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Government Procurement in the WTO

Head of Unit: Dr Ping Wang

This Unit of the PPRG will undertake research on plurilateral and multilateral rules and initiatives to liberalize public procurement market under the auspice of the WTO. Research topics covered include the WTO plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), the proposed multilateral Agreement on Transparency in Government Procurement and the negotiation mandate regarding government procurement contained in GATS, as well as the relevance of general rules (such as those on non-discrimination, transparency and state trading) contained in GATT and GATS to government procurement.

The Unit's current research is focusing on China's GPA accession negotiations which were initiated at the end of 2007.

For further information contact Dr Ping Wang.

Humanitarian and Development Procurement

Head of Unit: Dr Annamaria La Chimia

The Humanitarian and Development and Procurement Unit (HDPU) will undertake legal and policy research and provide advisory and consultancy services in the field of public procurement law and development. The Unit, led by Dr Annamaria La Chimia, works in all area of law and development including food security and development aid assistance, tied aid and tied food aid, development trade policies, capacity building and public procurement reforms in developing countries.

The Unit adopts an innovative approach to development combining the legal expertise of its members with their longstanding experience in the procurement field. The Unit is committed to enhancing research and promoting institutional and policy reforms in development law and procurement. Its work is of interest to academics, politicians and policy makers committed to devising strategies for fostering development and devoted to the fight against poverty.

For further information contact Dr Annamaria La Chimia.

Corruption and Public Procurement

Head of Unit: Sope Williams

The Corruption and Public Procurement Unit conducts research into the inter-relationship between corruption and public procurement and the legal mechanisms aimed at addressing the corruption that occurs in public procurement. The Unit also examines the utility of the measures aimed at combating corruption in public procurement.

The unit has conducted research into the use of exclusions from public procurement for corruption offences, the use of integrity pacts and the use of financial contractor penalties. Other activities of the Unit include an examination of the problems that anti-corruption measures may create for a public procurement system.

For further information contact Sope Williams.

EU Public Procurement

Head of Unit: Professor Sue Arrowsmith

The Unit on EU public procurement is concerned with all dimensions of EU public procurement law and policy and its implementation in the EU Member States. As well as undertaking doctrinal and comparative law work on EU and national laws, the Unit has recently been undertaking a number of empirical studies on the implementation and effect of EU rules in this area. Its Head, Professor Sue Arrowsmith, is the author of the leading text on EU and UK procurement law, The Law of Public and Utilities Procurement (2nd ed 2005; Sweet and Maxwell) and is closely involved in development of EU law and policy as a member of the European Commission's Advisory Committee for the Opening Up of Public Procurement. The Group's special professor, Peter Trepte, is author of the leading EU text Public Procurement in the EU: a Practitioner's Guide (OUP 2007).

Current research projects include: a book on social and environmental policies in EU procurement law (co-edited and co-edited by Professor Sue Arrowsmith and Professor Peter Kunzlik of City University); a book on defence markets (Aris Georgopoulos); and PhD projects on competitive dialogue (covering Spain, Portugal and the UK), the EU rules on electronic auctions, and influences of the EU procurement directives.

For further information contact Sue Arrowsmith.

Defence and Strategic Procurement

Head of Unit: Dr Aris Georgopoulos

The Unit for Defence and Strategic procurement conducts research in the fields of defence (armaments acquisitions) and strategic (acquisitions of other sensitive equipment of strategic character) procurement. In particular the unit examines the ongoing developments in the field of European Defence Procurement integration as well as the global trends of armaments and strategic acquisitions.

The unit has conducted research into the use of security exceptions of the EC Treaty (in particular Article 296 EC and its impact in the efforts to open up European Defence markets), the current treatment of offsets under EU law (it also articulated proposals for future action in the field), the domestic defence procurement regulation and practices of various Member States of the EU, the Code of Conduct for Armaments Acquisitions of the European Defence Agency, the proposal for a Defence Procurement Directive, the applicability of EC Law in collaborative procurement carried out by international bodies such as OCCAR.

For further information contact Dr Aris Georgopoulos.