Steven Van Garsse, Ilenia Vandorpe

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 4, Page 329 - 333

Bruno de Cazalet, Iryna Zapatrina

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 2, Page 131 - 150

Recently, also due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue of using e-procurement is becoming more and more relevant for all countries around the world, and especially for EU Member States implementing the requirements of the Directives on public procurement. The substantial advantages of the use of electronic procedures for public procurement for reduction of tender costs and better prices, the possibility to avoid misuse, collusion and corruption, led some countries to explore opportunities to adapt the traditional e-procurement experience for public-private partnership (PPP) and concession tenders. Today, the regulation in this field is practically absent and the experience is very limited. This article presents: an analysis of the situation regarding current regulation, experience in electronic PPP procurement implementation, and trends; the peculiarities of PPP procurement compared to traditional public procurement; the difficulties related to PPP procurement as e-procurement; and the recommendations of authors on the use of electronic procurements for PPPs and concessions based on the peculiarities of a project implemented using relevant mechanisms. Keywords: public-private partnership; PPP; public procurement; electronic procurement; e-procurement; digitalisation

Mukesh Rawat, KD Raju

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 2, Page 158 - 171

In the contemporary era, public procurement has become a central pillar of the international economy. The WTO’s Agreement on Public Procurement (GPA) has emerged as a vital tool for harmonising and integrating the global public procurement market. Presently, India is an observer to the GPA, which is a preliminary first step in acceding to the agreement. This article provides an analysis of the regulatory mechanism of public procurement in India. It aims to underline the potential opportunities and legal challenges in the accession to the public procurement agreement. It argues that India should align its procurement policy on the principles of GPA, and accession to it should be a part of its trade policy. Keywords: public procurement; trade law; WTO; Agreement on Government Procurement and Public Policy; India

Tünde Tátrai

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 2, Page 172 - 174

Pedro Melo, Sandra Tavares Magalhães

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 2, Page 175 - 175

Albert Sanchez-Graells

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 16 (2021), Issue 1, Page 4 - 18

In December 2020, seeking to start cashing in on its desired ‘Brexit dividends’, the UK Government published the Green Paper ‘Transforming Public Procurement’. The Green Paper sets out a blueprint for the reform of UK public procurement law that aims to depart from the regulatory baseline of EU law and deliver a much-touted ‘bonfire of procurement red tape’. The Green Paper seeks ‘to speed up and simplify [UK] procurement processes, place value for money at their heart, and unleash opportunities for small businesses, charities and social enterprises to innovate in public service delivery’. The Green Paper aims to do so by creating ‘a progressive, modern regime which can adapt to the fastmoving environment in which business operates’ underpinned by ‘a culture of continuous improvement to support more resilient, diverse and innovative supply chains.’ I argue that the Green Paper has very limited transformative potential and that its proposals merely represent an ‘EU law +’ approach to the regulation of public procurement that would only result in an overcomplicated regulatory infrastructure, additional administrative burdens for both public buyers and economic operators, and tensions and contradictions in the oversight model. I conclude that a substantial rethink is needed if the Green Paper’s goals are to be achieved. Keywords: public procurement; reform; deregulation; green paper; transforming public procurement; Brexit

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