Category Archives: News

Williams-Elegbe speaks at the 4th Caribbean Public Procurement (Law&Practice) Conference

  January 9, 2015 - 7:33 am |
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From the 1st to the 2nd December, 2014, Dr Sope Williams-Elegbe of APPRRU was invited to speak at the 4th Caribbean Public Procurement (Law & Practice) Conference, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. She presented a paper on “Promoting Collective Action against Corruption” which can be found here. Her paper examined successful instances where collective action by the private sector had an impact on corruption in a particular jurisdiction in order to provide guidance for the Caribbean region. Corruption in public procurement and more generally is a problem in many developing countries and it is increasingly being realized that the private sector has to provide leadership in fighting corruption through collective action in states where the public sector is unwilling to do so.

Williams-Elegbe at the conference (centre) with Reginald Dumas (left) and Chris Yukins during the workshop

Williams-Elegbe at the conference (centre) with Reginald Dumas (left) and Chris Yukins during the workshop

Williams-Elegbe also led a workshop with Professor Chris Yukins of George Washington University, USA on “Defence Procurement: Managing Debarment”.

Williams-Elegbe participates in the First National Conference on Public Procurement, Nigeria

  January 9, 2015 - 7:24 am |
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On 10 November 2014, Dr Sope Williams-Elegbe of APPRRU was invited to speak at the First National Conference on Public Procurement, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria. The conference was a collaborative event between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the 36 states of the federation and was intended to provide a platform for dialogue and creation of synergy between procurement at the state and federal level. Sope’s paper was titled “Public Procurement Reforms: An Analysis of Examples in the African Region” and focused on the kinds of procurement reform in selected African countries. A copy of her presentation can be found here. Attached is a picture of Sope with Ms Marie-Francoise Marie Nelly, the Country Director of the World Bank, Nigeria, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, the Governor of Edo State, Nigeria and Dr. Ama Eyo also of the APPRRU and Bangor University, Wales.

Dr Williams-Elegbe (second from right) with (from left) Ms Marie-Francoise Marie Nelly, the Country Director of the World Bank, Nigeria, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, the Governor of Edo State, Nigeria and Dr. Ama Eyo also of APPRRU and Bangor University, Wales

Dr Williams-Elegbe (second from right) with (from left) Ms Marie-Francoise Marie Nelly, the Country Director of the World Bank, Nigeria, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, the Governor of Edo State, Nigeria and Dr. Ama Eyo also of APPRRU and Bangor University, Wales

Global Revolutions VII Conference programme

  January 9, 2015 - 7:16 am | ,
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The programme for the Public Procurement: Global Revolutions VII conference to be held in Nottingham, England from 15-16 June 2015 is now out. The conference will feature papers on procurement law developments from across the world, including perspectives on African procurement regulation.

Programme

Quinot participates in Amsterdam conference

  December 12, 2014 - 11:34 am |
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On 19 November 2014 Geo Quinot of APPRRU participated in a conference on The Public Private Divide: Conference on Semi-public Institutions and Public Contracts at the VU University Amsterdam hosted by the Public Contracts: Law & Governance programme of the Kooijmans Institute for Law and Governance. The aim of the conference was to discuss the public-private divide from various points of view with a focus on the position and role of semi-public institutions and of public contracts. Quinot’s paper focused on semi-public institutions and how these hybrid entities can be understood within traditional approaches to private and public law.

The conference culminated in the public defence by Niels Jak of his PhD dissertation entitled Semipublieke instellingen: De juridische positie van instellingen op het snijvlak van overheid en samenleving. In writing this study, Jak visited APPRRU twice to conduct research on the position of semi-public institutions in the South African context.

Speakers at the conference: From left: Proff Frank van Ommeren (VU), Quinot, Chris Jansen (VU), Ulrich Stelkens (University of Administrative Sciences Speyer, Germany) & Mark Freedland (Oxford)

Speakers at the conference: From left: Proff Frank van Ommeren (VU), Quinot, Chris Jansen (VU), Ulrich Stelkens (University of Administrative Sciences Speyer, Germany) & Mark Freedland (Oxford)

APPRRU hosts workshop on procurement law reform in South Africa

  December 12, 2014 - 11:06 am |
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Participants at the APPRRU workshop

Participants at the APPRRU workshop

In September 2014 APPRRU hosted a workshop at National Treasury in Pretoria around procurement law reform in South Africa. Leading legal practitioners in the area of public procurement regulation joined academics from APPRRU and policy-makers from Treasury to discuss current initiatives in drafting a new public procurement regulator statute that can provide the institutional basis for comprehensive reform of the public procurement regulatory regime. Participants discussed a working draft bill prepared in the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer in Treasury as well as the procurement chapter of the draft Treasury Regulations under the Public Finance Management Act. The workshop was a follow-up on the earlier work done by Prof Quinot of APPRRU for Treasury on the legal landscape governing procurement regulation in South Africa.

Participants at the APPRRU workshop

Participants at the APPRRU workshop

Participants at the APPRRU workshop

Participants at the APPRRU workshop

Senior Experts Dialogue on “Science, Technology, and Innovation and the African Transformation Agenda

  September 18, 2014 - 1:58 pm |
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On the 22nd July 2014, Dr Sope Williams-Elegbe was invited by the UN Economic Commission for Africa to speak at the Senior Experts Dialogue on “Science, Technology, and Innovation and the African Transformation Agenda: Making New Technologies work for Africa’s Transformation”. She spoke on the topic of technology, innovation and governance. 

World Bank colloquium on suspension and debarment

  September 18, 2014 - 1:56 pm |
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Dr Williams-Elegbe (centre) with other participants at the World Bank colloquium on suspension and debarment.

Dr Williams-Elegbe (centre) with other participants at the World Bank colloquium on suspension and debarment.

On 15th May 2014, Dr. Sope Williams-Elegbe was invited by the World Bank’s Office of Suspension and Debarment to speak at the 2nd colloquium on suspension and debarment which held in Washington DC. Sope was on a panel with other experts who discussed the relationship between debarment and other legal and administrative sanctions.

Munich symposium on bidder selection, qualification and exclusion

  July 15, 2014 - 9:22 am |
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Quinot presenting his paper.

Quinot presenting his paper.

Academics from five continents met in Munich, Germany on 2-3 July 2014 to discuss current developments in procurement law with a focus on the selection, qualification and exclusion of bidders under various national and international public procurement systems. The symposium was hosted by Prof Martin Burgi, Chair for Public Law and European Law at the Research Center for Public Procurement Law and Administrative Co-operations, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Prof Geo Quinot of APPRRU presented a paper dealing with developments in African procurement law and focusing in particular on current developments around qualification and award criteria in South African procurement law.

Quinot’s paper is available here.

Symposium participants

Symposium participants

Quinot advises South African Treasury on procurement reform

  May 29, 2014 - 11:10 am |
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In March 2014 Prof Geo Quinot of the African Public Procurement Regulation Research Unit (APPRRU) delivered a commissioned research report to the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO) in South Africa’s National Treasury on the current state of public procurement regulation in South Africa and the need for reform.

The 160-page report noted the fragmented nature of the law currently governing public procurement in South Africa. It further analysed evidence of the adverse effect that the current state of procurement law is having on supply chain functions and consequently public administration.

Prof Geo Quinot (right) presents the research report titled "An Institutional Legal Structure for Regulating Public Procurement in South Africa" to Mr Henry Malinga, Chief Director: Policy and Strategy in the OCPO.

Prof Geo Quinot (right) presents the research report titled “An Institutional Legal Structure for Regulating Public Procurement in South Africa” to Mr Henry Malinga, Chief Director: Policy and Strategy in the OCPO.

The report recommended that government pursue a comprehensive strategy of public procurement regulatory reform. The first recommended step is to create a public procurement regulator in South Africa by means of dedicated legislation. Such an entity should consequently be tasked with the reform of the substantive law governing public procurement, a high priority of which should be the consolidation of the current rules on procurement.