Raquel Carvalho

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 1, Page 30 - 38

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a driver of new State legislation in several fields. This article addresses the special public procurement rules enacted in this context, including some challenges such not-so-reflected legislation raised. The ‘successive’ exceptional public procurement regime implies very complex hermeneutics regarding both the subjective and objective scope of application and the discretionary legal requirements established therein. The key measure is a particular direct award regime that has raised some doubts regarding the need for such solutions when compared to those in the Directive. There has already been some monitoring of the regime’s implementation that has underlined the need to continue monitoring ‘the planning, the implementation and management of the public emergency answer’. Keywords: Covid-19; state of emergency; special public procurement rules

Ezgi Uysal

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 1, Page 52 - 64

Under the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs), states are advised to be in a commercial relationship with economic actors that are considerate of their human rights influence. Given the amount of taxpayers’ money spent on procurement, public authorities can use their leverage to add social considerations into the procurement process. This article sets out whether public authorities can use their leverage to invite businesses to respect human rights as provided with the UNGPs. After providing an overview of the UNGPs and the EU approach, this article analyses the EU Public Procurement Directive adopted in 2014 which has promoted sustainability concerns with the use of green and socially responsible public procurement. It then establishes, that although prescribed under the Guiding Principles, the EU regime does not always allow human rights concerns to be integrated into the procurement. Keywords: UNGPs; business and human rights; public procurement; sustainability

Ioannis Vidakis, Dimitrios Georgantas, George Vlachos

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 1, Page 73 - 77

This article connects the politics, strategy, economy, and armament programmes of ancient Athens, during the time of the general and leader Themistocles. It refers, in particular, to the decision of the city to build a strong fleet, as well as to the methodology of assigning, financing, and implementing this massive project, considering the state of the city at that historical period. The article attempts to present a historic innovation, which was quite successful, conveying an optimistic message of a proportionate, effective response to the current challenges our country (Greece) is facing, in the fields of national security and economy. The text aims to encourage the ability to think critically among the readers regarding the crucial role Themistocles played in the course of history and the need to realise that the promotion and support of capable and qualified leaders are of paramount importance for small nations. Keywords: public procurement; defence contracts; naval equipment; Ancient Athens; Themistocles

Aldona Kowalczyk, Aleksandra Sołtysińska

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 3, Page 181 - 192

The concept of self-cleaning was introduced into Polish and EU public procurement law relatively recently though, earlier, many EU Member States and international institutions saw the need to allow errant contractors to show contrition and goodwill by adopting voluntary remedial measures. Numerous doubts attach to specific remedial measures, timeframes and documents needed for a contractor’s recovery of good standing, and to contractors participating in several tenders simultaneously. This article seeks to both propose the imposition of some sort of order on the self-cleaning regime and respond to issues arising in everyday practice and jurisprudence. Keywords: public procurement, self-cleaning, exclusion grounds

Bryane Michael

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 3, Page 229 - 239

Regulators should not just leave FinTech rulemaking up to financial regulators. Contracting authorities should not just develop or use their own selected FinTech applications willy-nilly. They should contribute to overall changes in a procurement law -which extend far beyond simple supervisory or regulatory technologies (RegTech/SupTech). Governments should get serious about the Agreement on Government Procurement and similar treaties - by creating a new authority to help develop the law needed to put FinTech-enabled procurement platforms in place. China’s own world-leading FinTech and cross-border public procurements do not always contribute to a global level playing field. Any FinTech applications facilitating public procurement should thus encourage compliance with the procurement law legal principles the international community has developed over decades. Keywords: public procurement, financial technology, FinTech

Ana Lucia Jaramillo, Katerina Nikolaidou

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 3, Page 220 - 228

The public sector in Europe can make use of artificial intelligence (AI) to boost its digital transformation. To improve public services in alignment with the European democratic values, principles and rights, public procurement can leverage the innovation of AI for the public good. Both AI and the Internet of Things (IoT), fueled with quality data, offer new possibilities to spark the innovative power of a city, a Smart City. The potential of AI is at the tip of our mobile phones and the connection to networks where data is shared. This can be useful to citizens and administrations, but not without challenges and risks. Therefore, this article explores what a Smart City is, and the benefits and risks of AI based solutions in the context of Innovation Procurement. It offers examples and refers to legal and ethical frameworks for the reuse of data. Keywords: data, artificial intelligence, smart cities, innovation procurement

Malik Al Jabori

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 3, Page 260 - 263

Marko Turudić

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 3, Page 246 - 249

Luca Pardi

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 3, Page 250 - 251

Pascal Friton, Christopher Wolters, Niklas Andree

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 15 (2020), Issue 1, Page 24 - 41

Strengthening cooperation in defence and security procurement among Member States has become an important concern of the European Union. Because joint procurements reduce costs, facilitate cooperation and strengthen allies, the European Commission has encouraged Member States repeatedly to cooperate more strongly in such matters. The expected increase in cooperation creates a pressing need to familiarise oneself with the applicable legal framework – a need this paper seeks to satisfy. It focuses on cases, in which Member States charge one entity (which may be, for example, one of the Member States or an international organisation) with the procurement of security goods and services and proceeds in three main steps. First, it analyses the applicable procurement rules for both the external relationship between the entity and the supplier as well as the internal relationship between the entity and the participating Member States. In a second step, the paper proceeds in closely examining the narrowly confined exemptions found in EU primary law as well as the exemption framework of Directive 2009/81/EC. In its final section, the paper delineates the legal protection available to aggrieved parties with respect to both relationships. Keywords: Defence and security; Joint/collaborative procurement; Directive 2009/81/EC; Article 346 TFEU.