this goal, because the Regulation makes all sustainable data collection fields optional. Member States can decide to collect sustainable public procurement data, but they lack proper incentives to do so. Both the European Union and Member States should take on the goal of creating a sustainable public procurement data infrastructure, with each its roles and obligations. Keywords: sustainable public procurement, eForms Regulation, data collection, digitalising public procurement, monitoring.

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 17 (2022), Issue 3,

Pedro Telles

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 17 (2022), Issue 3, Page 179 - 189

The purpose of this article is to assess the possibility of using blockchain technology in the realm of public procurement within the EU, particularly in connection with the award of public contracts. In this context, blockchain is used as an umbrella term covering IT technologies and cryptographic solutions used to generate consensus on a distributed ledger. The article will present three real use cases for public procurement in Spain, Colombia and Peru. It will also posit two specific areas of EU public procurement practice that might benefit from the use of blockchain technology – the area of data management and accessibility and in situations of clear lack of confidence in public powers. Keywords: blockchain; use case; public procurement

Aleksandra Sołtysińska

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 17 (2022), Issue 3, Page 158 - 167

The concept of in-house procurement respects the discretion of the Member States regarding the provision of public services and allows for purchasing and contracting services outside the competitive market. Contracting authorities may award an in-house contract to a controlled legal person if they demonstrate that the conditions of organisational and economic dependence have been met. This article analyses the condition of economic dependence and ways to prove that it has been satisfied. Numerous questions regarding the legal forms of entrusting tasks to a controlled legal person, the means of performance of such tasks in the context of admissibility of subcontracting, the methods of calculating revenue derived from the performance of tasks entrusted by the contracting authority and permissible forms of financing a controlled legal person arise in practice and jurisprudence. In view of the above, this publication is an attempt to clarify doubts. Keywords: in-house contract; in-house procurement; subcontracting

Christopher Bovis

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 17 (2022), Issue 3, Page 141 - 143

Christopher Bovis

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 17 (2022), Issue 1, Page 1 - 2