AFRICAN PROCUREMENT LAW UNIT
The African Procurement Law Unit (APLU) was created in 2012 as an inter-institutional research unit bringing researchers from a range of universities across Africa and beyond together to focus on procurement law in Africa. Initially called the African Public Procurement Regulation Research Unit (APPRRU), the name was shortened to the current African Procurement Law Unit (APLU) in 2016. The aims of the Unit are to promote research on public procurement regulation on the African continent, training in public procurement regulation and the building of networks in Africa and with similar units elsewhere. The Unit is meant to provide a permanent inter-institutional platform for in-depth research in an area of law that is critical to development in Africa, but currently largely neglected.
APLU has established a continental footprint by means of researchers associated with the Unit based in a number of African countries and continues to develop this network. Currently, APLU brings together researchers based at 10 universities, primarily on the African continent, but also from beyond Africa. The Unit also engages closely with initiatives of the global Procurement Law Academic Network and the International Learning Lab on Public Procurement and Human Rights as vehicles to bring a collective African perspective to the study of public procurement law internationally.
APLU is home to the African Public Procurement Law Journal, an online open-access academic journal focusing on public procurement law relevant to Africa. APLU also maintains an African bibliography on public procurement scholarship, which is published on its website.
Prof Geo Quinot, of the Department of Public Law at Stellenbosch University, is the Director of the Unit with Prof Sope Williams-Elegbe, of Stellenbosch University’s Department of Mercantile Law and Dr Allison Anthony of the College of Law at the University of South Africa, as Deputy Directors.