Category Archives: News

APLU participates in the first South Africa Innovation week

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In March 2026, the first SA Innovation Week was hosted by the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) in partnership with South African Innovation Summit (SAIS) and supported by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI). SA Innovation Week (SAIW) is the official national platform connecting innovators, investors, industry leaders and policymakers in a coordinated, unconference, deal-making, outcomes-driven innovation platform designed to accelerate commercialisation and strengthen competitiveness.

SBRI Colloquium during SA Innovation Week (March 16–20)

APLU participated in one of the key events of the SA Innovation Week 2026, namely the SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) Colloquium. The Colloquium, which was sponsored by the UK High Commission, focused on how public procurement can be a driver of innovation. Prof Quinot participated in one of the panel discussions at the Colloquium focusing on the role that law generally and the unfolding procurement law reform in South Africa in particular, can play in unlocking the potential of public procurement as a driver of innovation.

Quinot delivers keynote opening speech at the 5th APPN Assembly

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At the end of November 2025, APLU Director, Prof Geo Quinot, delivered the keynote address at the 5th Assembly of the African Public Procurement Network (APPN) that was hosted by the Government of Zimbabwe (which held the 2025 presidency of the APPN) at Victoria Falls. The APPN is the continental body bringing together the chief procurement offices of 53 African states to deliberate on matters of mutual interest. The General Assembly, composed of heads of national public procurement authorities, is the highest decision-making body of the APPN, setting strategic direction, electing leadership, and guiding key decisions at its annual assembly.

Speakers with the APPN Executive at the 5th APPN Assembly
Quinot delivering the keynote opening at the 5th APPN Assembly

In his opening keynote speech, Quinot argued that public procurement is one of the keys to unlocking the African continent’s full potential, but that it will only be possible if African states collectively and intentionally tailor their public procurement systems with optimal developmental objectives as primary objective while pursuing maximum integrity within and integration across national procurement systems. He outlined the various strands of public procurement law and policy where innovation is required to achieve these goals.

Prof Quinot also participated in a panel discussion during the course of the Assembly on Reinforcing Governance Through Public Procurement: A Social Contract Approach. This panel explored the ways in which public procurement systems should intentionally be anchored in the needs of societies turning such societies into primary structures of governance.

Panel on Reinforcing Governance Through Public Procurement: A Social Contract Approach

APLU researchers contribute to international deliberations on public procurement

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APLU researchers, Prof Geo Quinot and Prof Sope Williams, participated in several international engagements on public procurement law and policy during 2025.

Prof Williams participated in the 3rd International Congress of Public Procurement in Buenos Aires in November 2025, where she presented a paper on gender responsive procurement. In December, Williams participated in the Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption, held in Doha.

The 3rd International Congress of Public Procurement, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

In September 2025, Prof Geo Quinot contributed to the 6th Interdisciplinary Symposium on Public Procurement, held in Lisbon, Portugal. He presented a paper on public procurement integrity at the digital frontier. In October, Quinot (virtually) delivered the keynote address at a conference on local content in public procurement hosted by the Polish Public Procurement Law Association (PPLA) and the Chair of European Law at the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Law and Administration, Warsaw, Poland.

6th Interdisciplinary Symposium on Public Procurement, Lisbon
Local content in public procurement, Warsaw

APLU again assists NRF to host international procurement conference

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For the second year in a row, APLU assisted the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) to host an international conference on public procurement. The 2024 conference focused on specifications and methods in public procurement and was hosted on 4 and 5 September 2024 at the NRF Headquarters in Pretoria. For more information, click here.

Workshop on Public Procurement Reform in South Africa 2024

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On 24 to 25 July 2024, APLU convened a national workshop on public procurement reform in South Africa.

The aim of the workshop was to bring together all stakeholders to discuss current developments in public procurement reform in South Africa. The workshop is a continuation of a project started in 2023, broadly aimed at collective reflection on what public procurement system the procurement community wants and needs in South Africa and how all stakeholders can collaborate to get there.

Chief Justice Zondo delivering the opening address at the Workshop on 24 July.

The 2024 workshop was opened by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, in which he reminded delegates that public procurement was at the heart of state capture as identified by the State Capture Commission which he chaired. He thus emphasised the importance of the aims of the workshop in pursuit of a reformed public procurement system in South Africa. The Chief Justice called on all delegates to carefully scrutinise current reform projects, such as the new Public Procurement Act and regulations to be made under the Act, to ensure that the weaknesses that enabled state capture through public procurement are effectively addressed.

The presentations by the various speakers can be viewed at the link below and recordings of the live stream are available on APLU’s YouTube channel.

Programme
Presentations
YouTube

This project is funded by the Millennium Trust.

APLU CONTRIBUTES GLOBAL REVOLUTION 2024 CONFERENCE

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On 17 to 18 June 2024, the Public Procurement Research Group at the University of Nottingham hosted its biennial international conference on public procurement law. The 2024 conference again gathered scholars from multiple disciplines around the world to discuss current research and developments in the field of public procurement.

APLU was again one of the collaborating partners for the conference and contributed to several sessions. Prof Geo Quinot delivered a plenary keynote that focused on reconceptualising public procurement (law and practice) globally. Prof Sope Williams shared insights from her most recent research addressing the corruption barriers to gender responsive procurement in a session that focused on diversity in procurement. Prof Quinot also joined Prof François Lichère of the Université Jean Moulin Lyon and Director of the Chair of Public Contract Law (Chaire de droit des contrats publics), Prof Christopher Yukins of the George Washington University School of Law and Prof Tünde Tátrai of the Corvinus University of Budapest on a panel that discussed deference to contracting authority decisions in procurement disputes.

Prof Quinot delivering his keynote plenary address
Prof Quinot, Prof Tatrai, Prof Lichere
Prof Williams sharing insights on diversity in procurement
Prof Annamaria La Chimia, Director of the PPRG and APLU Associate Researcher opening the conference

APLU Deputy Director graduates from prestigious GWU postgraduate procurement programme

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APLU Deputy Director, Dr Allison Anthony, graduated on 19 May 2024 from the prestigious LLM in Government Procurement Law from George Washington University School of Law in Washington DC in the United States. This programme is the oldest dedicated degree programme focusing specifically on public procurement law. APLU and the Government Procurement Law Program at GWU have a long-standing close relationship of collaboration in the field of public procurement law. With Dr Anthony now an alumni of both entities, these bonds will inevitably continue to grow stronger.

Major new publication on public procurement corruption

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A new publication, the Routledge Handbook of Public Procurement Corruption, edited by APLU Deputy Director, Prof Sope Williams, and GWU’s Prof Jessica Tillipman, was published in April 2024 providing a go-to reference for all who are interested in public procurement and countering corruption. This major work, with 33 chapters covering both thematic issues in public procurement corruption and country studies from around the globe provides one of the most comprehensive treatments of addressing corruption in public procurement.

Apart from Prof Williams, who contributed chapters on an overview of corruption and public procurement and on the position in Nigeria, other APLU researchers also contributed to the volume, with APLU Director, Prof Geo Quinot, authoring a chapter on corruption in COVID-19 procurement and APLU fellow, Prof George Nwangwu, writing on corruption in public–private partnership procurement. A number of African countries are also included among the country case studies in part III of the book.

More details can be found on the publisher’s website.

Prof Quinot delivers keynote address at the opening of international procurement programme

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On 29 February 2024, APLU Director, Prof Geo Quinot, delivered the keynote address at the opening ceremony of the 12th edition of the International Master in Public Procurement Management (IMPPM) at the School of Economics, University of Tor Vergata, Rome.

The IMPPM is an innovative, multidisciplinary advanced degree programme in public procurement supported by several multilateral development banks such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, African Development Bank, and The Caribbean Development Bank.

Prof Quinot’s lecture focused on a shift in the animating feature of public procurement globally.

APLU hosts NRF International Conference on Public Procurement and Innovation in Africa

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The African Procurement Law Unit organized two high-level engagements on behalf of the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) to explore the linkage between public procurement and innovation in Africa. At a one-day colloquium (pictured above) followed by a two-day conference, held between 13 and 15 November at the NRF campus in Pretoria, leading international scholars engaged with local policymakers, practitioners and scholars in both the areas of public procurement and innovation to explore ways in which public spending can be leveraged to accelerate innovation on the continent.

Opening the conference, Mr. Imraan Patel (left), deputy director general for research development and support in the Department of Science and Innovation, noted the need to use the opportunity that the state’s enormous spend on public procurement presents to build our innovation ecosystem.

The South African government spends close to R1 trillion annually through public procurement. Scholars from multiple disciplines explored issues such as public procurement as an innovation policy tool, the transformation potential of public procurement for/of innovation, the state of current supply chains, mapping firm innovation patterns in South Africa, the role of technology in procurement of innovation, pursuing functional and relational public procurement paradigms, innovation for gender-responsive procurement, defense procurement as a driver of innovation and public procurement in open innovation approaches. Best practices across the world were considered in building an appreciation of a fit-for-purpose approach to linking public procurement and innovation in Africa.

Prof Charles Edquist and Prof Louise Knight in conversation with Mr. Songezo Mabece
Prof Geo Quinot, Prof Jane Lynch, Prof Barbara Allen, Prof Christopher Yukins in conversation with Mr. Shaun Scott
Mr. Ibrahim Kitoo, Prof Sope Williams, Prof Christopher Yukins and MC Mr. Songezo Mabece

All presentations at the conference van be viewed on the NRF YouTube channel.