COVID-19: LESSONS LEARNED IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT. TIME FOR A NEW NORMAL?

The COVID-19 crisis upended markets and assumptions in public procurement, and posed an almost existential threat to traditional procurement systems. Seismic changes in economic relationships – governments were no longer monopsonists, government officials failed as economic intermediaries between suppliers and the public, and supplies that were traditionally treated as private (such as medical equipment) suddenly became “public” goods under worldwide demand. Traditional trade rules were rendered irrelevant, as the goal was no longer simply to open individual procurements but rather to open borders to intense global demand. Although the disruption was revolutionary, ironically the solution is to return to first principles of transparency and integrity to preserve governments’ fragile legitimacy in a crisis. The press of the pandemic also showed the need for governments to reduce transaction costs by buying cooperatively and effectively across borders. These lessons highlight the need (and the opportunity) to rethink public procurement systems, to craft a “new normal” against the dark background of a worldwide pandemic

Will Protectionism Prevail in Global Public Procurement?

For public procurement, the pendulum of trade policy seems to be swinging back towards protectionism. Governments can have a profoundly important impact on their home economies when they raise barriers to foreign competition. Recent protectionist efforts by major economic powers, including the United States and the European Union, suggest a new world order—of new import and export barriers, tight technology controls and “friend-shoring” to limit public procurement trade to a closed circle of aligned nations. Will this be the new economic order in public procurement? This article, originally published in Concurrences Review, concurrences.com, argues not. Open international trade in procurement was not an historical accident or a quixotic adventure; instead, the current legal order reflects the economics of globalization and geopolitical realities. At the same time, the question of a new kind of protectionism in public procurement is being raised by novel public policies, such as goals for “sustainability” (social, economic and environmental advancement), played out through public procurement, which can in practice be quite protectionist. Drawing in part on long U.S. experience with accommodating social and economic goals in public procurement, this piece argues that the apparently contradictory goals of competition and sustainability can, in fact, be reconciled. In this respect, and without becoming a mere pawn of protectionism, public procurement law can provide viable solutions for reconciling competition with the new demands of sustainability

Vers une approche unifiée de la convention de délégation de service public : état d'avancement des travaux de la Commission des Nations Unies pour le droit international sur les projets d'infrastructure à financement privé

International audienc

Les juges français et européens encadrent les stipulations techniques à effet protectionniste dans la commande publique : concilier concurrence et intérêt général (CE, 4 décembre 2017, Ministre de l'Intérieur, n°413366 et CJUE, 8 juin 2017, Medisanus, aff. C-296/15)

National audienc

Harmonisation internationale des règles relatives aux contrats PPP et DSP : vers une loi-type ?

National audienc

Globalisation du droit et approche systémique de la commande publique française

National audienc

Les responsabilités du fait des contrats des collectivités territoriales

JurisClasseur Collectivités Territoriale

PPP : La CNUDCI abandonne le projet d'une loi-type sur les contrats PPP

Art. N° 70059National audienc

Régulation du contrat

Dictionnaire des régulations 201

From the Internationalization of Procurement Rules to the Internationalization of Public Contracts: How International Instruments Are Reshaping Domestic Procurement Systems

International audienc