Government procurement
Untying aid through the Agreement on Government Procurement: A means to encourage developing countries’ accession to the Agreement and to improve aid effectiveness?
This chapter examines the compatibility of tied aid (i.e. aid granted on condition that goods and services for the aid-financed project are purchased from the donor country only) with the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) and investigates whether inserting untied aid commitments within the GPA coverage could favour developing countries’ accession to the GPA while enhancing the development character of the GPA itself and the success and coherence of donors’ development aid policies
A case study of regionalism: The EC–CARIFORUM Economic Partnership
The EC–CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement was the first full Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) to be negotiated and signed between the EC and an African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region as required by the terms of the Cotonou Agreement of 2000. It is also the only EPA under negotiation to dedicate a chapter to the regulation of government procurement policies. As such it stands not only as a reference point for other ACP countries’ EPA negotiations and other north–south regional trading agreements (RTAs) but it might also offer some insight into the perceived role of government procurement regulation in developing countries’ trade agreements with developed countries.
Designing effective challenge procedures: The EU’s experience with remedies
A mechanism for verifying and enforcing the applicable rules is widely considered to be an important feature of a transparent regulatory system in public procurement. An effective remedies system provides tenderers with an effective means of redress deters the contracting authorities from breaching the rules in the first place and builds confidence among businesses and the public. One regulatory regime that provides such a supplier remedies system is that of the European Union (EU) the objective of which is to open up public procurement to EU-wide competition and to encourage cross-border procurement. As part of that system the EU provides for a stringent system of supplier remedies before national review bodies that goes back more than two decades which must be put in place in each of the EU Member States. Based on experience of implementing and operating the system in the different Member States it has recently undergone significant revision at EU level with the aim of ensuring that the system is fully effective to promote its objectives.
The limited case for permitting SME procurement preferences in the Agreement on Government Procurement
Governments of countries with diverse levels of wealth maintain preferential procurement policies to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The US is one of the most remarkable examples. With billions of dollars annually set aside for contract awards made exclusively to what in the US are known as small business concerns the US maintains some of the most extensive SME procurement preference policies that can be found anywhere in the world. So much for all the rhetoric on President Obama as socialist; these programmes have been in existence since 1953. Irony is the notion that comes to mind when trying to understand the US approach as the US also is able to liberalize substantial dollar values of its procurements as a contracting party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) and in unilateral and regional trade agreements. Other countries maintain preferential SME policies. South Africa maintains an evaluation preference system to award points to firms contributing to what is known as broad-based black empowerment in South Africa. Notably South Africa’s programme is nowhere near as broad as the programmes found in the US. Some US programmes benefit firms owned by individuals who belong to historically disadvantaged groups in the US but the US programmes also benefit ordinary SMEs regardless of ownership. Malaysia maintains a substantial preference programme to award government contracts to people of Malay descent the Bumiputera who are the majority population in the country to counter the market-dominant Chinese minority in that country.
Social policies in procurement and the Agreement on Government Procurement: A perspective from South Africa
Public procurement is extensively used in South Africa as a tool to achieve horizontal policies – that is policies that are not necessarily directly connected with the functional purposes of the goods works or services acquired in the procurement. The most pervasive of these policies are the social-policy-underlying mechanisms to redress inequalities in the South African economy created by colonization and apartheid. This policy of economic redress in favour of previously disadvantaged groups generally known as black economic empowerment (‘BEE’) forms part of the larger project of constitutional transformation in South Africa which informs the entire government agenda. In public procurement specifically the primacy of this policy is reflected in the constitutional mandate for BEE mechanisms in procurement. The policy of BEE is so pervasive that it has also found its way into private procurement in South Africa through the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act (‘BBBEEA’). The South African system thus provides an interesting example to test the ‘fit’ of the WTO’s Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) in a context where social policy plays a major role in shaping procurement practices.
Developing multilateral rules on government procurement: The value of soft law
Discriminatory government procurement practices in many countries present a significant barrier to international trade. However to a large extent they still remain unaddressed by multilateral market-access rules. Further the WTO’s initiatives to develop multilateral disciplines on procurement have now effectively been put on hold mainly due to the strong opposition against multilateral rules on procurement from many WTO Members especially developing country Members.
The WTO Regime on Government Procurement: Challenge and Reform
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.
The procurement of state trading enterprises under the WTO Agreements: A proposal for a way forward
WTO members both developed and developing countries have traditionally engaged in state trading for various public policy goals such as income support for domestic producers price stabilization continuity in domestic food supply government revenue generation protection of public health and strategic control etc.
Work of UNCITRAL on government procurement: Purpose, objectives and complementarity with the work of the WTO
The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (‘UNCITRAL’) is the main legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law with a general mandate to further the progressive harmonization and unification of the law of international trade through the issuing of conventions and model laws cooperation with other international organizations and technical assistance.
The national treatment and exceptions provisions of the Agreement on Government Procurement and the pursuit of horizontal policies
This chapter discusses the relationship between two of the general provisions of the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) and the significance of this relationship for the use of public procurement as a policy tool to promote various industrial social and environmental policies that are not necessarily related to the goods works or services being acquired. Examples of such policies include providing economic development opportunities for underdeveloped regions for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or for disadvantaged social groups. These policies have been variously referred to as ‘secondary’ ‘collateral’ or (as here) ‘horizontal’ policies.