| Utrecht Centre for Public Procurement |
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UUCePP newsletter summer edition! |
| Tip: read this newsletter on your computer or online for the best view! |
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UUCePP in the media: a reflection on the abuses in housing for asylum seekers, the purchasing of Chinese cameras and more |
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| Interview by Follow the Money: housing of asylum seekers |
Prof. Elisabetta Manunza was interviewed by Follow the Money in the context of a public prosecutor investigation on corruption, falsification of documents and money laundering around the organization of housing for asylum seekers. Professor of public procurement law Elisabetta R. Manunza: ‘One of the fundamental goals of public procurement law is indeed to prevent these kinds of disruptive and unwelcome situations.’
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Professor Manunza was also interviewed by Het Financieele Dagblad on national security and strategic autonomy: ‘Elisabetta Manunza (…) states that European regulations offer sufficient room to exclude Chinese parties from governmental procurement procedures in case of possible safety hazards, and that in the past three years, additional regulations to that end have been added.’ Procurement law is, according to Manunza, an important instrument for Europe’s pursuit of strategic autonomy. She ‘cannot explain’, therefore, why the Dutch government does not use that legal room more. Ministries are ambivalent as to their priorities, she thinks: safety and trade. ‘They are looking for a balance. As if trade is neutral. It is not.’
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Conferences: Global Revolution 2024 and SAPIENS Network |
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Elisabetta Manunza delivers keynote during the opening panel of Global Revolution 2024 at the University of Nottingham
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Professor Elisabetta Manunza was one of the four keynote speakers on 18 June 2024 during the plenary opening panel of Global Revolution 2024 at the University of Nottingham with the lecture ‘Protecting Earth and Freedom needs radical changes in Public procurement Policy’. UCCePP is an official ‘collaborator’ in this global conference, hosted every two years by Annamaria La Chimia and Peter Trepte, of the University of Nottingham. Participants of the plenary panel included – beside Ewan West KC, Monckton Chambers – professors Geo Quinot (Stellenbosch University, South Africa), Gustavo Piga (economics LUISS Rome) and Sue Arrowsmith (prof. emerita University of Nottingham).
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Strong UUCePP representation among the speakers of the ‘Global Revolution 2024 – University of Nottingham’ global conference
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As every time, UUCePP was well-represented during Global Revolution, with contributions by Niels Wittenberg on the necessity of screening systems to guarantee national security (A security-proof public procurement strategy for contracting authorities: ‘The legal possibilities for national security screening within the context of the Defence and Security Procurement Directive’); Nathan Meershoek on defence and strategic autonomy (The Legal Foundation for a more Effective Regulation of Military Procurement within a European Security Culture) and Elior Korem with ‘Equality Qualities in Public Procurement’. All three legal scholars presented at Global Revolution 2024 their pre-submitted and previously panel-assessed papers, which may be included in an upcoming issue of Public Procurement Law Review.
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| Elisabetta Manunza delivers keynote during opening panel of SAPIENS Network ‘Grand Finale’ conference at the University of Birmingham |
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Professor Elisabetta Manunza was one of the four keynote speakers on 20 June 2024 during the opening panel of the ‘Concluding “Grand Finale” SAPIENS Network Conference on Sustainability and Procurement’ with a contribution on ‘Removing some more obstacles to foster sustainability’ from a continental perspective. Elisabetta was connected as an ‘external expert’ for the past three years to the EU Horizons SAPIENS Network, led by Roberto Caranta (University of Toronto) and Martin Trybus (University of Birmingham). The other speakers in the opening panel were Malcolm Harbour CBE (EU Parliamentarian), Steve Schooner (George Washington University) and Eliza Niewiadomska of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
During this Sapiens closing conference, professor Willem Janssen chaired a panel on circular economy and public procurement which aimed to identify the obstacles on the path from a linear to a circular society.
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More intense research on Defence and Security |
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Intensification of the collaboration with the Ministry of Defence to set up a dynamic and long-lasting Ecosystem on the strategic Collaboration Unmanned Systems
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Last May, Elisabetta Manunza signed a new contract with the Ministry of Defence to investigate the legal aspects of setting up and maintaining ‘an Ecosystem long-lasting Strategic Collaboration Unmanned Systems’. This ecosystem revolves around dynamic and long-lasting forms of collaboration between the Ministry of Defence and strategic high-tech industry, the goal being to design and deliver continual high-tech innovations to the Ministry of Defence over the next twenty years in order to modernize the Dutch land forces. The research will be performed in close collaboration with Dr. Nathan Meershoek. The research contract will run until the end of December 2024.
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Interview with Prof. Manunza in NIDV Magazine on strategic autonomy
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Elisabetta Manunza gave an extensive interview for the June edition of NIDV Magazine (Magazine for the Dutch defence and security Industry) to Eline Bos: ‘Aanbestedingsrecht moet en kan veel strategischer worden ingezet’ (public procurement law should be applied more strategically). She explained why, in her opinion, public procurement law ought to be applied much more strategically in order to increase strategic autonomy and thereby diminish the Dutch and EU dependence on third countries outside the EU, such as China, but also the US.
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Ministry of Defence Buyers’ Day: purchasing without award model and the tensions between the EU internal market and military reality
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Dr. Nathan Meershoek and Prof. Dr. Fredo Schotanus were both speakers at the Defence Buyers’ Day. Meershoek discussed the tensions between European public procurement obligations, in which economic considerations are the decisive factor, and the military reality, in which armed forces attempt to enlarge their military prowess through military procurement by strategically choosing their suppliers. Schotanus’s contribution centred on procurement without award model and the introduction of a simplified procurement procedure that falls somewhere between directly awarding contracts and a multiple private tender, the latter of which is more common in the Netherlands. According to the Dutch Public Procurement Act a multiple private tender can be applied for tenders under the EU thresholds.
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Student contributions: procurement of submarines
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Twice a year, a dozen groups of students write an academic blog post for the course Public purchasing given and coordinated by professor Fredo Schotanus. This time, we will highlight a blog post on the procurement of submarines, written by Christophe Land, Ian Molendijk, Jenna McCormick & Joep Küppers. They question – from an economic perspective - why the Dutch Ministry of Defence chose for a competitive tender and awarded the contract to Naval instead of choosing to award the contract directly to Damen according to Article 346 TFEU.
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Dr. Vita Titl in Bestek Podcast regarding single bidding in public procurement
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Finale City Deal Public Space: A guide for multi-goal procurement and contracting
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Vitezslav Titl and Willem Janssen discuss single bidding in the EU, as part of the current debate about the lack of interest in public procurement from the side of the market. Sparked by the report by the Court of Auditors, and due to developments in many of the Member States, they discuss Vita’s research on this topic and how the legal changes implemented in Czechia could inspire other Member States to increase the amount of bids.
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On April 23 Ruben Nicolas presented his guide on multi-goal procurement and contracting in public spaces. The guide shows how municipalities arrange their procurement and contracting to effectively implement multi-goal projects in public spaces.
Photo by Alec Kakisina
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| Best practices in green procurement |
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| Dr. Titl was a panelist at a workshop organised by the European Commission |
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Dr. Lucian Cernat participated in a webinar organised by the George Washington University on a recently adopted EU-US joint catalogue of best practices in green public procurement. The catalogue was adopted as part of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council and identifies key policies, actions and best practices in green public procurement, as part of a broader effort to use public procurement to “catalyze” reductions in the greenhouse gasses which cause global warming.
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On June 25th, Dr. Vitezslav (Vita) Titl was a panelist at Workshop on Asset Declaration sharing his insights about using AI to detect corruption in public procurement and beyond. The event was organized by DG HOME of the European Commission as part of the newly established “EU network against corruption”.
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Prof. Willem Janssen gives his vision on the future of public procurement at meeting of the European Commission and Member States
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GIP anniversary: innovation-friendly acquisition and the changing landscape of public procurement
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On 30 May, the European Commission Government Experts Group on Public Procurement met to discuss the topic ‘Future priorities and developments of public procurement’. Willem Janssen, together with Prof. Tunde Tatrai (Corvinus University Budapest), had been invited to give his views on what should be the main focus for European procurement rules. One of his recommendations is to partially let go of the current, strong focus on non-discrimination (creating a level playing field for contractors) and give the criteria ‘sustainability’ and ‘security’ a more important role in the procurement process.
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Prof. Willem Janssen and Prof. Dr. Fredo Schotanus both spoke at the GIP anniversary. Willem Janssen discussed how public procurement law is evolving , especially due to new mandatory EU sustainability regulations. Fredo Schotanus spoke about innovation-friendly purchasing. According to the attendants, fostering innovative procurement needs more accessible and comprehensive procurement documents.
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| Prof. Willem Janssen led a meeting of the European Procurement Law Group |
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On 19 June, Willem Janssen co-led a meeting of the European Procurement Law Group at Birmingham University. At this meeting, several scholars from all over the EU and beyond discussed a forthcoming book with Edward Elgar titled Future Perspectives for Directive 2014/24/EU: Reform Proposals (eds. François Lichère, Willem Janssen and Kirsi-Marie Halonen), which aims to provide an in-depth analysis of pending issues for future reforms of EU public procurement law.
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Some UUCePP publications highlighted |
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Dr. Titl wrote a policy document on single bidding in public procurement
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Public procurement markets in the European Union (EU) were valued at about 14% of GDP. The share of public procurement contracts in the EU awarded to the single firm that submitted a bid rose from 23.5% in 2011 to 41.8% in 2020. In this policy study, Dr. Titl evaluates the cost effects of this behaviour and shows that a simple reform could bring savings equivalent to more than 1% of GPD (i.e. billions of euros).
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Assessment of bids: is AI better than humans?
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Large Language Models (LLM) such as ChatGPT and Copilot are already proving to be useful tools for the assessment of small bids in the context of a purchasing/procurement procedure. For example to determine whether human assessors have not missed any cases. This is one of the conclusions from an experiment by Prof. Dr. Fredo Schotanus and his students.
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Academic legal publication elucidated by drawings
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On 13 June the Tijdschrift Aanbestedingsrecht en Staatssteun (Dutch Public Procurement and State Aid Law Review) included a key publication by Elisabetta Manunza titled ‘Bescherming van aarde en vrijheid vergt radicale mentaliteitsverandering in aanbestedingsbeleid. Over nieuwe verplichtingen en oude verantwoordelijkheden’ (Protecting Earth and Freedom needs radical changes in Public procurement Policy. On new obligations and old responsabilities). The article explores policy recommendations made previously by Manunza orally (September 2023) to the Permanent Committee on Economic Affairs of the Dutch House of Representatives. Having explained the relationship between public procurement, democracy and rule of law, Manunza pleads in her article for a radical mindset-shift to enhance the quality of life in open societies by increasing the impact of public procurement. To that end she argues that a new vision is needed to shape a more effective future public procurement policy which combines realism and the ambition to create a just society that is sustainable, inclusive and geopolitically secure. Such a policy should be centrally driven, focused, consistent and geopolitically alert. The article includes handmade schemes to elucidate the material.
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Twice a year (September and March) a new class starts of the executive course public procurement law
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The executive course Aanbestedingsrecht voor de inkooppraktijk is a biannual course led by Prof. Dr. Elisabetta Manunza. The course, which consists of ten meetings, falls under the auspices of the executive programme Law, Economics, Governance and Organisation. Since January 2024 Dr. Nathan Meershoek has assumed a coordinating role in the course. The first two hours of the last meeting - on June 25 – focused on how to foster social and environmental sustainability aspects (by Elisabetta Manunza & Tom Huisjes). In the second part Aslan Vos focused on proportional contractual obligations. Trainees have four months starting now to work on the take-home exam. We hope to welcome them back in November for the awarding of the certificates. In September a new class starts which is already fully booked. But as every year, a new class starts again in March 2025. Should you be interested and would you like to participate, read more about the program and teaching method and show your interest to participate by sending an e-mail to Erna Borrias (ovb@uu.nl): the executive office will contact you, but no earlier than in January 2025.
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Vitezslav Titl became Affiliate member of CESifo in Munich
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Vitezslav Titl became an Affiliate member of CESifo in Munich, a global, independent research network established by the ifo Institute and Ludwigs Maximilian University. He was a visiting researcher at the institute in May and June, and presented his work on single-bidding during the visit.
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Prof. Fredo Schotanus and Dr. Nathan Meershoek have both joined the Tenderboard of the Rijksinkoopsamenwerking (RIS)
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The Tenderboard convenes every month to check the strategic choices regarding sourcing and purchasing and to give advice. More information on the RIS can be found here: link; and more information on the Tenderboard here: link.
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Once every four to six weeks, the IOS Platform The Transactional State organizes a Transactional Talk together with UUCePP. Every talk deep-dives into a highly relevant and pressing societal issue related to public procurement. The past months these researchers shared their findings during a Transactional Talk:
- Joras Ferwerda, corruption in public procurement
- Iryna Susha, Sofie de Wilde de Ligny, Mirko Schaefer and Fredo Schotanus, data purchasing by governments
- Olga Chiappinelli, green procurement as part of environmental policy
- Saverio di Giorno, corruption in the construction sector
Would you like to join a Transactional Talk? Keep an eye on our calender and sign up! |
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- Vítzeslav Titl, 'Reform of Single-Bidding in Public Procurement: More Competition, Lower Price', Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education – Economics Institute (May 2024).
- Saverio di Giorno, I. Dileo & F. Busato, 'Shades of grand corruption among allocative efficiency and institutional settings. The case of Italy', Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, vol. 93 (June 2024).
- E.R. Manunza, 'Bescherming van aarde en vrijheid vergt radicale mentaliteitsverandering in aanbestedingsbeleid. Over nieuwe verplichtingen en oude verantwoordelijkheden', Tijdschrift Aanbestedingsrecht en Staatssteun, nr. 3 (June 2024).
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| The Utrecht Centre for Public Procurement shares the latest news, newest insights and relevant events related to public procurement about four times a year. Made for public procurement professionals by researchers. Did you receive this newsletter from a colleague? Subscribe here! |
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