Procurement Day 2019: Focusing on PPPs

APLU’s annual Procurement Day took place on 7 May 2019 and was well-attended by a mix of researchers, practitioners and officials, interested in public procurement.

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The speakers were:

  • Prof Cao Fuguo
    • Professor of Law, Central University of Finance and Economics School of Law in Beijing, China, Director of the China Institute for Public Procurement Studies
  • Dr George Nwangwu
    • Associate Director and Head of Legal and Project Finance for Africa PPP Advisory Services Limited, Nigeria and author of Public Private Partnerships in Nigeria
  • Dr Allison Anthony
    • Senior lecturer, UNISA College of Law, Deputy Director: APLU
  • Prof Geo Quinot
    • Professor of Law, Stellenbosch University Faculty of Law, Director: APLU

with APLU’s Prof Sope Williams-Elegbe moderating the discussion.

Speakers at the 2019 APLU Procurement Day (from left): Prof Geo Quinot, Prof Cao Fuguo, Dr Allison Anthony, Prof Sope Williams-Elegbe and Dr George Ngwangwu

Speakers at the 2019 APLU Procurement Day (from left): Prof Geo Quinot, Prof Cao Fuguo, Dr Allison Anthony, Prof Sope Williams-Elegbe and Dr George Ngwangwu

The focus of the seminar was the legal regulation of public-private partnerships (PPPs). The speakers discussed a range of issues relating to the regulationof PPPs from both a South African and international perspectives. Prof Fuguo and Dr Nwangwu shared experiences from China and Nigeria in the regulation of PPPs respectively, while Dr Anthony looked at the regulation of PPPs in the context of infrastructure development in South Africa and Prof Quinot discussed the regulation of unsolicited bids as a commonly-used mechanism in PPP procurement, including in South Africa.

 

 

 

Procurement Day 2019

Please join us on

7 May 2019 from 10:00 – 14:00

for our annual APLU Procurement Day at the Stellenbosch Law Faculty

The theme of this year’s seminar is

the legal regulation of public-private partnerships.

The speakers are

Prof Cao Fuguo

Professor of Law, Central University of Finance and Economics School of Law in Beijing, China, Director of the China Institute for Public Procurement Studies

Dr George Nwangwu

Associate Director and Head of Legal and Project Finance for Africa PPP Advisory Services Limited, Nigeria and author of       Public Private Partnerships in Nigeria

Dr Allison Anthony

Senior lecturer, UNISA College of Law, Deputy Director: APLU

Prof Geo Quinot

Professor of Law, Stellenbosch University Faculty of Law, Director: APLU

moderated by

Prof Sope Williams-Elegbe

Professor and Head of Department, Mercantile Law, Stellenbosch University, Deputy Director: APLU

Attendance is free and open to anyone interested in public procurement law, but seats are limited and it is thus essential to book a seat by sending an email to aplu@sun.ac.za .

Directions to the venue.

Download the invitation.

 

 

Roundtable discussion on Sustainable Public Procurement

Dr. Maximilian Müngersdorff of DIE introduces the MUPASS project.

Dr. Maximilian Müngersdorff of DIE introduces the MUPASS project.

On 29 August 2018, APLU hosted two researchers from the German Development Institute (Deutsches Institut fur Entwicklungspolitik – DIE) in a roundtable discussion on sustainable public procurement at municipal level. The discussion formed part of a research visit to South Africa by DIE researchers, Dr. Maximilian Müngersdorff & Tim Stoffel, as part of the DIE research project: “Municipalities Promoting and Shaping Sustainable Value Creation (MUPASS) – Public Procurement for Fair and Sustainable Production”. The researchers describe their project as follows:

“MUPASS represents an international research and dialogue project, implemented by the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) in close collaboration with the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Co-Operation and Development (BMZ).

Rationale of the project

Public Procurement (PP) has potentially a high leverage effect to make economic development more inclusive and ecologically sound, if shaped in the right way. Researchers estimate PP to correspond to at least 10% to 20% of Gross Domestic Product in most countries of the world. A large part of PP is implemented by sub-national entities – hence MUPASS focusses on municipalities as actors. Since the 1990s and the drafting of the Local Agenda 21, the great potential of municipal entities for the transformation towards inclusive and sustainable development patterns has been widely recognized. Today, thousands of subnational public authorities across the globe have approved a local sustainability agenda and are implementing related activities.

Research on Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) across the world indicates that countries and cities share some basic challenges, such as creating a governance framework for effective SPP implementation or applying instruments that allow for easy-to-manage, inexpensive and transparent modes of conformity assessment.”

Tim Stoffel of DIE gives an overview of the SPP map developed under the project.

Tim Stoffel of DIE gives an overview of the SPP map developed under the project.

The project aims to investigate the framework conditions that facilitate successful sustainable public procurement practices in Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The project furthermore intends to assess the impact of sustainable public procurement practices, especially on workers, smallholders and SMEs.

During the roundtable discussion, the researchers presented data from a number of case studies of European cities that have made progress in implementing sustainable public procurement. They also presented a sustainable public procurement map that they are developing based on the data that can assist in mapping the framework conditions for sustainable public procurement implementation.

South African participants ranged from academics across a range of disciplines, government officials (both from provincial and local government level), postgraduate students and people working in the NGO sector. While sustainable public procurement is still in embryonic stage in South Africa, some interesting developments were shared, especially those spearheaded by the Western Cape provincial government. Participants raised the challenges of limited capacity and funding as barriers to pursuit of sustainable public procurement, but also highlighted innovative solutions that are available to overcome these barriers. There was consensus among participants that more sharing of experiences and knowledge of successes in sustainable public procurement practices at municipal level around the world would greatly contribute to facilitating the uptake of such practices. The DIE MUPASS project was accordingly seen as an important initiative that can drive such exchange.

Participants share thoughts on SPP in South African municipalities.

Participants share thoughts on SPP in South African municipalities.

2018 PUBLIC PROCUREMENT LAW SYMPOSIUM

On 9 May 2018, APLU hosted its annual Public Procurement Law Symposium.

Speakers at the 2018 APLU Procurement Law Symposium (from left): Peter Volmink, Annamaria la Chimia, Sope Williams-Elegbe and Geo Quinot

Speakers at the 2018 APLU Procurement Law Symposium (from left): Peter Volmink, Annamaria la Chimia, Sope Williams-Elegbe and Geo Quinot

The guest speakers were Annamaria la Chimia of the University of Nottingham and Peter Volmink of Transnet SOC.

Associate Professor La Chimia spoke on “Development Aid Procurement & the UNGPs on Business & Human Rights: challenges and opportunities to move forward ‘the new frontier of BUYING JUSTICE’.”

Mr Volmink’s contribution was entitled  “Breach of SOC board members’ fiduciary duties in the context of public procurement”.

APLU co-director, Sope Williams-Elegbe, and director, Geo Quinot, also made presentations. Prof Williams-Elegbe’s dealt with “Public Procurement contracts as smart contracts: challenges and opportunities”, while Prof Quinot’s presentation focused on “Framework agreements, transversal procurement and the stipulatio alteri”.

 

Public Procurement Law Symposium 2018

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT LAW SYMPOSIUM

9 MAY 2018

PROGRAMME

8:30 Registration & coffee

9:00 Session 1: Development Aid Procurement & the UNGPs on Business & Human Rights: challenges and opportunities to move forward ‘the new frontier of BUYING JUSTICE’.

Annamaria la Chimia,
Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Nottingham

9:45 Session 2: Public Procurement contracts as smart contracts: challenges and opportunities

Sope Williams-Elegbe

Professor, Department of Mercantile Law, Stellenbosch University

10:30 Coffee

11:00 Session 3: Breach of SOC board members’ fiduciary duties in the context of public procurement

Peter Volmink

Transnet Executive Manager: Governance, Supply Chain

11:45 Session 4: Framework agreements, transversal procurement and the stipulatio alteri

Geo Quinot, Vice Dean & Professor, Department of Public Law, Stellenbosch University

12:30 Close & light lunch

Attendance is free and open to anyone interested in public procurement law, but seats are limited and it is thus essential to book a seat by sending an email to Kyle Jordaan at kylej@sun.ac.za.

VENUE:

Law Faculty Building room 1028

Corner Ryneveld street and Victoria Street

Stellenbosch

MAPS:

Map

 Click here to download campus map.

Google map to Stellenbosch campus.

Click here to download invitation.

Procurement Law on Three Continents Symposium

On 25 April 2017, APLU hosted a symposium focusing on procurement law on three continents. Two scholars visiting APLU, Proff Christopher Yukins and Andrea Sundstrand, joined APLU’s Proff Geo Quinot and Sope Williams-Elegbe to discuss public procurement law in the United States, European Union, South Africa and within the Multilateral Development Banks, especially as applied in the African context. The symposium was attended by about 50 delegates including postgraduate students, academics in law, public administration and logistics, public officials, legal practitioners and members of the NGO community.

About the speakers:

Prof Christopher R. Yukins,
Lynn David Research Professor in Government Procurement Law; Co-Director of the Government Procurement Law Program, George Washington University School of Law, USA

CYChristopher R. Yukins has many years of experience in public procurement law. He was for several years a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, where he handled trials and appeals involving bid protests and contract claims against the U.S. government.

He teaches on government contract formations and performance issues, bid protests, Contract Disputes Act litigation, and comparative issues in public procurement, and focuses especially on emerging public policy questions in U.S. procurement.

He is an active member of the Public Contract Law Section of the American Bar Association, serves on the steering committee to the International Procurement Committee of the ABA International Law Section, and previously served as the president of the Tysons Corner Chapter of the National Contract Management Association.

He is a faculty advisor to the Public Contract Law Journal, and has contributed pieces on procurement reform, international procurement, electronic commerce and information technology to a broad range of journals, including Washington Technology, Government Contractor, Legal Times, and Federal Computer Week. He has published on procurement reform in scholarly journals, including the Public Contract Law Journal, Georgetown Journal of International Law, and Public Procurement Law Review (United Kingdom).

Together with Professor Steven Schooner, he runs a popular colloquium series on procurement reform at The George Washington University Law School. In private practice, Professor Yukins has been an associate, partner, and of counsel at leading national firms; he is currently of counsel to the firm of Arnold & Porter LLP. He is an advisor to the U.S. delegation to the working group on reform of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Procurement Law, and he teaches and speaks often on issues of comparative and international procurement law.

Prof Andrea Sundstrand

Associate Professor in Public Law, Faculty of Law, Stockholm University, Sweden

AS
Andrea Sundstrand is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at Stockholm University in Sweden. Her primary fields of interest are public procurement, EU-law and administrative law.  She is  a member of the Swedish Bar Association and has previously worked eleven years as a senior legal advisor at the Swedish surveillance authority for public procurement. She has also published a number of books on public procurement and started a Swedish public procurement network for lawyers with over 240 participants and the Procurement Law Journal, an open-access scientific law journal dealing exclusively with issues of public procurement. The overall aim of the journal is to highlight the topic of public procurement law in Academia, both at Swedish universities and at universities in the Nordic countries and in the Baltic countries.

 

Prof Geo Quinot

Vice Dean & Professor, Department of Public Law, Stellenbosch University

GQ2Geo Quinot is Vice Dean in the Faculty of Law and Professor of Law in the Department of Public Law at Stellenbosch University, South Africa; Founding Director of the African Procurement Law Unit (APLU) and Co-Director of the Socio- Economic Rights and Administrative Justice Research Project (SERAJ). He is currently Vice President of the Administrative Justice Association of South Africa. Quinot is also admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. In the Stellenbosch Law Faculty, Prof Quinot mainly teaches administrative law and constitutional law. He also regularly instructs public administrators in both administrative law and public procurement regulation. His research focuses on general administrative law, including a particular focus on the regulation of state commercial activity such as public procurement. He is the author of various articles in academic journals and electronic publications, chapters in book publications and author, co-author and/or editor of five book publications which includes State Commercial Activity: A Legal Framework (2009) Juta & Co and Public Procurement Regulation in Africa (2013) Cambridge University Press (with Professor Sue Arrowsmith). Quinot is a past editor-in-chief of the journal, Stellenbosch Law Review, and a founding editor of the new open-access journal, African Public Procurement Law Journal. Quinot often participates in national and international conferences in his fields of expertise, including on public procurement regulation and legal education. In 2012 and 2013 he served on a ministerial task team in the South African National Department of Health, focusing on the reform of health procurement systems in South Africa. In 2014 he completed an extensive research project for the South African National Treasury on the establishment of the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer and subsequently assisted that Office on reform of the South African public procurement regulatory regime.

Prof Sope Williams-Elegbe

Associate Professor, Department of Mercantile Law, Stellenbosch University

SWE

Prof Sope Williams-Elegbe is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mercantile Law at Stellenbosch University and specialises in public procurement law, anti-corruption law, international economic law and commercial law. She is the author of several publications in the area of corruption and public procurement, including Fighting Corruption in Public Procurement: A Comparative Analysis of Disqualification or Debarment Measures (Hart, UK, 2012). She is an editor of the Journal of African Law(Cambridge University Press) and a reviews editor for the Public Procurement Law Review (Sweet & Maxwell). Sope is also a member of the World Bank’s International Advisory Group on Procurement (IAGP) and has been involved in advising international financial institutions and government bodies on anti-corruption matters. Sope read law at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and subsequently undertook an LLM at the London School of Economics where she graduated with a distinction. She also completed a doctorate degree in public procurement law at the University of Nottingham, UK. Sope has taught law at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the universities of Stirling and Nottingham, both in the UK, and has been a visiting scholar at the Universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Lagos. Sope had her research on public procurement funded by the British Academy in 2006 and 2011. Her research has also been cited by the Constitutional Court of South Africa in Shaik v The State (2008). Her most recent publication is entitled Public Procurement and Multilateral Development Banks (Hart, UK, 2017) and is the first monograph to focus specifically on the procurement law rules of MDBs.

Symposium: Procurement Law on Three Continents – 25 April 2017, Stellenbosch

Legal Aid Clinic Building, Stellenbosch University Law Faculty

PROGRAMME

8:30 Registration & coffee

9:00 Session 1: Public procurement law in the United States

Prof Christopher R. Yukins,
Lynn David Research Professor in Government Procurement Law; Co-Director of the Government Procurement Law Program, George Washington University School of Law, USA

9:45 Session 2: Public procurement law in the EU

Prof Andrea Sundstrand, Associate Professor in Public Law, Faculty of Law, Stockholm University, Sweden

10:30 Coffee

11:00 Session 3: Public procurement law developments in South Africa

Prof Geo Quinot, Vice Dean & Professor, Department of Public Law, Stellenbosch University

11:45 Session 4: Recent developments in Multilateral Development Banks’ public procurement rules

Prof Sope Williams-Elegbe, Associate Professor, Department of Mercantile Law, Stellenbosch University

12:30 Close & light lunch

Attendance is free and open to anyone interested in public procurement law, but seats are limited and it is thus essential to book a seat by sending an email to Kyle Jordaan at kylej@sun.ac.za.

 

The venue

Stellenbosch University Legal Aid Clinic

44 Banhoek Road, Stellenbosch

LAC map