In developing public procurement policy, governments are often concerned not only with value for money but also with promoting their social and environmental objectives. However, imposing social and environmental requirements makes it harder for some suppliers to participate in public procurement. EC law thus limits the ability of national governments to implement such policies. But how should the balance be struck between these trade concerns and the desire of national governments to use procurement as a policy tool? And should the EC even harness Member States' procurement power to EC-wide...

Originally an important but relatively obscure plurilateral instrument, the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) is now becoming a pillar of the WTO system as a result of important developments since the Uruguay Round. This collection examines the issues and challenges that this raises for the GPA, as well as future prospects for addressing government procurement at a multilateral level. Coverage includes issues relating to pending accessions to the GPA, particularly those of developing countries with a large state sector such as China; the revised (provisionally agreed) GPA text of...

Competitive dialogue is a procedure introduced into the EU procurement system in 2004 to provide an improved method for awarding complex contracts, such as those for public infrastructure and major IT systems. This book provides a critical examination of the legal rules on this new procedure, focusing in particular on grey areas such as availability of the procedure and the scope for negotiations after 'final tenders'. It considers both the EU-level rules and the way in which those rules have been applied in national systems. The examination draws on extensive evidence of the way in which the...

Examines the regulatory rules on public procurement in selected African countries and provides a comparative analysis of key regulatory issues.