King’s College London and GW Law will be presenting a free webinar on the European Commission’s “White Paper” on foreign government subsidies, which would impose new EU measures to address foreign subsidies, including in public procurement.
Category: European Union
Comment on European Commission White Paper That Could Exclude “Subsidized” Foreign Vendors from EU Public Procurement
In a guest post in the International Economic Law and Policy Blog, Professors Andrea Biondi and Michael Bowsher QC, King’s College London, Professor Christopher Yukins, George Washington University, Dr Luca Rubini, University of Birmingham, and PhD candidate Gabriele Carovano, King’s College London, addressed a European Commission “White Paper” which proposes (among other measures) to exclude foreign competitors from EU procurements if those vendors receive government “subsidies” (very broadly defined) that boost their ability to compete for public contracts in the European Union.
The European Commission’s proposal could harm U.S. vendors that receive support from the U.S. government — such as COVID-19 relief — because European competitors might claim that U.S. firms were receiving barred government subsidies.
The European Commission’s proposal would define government “subsidies” to include any “financial contribution by a government . . . of a non-EU State . . . which confers a benefit to a recipient . . . and which is limited, in law or in fact, to an individual undertaking or industry.” The commentators pointed out the European Commission’s proposal could badly harm U.S. vendors that receive “subsidies” — which some might argue includes CARES Act relief (related to COVID-19) from the U.S. government — in no small part because European competitors could claim that vendors from abroad were receiving subsidies, and thus in effect disable competition from the United States and other nations.
On June 17, 2020, the European Commission published the “White Paper” that called for “levelling the playing field as regards foreign subsidies.” The White Paper has several modules, only one of which (Module 3) addresses public procurement directly. Module 1 would establish a general regulatory instrument to address distortive effects of foreign subsidies, and Module 2 would specifically address distortions caused by foreign subsidies which facilitate the acquisition of EU companies.
The academics submitted their comments to the European Commission as part of the public comment process. While they were generally supportive of Modules 1 and 2, the academic commentators were sharply critical of Module 3, which the Commission described as follows:
Foreign subsidies could also have a harmful effect on the conduct of EU public procurement procedures. This issue is addressed under Module 3. Foreign subsidies may enable bidders to gain an unfair advantage, for example by submitting bids below market price or even below cost, allowing them to obtain public procurement contracts that they would otherwise not have obtained. Under this Module, the White Paper proposes a mechanism where bidders would have to notify the contracting authority of financial contributions received from non-EU countries. The competent contracting and supervisory authorities would then assess whether there is a foreign subsidy and whether it made the procurement procedure unfair. In this case, the bidder would be excluded from the procurement procedure.
The academic commentators noted:
While foreign subsidies may distort the market regarding undertakings (Module 1) and the acquisition of undertakings (Module 2), foreign subsidies in public procurement markets in effect reduce the costs of public services – and so should be separately assessed. Distortions that may be caused by foreign subsidies (displacing higher-cost local producers, for example) are regularly resolved through sustainability measures allowed by the European procurement directives. . . . The framework proposed under the White Paper may . . . displace the legislative regime contemplated by the existing procurement directives, and thus up-end the careful policy decisions that are reflected in those directives.
. . . Module 3 would exclude – disqualify – vendors from public procurements in the European Union, on the grounds that the vendors have received a subsidy from a foreign government. In practical terms the proposal would revise the European Union’s procurement directives by adding an additional ground for exclusion – foreign subsidy – without a normal legislative process. In doing so, the proposal could raise costs for Member States, impair competition in procurement markets across the European Union, open the door to strategic interference by competitors, delay and disrupt ongoing procurements, deprive Member States of best value in their public procurements, and undermine Europe’s relations with key trading partners internationally.
. . . [T]he proposal would defer to the European Union’s obligations under free trade agreements, but assumes – incorrectly – that those obligations are well-defined under instruments such as the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. They are not. For example, the United States covers tens of billions of dollars in preferences by a single sentence in the GPA annexes, which states that the United States’ obligations do not extend to “any set aside on behalf of a small- or minority-owned business.” If the European Commission and Member States, in implementing the proposed measures, read that reservation narrowly and excluded U.S. vendors because other procurement preferences were considered government subsidies not reserved under the GPA, trade relations with the United States and other important trading partners could be badly disrupted.
The White Paper was addressed in a GW Law webinar on EU-U.S. trade, and was discussed in detail in an October 8, 2020 webinar sponsored by Wolters Kluwer, the publishing house. While the public comment period on the White Paper has closed, Eddy De Smijter, Head of the International Relations Unit in DG Competition at the European Commission, made clear during the October 8 session that the Commission continues to welcome informal comments on the proposal.
Webinar – Current Challenges and Opportunities for Green Public Procurement – September 30, 2020
Global challenges related to the climate changes as described in the Paris Agreement influence various aspects of public policies across the world. This leads us to observe in the U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden’ s New Green Deal, and in Europe, where for example the New Industrial Strategy for Europe calls for the support and implementation of the green aspects in public procurement. Also, the New European Green Deal and the Just Transition Fund should have a significant impact on the public procurement market and regulations.
Although Green Public Procurement (GPP) is still a non-mandatory legal instrument, the European Commission has opted for this solution as an effective measure in the EU’s efforts to become a more resource-efficient economy. GPP can help stimulate a critical mass of demand for more sustainable goods and services which otherwise would be difficult to get onto the market.
The new European initiatives are important not only for European public authorities and contractors but also for U.S. enterprises interested in Transatlantic cooperation.
The Institute of Law at the Univeristy of Silesia, Association ‘’Pro Silesia,’’ with the support of the George Washington University’s Government Procurement Program, invite you for a 90-minute, free webinar concerning current challenges and opportunities for green public policies and their influence on public procurement markets in the USA and the European Union, with discussions with leading specialists from both sides of the Atlantic.
Agenda and Speakers:
Prof. Jerzy Buzek, Member of the European Parliament, President of the European Parliament in the years 2009–2012, Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland in the years 1997–2001
New Green Deal and Just Transition Fund
Prof. Alexandra Harrington, University of Albany School of Law, Assistant Director of the Global Institute for Health and Human Rights (USA), Adv. Magdalena Stryja, University of Silesia in Katowice, Just Transition Research Group (Poland)
Intersections between Global Governance Regimes and Climate Change Law
Prof. Christopher Yukins, George Washington University, Washington D.C. (USA)
The U.S. experiences with the support of environmental aspects in government contracting.
Dr Wojciech Hartung – Counsel, Domański Zakrzewski Palinka (DZP) (Warsaw)
European Green Deal and Just Transition Fund reflections on the European Public Procurement legal regime
Adv. Katarzyna Kuzma, DZP, Public Procurement Law Association (Poland)
The support of the green effects in the new Polish Public Procurement Act
Question and Answer Session
Moderator:
Prof. Michał Kania, University of Silesia in Katowice
Speakers Biographies:
Prof. Jerzy Buzek – Member of the European Parliament continuously since 2004, and in the years 2009-2012 – its president. In the European Parliament prof. Buzek is a member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. In 2016, Euractiv recognized him as one of the three most influential people of European energy policy. He was ranked by the Rzeczpospolita daily as the best Polish MEP in 2008 and 2018.
In the years 1997-2001 he served as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland; his government carried out reforms of administration, education, health, pensions and mining. Professor Buzek also introduced Poland to NATO and started negotiations on its membership in the European Union. Knight of the Order of the White Eagle.
Prof. Alexandra Harrington – author of the book International Organizations and the Law and the forthcoming International Law and Global Governance: Treaty Regimes and Sustainable Development Goals Interpretation. Alexandra is the Director of Studies for the International Law Association Colombian branch, a member of the International Law Association Committee on the Role of International Law in Sustainable Natural Resource Management for Development, and an adjunct professor at Albany Law School. She also provides guest lectures globally on topics related to international law, environmental law, global governance and sustainable development. Prof. Harrington has served as a consultant for entities such as the Commission for Environmental Cooperation of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation and UN Environment.
Prof. Harrington’s publications address a variety of fields relating to international law, including environmental law, legal issues relating to climate change, natural resources regulation, international organizations, international human rights law, international child’s rights, international trade law, corporate social responsibility, and criminal law. Prof. Harrington routinely presents her works at domestic and international conferences.
Adv. Magdalena Stryja performs the function of the Chair of the Science and Development Committee with the District Bar Association in Katowice. She is Poland’s first member of the international organization: Centre for International Sustainable and Development Law. Magdalena is a member of the interdisciplinary Polish Research Group Just Transition, which aims at developing and implementing the concept of fair transformation with a view to transforming the economy, lifestyle, culture and social values in Silesia in the face of climate change. She is a member of the University of Silesia-based Bioethics Research Group dealing with legal and bioethical aspects of medicine and animal protection as well as environmental and climate protection. She is also a member of The Labour Law and Social Policy Research Group at the Institute of Legal Sciences at the University of Silesia.
Magdalena delivers lectures on labour law and social policy. Her research interests also encompass legal aspects of climate change, including the social aspects of retraining employees.
Prof. Christopher Yukins – serves as co-director of the government procurement law program at George Washington University Law School, and has taught there on contract formations and performance issues in public procurement, bid protests and claims litigation, state and local procurement, Anti-corruption issues, foreign contracting, procurement reform, and comparative and international law. He has testified on issues of procurement reform and trade before committees of the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament. He is a visiting professor at the Université Paris Nanterre, where he lectures annually, and has taught a week-long course on procurement issues and corruption at the International Anti-Corruption Academy (Austria).
Prof. Yukins has spoken as a guest lecturer at institutions around the world, and he was a contributing editor to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime manual, Guidebook on Anti-Corruption in Public Procurement. He is an active member of the Public Contract Law Section of the American Bar Association, and is a member of the Procurement Roundtable, an organization of senior members of the U.S. procurement community. He is a faculty advisor to the Public Contract Law Journal, is a member of the editorial board of the European Procurement & Public-Private Partnership Law Review and is on the advisory board of The Government Contractor. He has worked on a wide array of international projects on capacity-building in procurement, and he was 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. Together with his colleagues, he runs a colloquium series on procurement reform at The George Washington University Law School. In private practice, Professor Yukins has been an associate, partner and counsel at leading law firms; he is currently counsel to the firm of Arnold & Porter.
Dr Wojciech Hartung – counsel at the Polish law firm Domański Zakrzewski Palinka, advises on infrastructure projects carried out under the Public Procurement Law or using partnership structures, i.e. PPP, concessions and other forms of co-operation between public and private partners, specialises in public-public cooperation (in-house procurement) issues. They have been addressed in his PhD dissertation on the “Independence of a basic local government unit upon the organisation and provision of municipal services in light of European law and Polish legal order’’. Wojciech is a Member of a working group set up by the Ministry of Development to review the law on public-private partnerships and to draw up a government policy in this respect. Until March 2009 dr Hartung acted as the Director of the European Union and International Co-operation Department at the Public Procurement Office. Wojciech was also Polish representative on the European Council’s Working Group on Public Procurement and on the Advisory Committee for Public Works Contracts set up by the European Commission. Wojciech is a member of Public Procurement Law Association.
Adv. Katarzyna Kuzma – partner at the Polish law firm Domański Zakrzewski Palinka and heads the team providing services relating to Polish and European public procurement law. She has extensive experience in advising both public and private entities operating in various sectors (including construction and engineering services, environmental protection, pharmaceutical and energy) on projects carried out in the traditional form (public procurement) and those based on partnership structures in the broad meaning of the term (PPP, concessions).
The advice Katarzyna renders covers all stages of procedures (including representation before the National Appeal Chamber and common courts) and performance of public contracts, including inspections and financial adjustment procedures. She actively promotes implementation of compliance systems in the area of public procurement, with special focus on bid rigging. Katarzyna is also the Vice-President of the Public Procurement Law Association.
Michał Kania – professor at the Silesian University in Katowice, legal adviser with 15 years of experience, member of the Just Transition Research Group. Michał is also an active member of the Public Procurement Association and legal consultant with the specialization in Public-Private Partnership and public procurement law, Visiting Fulbright Scholar at the George Washington University (2018-2019), Fellowship of German Academic Exchange Service at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich (2017), speaker at the Polish and international conferences, initiator and lecturer at the Postgraduate Studies in Public-Private Partnership and Public Procurement at the Silesian University in Katowice, independent adviser for the Polish Ministry of Development for the concept of the new Polish Public Procurement Act, adopted on 11 September 2019, plenipotentiary of the President of the University of Silesia for PPP projects.
Webinar: Opening Online Marketplaces to Government Micro-Purchases — June 30, 2020
Tuesday, June 30, 2020 – 9:00 Pacific, 12:00 Eastern, 18:00 CET
On Tuesday, June 30, 2020, at noon Eastern time, join a free hour-long webinar sponsored by George Washington University Law School’s Government Procurement Program to discuss GSA’s recent contract awards in the “commercial platforms” initiative — contracts estimated to be worth $6 billion annually, which were awarded to Amazon Business and two other online marketplaces.
- Moderator Christopher Yukins (GWU) will introduce GSA’s “commercial platforms” initiative, and discuss potential challenges in implementation.
- Robert Handfield, the Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University, and Director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative, will discuss how the government’s use of commercial platforms could improve the resilience of public supply chains in times of crisis.
- Thomas Kull, professor of supply chain management at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, will review the training that will be needed under this initiative, as non-procurement professionals take on substantial purchasing responsibilities through the new platforms.
- Andrea Patrucco, professor of project and supply chain management at Penn State Beaver, will discuss the potential impact of this initiative in state and local governments, and internationally.
Special guest Roger Waldron, president of the Coalition for Government Procurement (a leading industry association of commercial contractors who sell regularly to the federal government), will join the panel to discuss industry’s perspectives on GSA’s initiative. The Coalition has raised a number of concerns regarding the new commercial platforms initiative, including concerns regarding agency accountability, pricing, supply chain security, counterfeit goods, and market concentration.
The panelists have co-authored a background article for the seminar in the Government Contractor; the piece was published in the days before GSA announced the contract awards. In the article, Professors Christopher Yukins (George Washington University), Robert Handfield (North Carolina State University), Thomas Kull (Arizona State University) and Andrea Patrucco (Penn State University Beaver) discuss key themes for the upcoming webinar: challenges in what is, in essence, a new method of procurement; improvements that the initiative will bring to supply chain resilience; training that will be needed for federal purchasers; and, the possible impacts on procurement markets, both in the United States and abroad.
GSA’s commercial platforms initiative, by opening online marketplaces to federal users’ micro-purchases, could have an enormous impact on broad portions of the federal marketplace. If the challenges can be met—if GSA’s commercial platforms initiative succeeds – it may serve as a model for other public purchasers across the United States, and across the globe.
Webinar — Public Procurement in the Time of COVID-19: A Conversation Between Professor Michal Kania (U. Silesia/Poland) and Professor Christopher Yukins (GWU)
On June 5, 2020, Professors Michal Kania (University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, and a former Fulbright Scholar at GWU Law) and Christopher Yukins joined to discuss lessons learned in procurement from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Webinar – Recovering from the Pandemic: European Initiatives, U.S. Perspectives – 14 May 2020
Thursday, May 14, 2020 – 9:00 Eastern US – 14:00 UK – 15:00 CET
Register here
The European Union has launched important initiatives in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in joint procurement and funding innovation to drive the recovery. In the United States, governments’ initial response was marred by fierce competition between federal and state governments for critical medical supplies. But U.S. governments have a long tradition of joint procurement (called “cooperative purchasing”) among governments, and in funding innovation through various initiatives including the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. International organizations, including the United Nations, have also played an important part in coordinating international relief efforts in procurement.
Join a free hourlong webinar held through George Washington University Law School’s Government Procurement Program and the University of Turin’s School of Management and Economics, to discuss the European Union and its member states’ initiatives, and U.S. and transnational perspectives. Experts will present the European initiatives, with commentary from U.S.-based businesspeople, attorneys and academics with long experience in cross-border procurement and innovation through public procurement.
Program Slides – PDF
Background Article for Webinar
Panelists
- Lucian Cernat, Chief Trade Economist, European Commission – welcoming remarks.
- Bertrand Wert, PhD, Innovation Maker for the European Innovation Council, Accelerator, in the Business Acceleration Services team, where he has been in charge since 2015 of supporting innovative SMEs that are members of the Accelerator to gain access to public and private procurers of innovation. The EIC Accelerator programme supports the most innovative European SMEs, via grants and equity, to commercialise their innovative solutions and to look for investors. Bertrand worked from 2009 to 2015 for Directorate General GROW of the European Commission, in the team developing the “Innovation Union” strategy. Meanwhile, piloting demand-driven policy interventions, he managed several public procurement networks or “buyers’ groups” of innovation (Pre-Commercial Procurement & Public Procurement of Innovation).
- Jekaterina Novikova is Innovation Policy Coordinator at the European Commission, Directorate General for Research and Innovation in the newly created European Innovation Council Task Force. Her areas of responsibility include innovation procurement and the connection of innovation ecosystems under the Horizon Europe program. An EU official since 2005, she spent five years in management positions implementing FP-7 and Horizon 2020 research projects. As an EU fellow, she spent the academic year 2018-2019 in the US, at the University of California, Berkeley where she conducted research on how the US government, universities and industry facilitate the transition of research results to market. Jekaterina is a Certified Chartered Accountant and holds an MA in European Affairs from Lund University, Sweden.
- Ivo Locatelli, Senior Expert–Team Leader in innovation procurement at the European Commission (DG GROW (Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs)). Ivo has written on innovative procurement in the European Union, and will draw on his assessment of Europe’s experience to discuss next steps in joint procurement among the member states.
- Stephan Corvers (s.corvers@corvers.com), managing director of Corvers Procurement Services (Netherlands), a private company which has been operating in the field of European procurement since 2000. Corvers has been involved in a wide range of procurement projects, relating to new markets, new products or services, new distribution channels, and new technology. Corvers is a contractor for the EAFIP-initiative of the European Commission.
Discussants
- Benedetta Audia, United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) as Corporate Legal Advisor, where she heads the commercial and institutional law practice and has played a lead role in UNOPS’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She is an adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School, a Visiting Professor of Public International Law at LUISS Guido Carli University. She holds a Juris Doctor degree in Public International Law and two Masters Degrees (in Corporate Law and Legal Advanced World Studies).
- Justin Kaufman, General Counsel, NASPO ValuePoint, leading U.S. publicly led “cooperative purchasing” vehicle, coordinated through the National Association of State Procurement Officers (NASPO) and used by all 50 states and hundreds of local governments across the United States. Justin has worked for many years in cooperative purchasing in the United States, and was a contributing author to Joint Public Procurement and Innovation: Lessons Across Borders (G. Racca & C. Yukins, eds., 2019).
- Thomas Hendrix, Managing Partner, Decisive Point, a venture advisory and investment firm focused on advanced technology. Tommy works regularly with emerging companies in the SBIR program, building innovative solutions for government. Tommy served in the US Army for nearly 10 years as a Ranger, Green Beret, and Commander in a counter-terrorism response force. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS in Law and Legal Systems from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and is a candidate for a Master of Studies in Law at George Washington University. Prior research he has done on improving innovation in government-funded research and development is here.
Moderators
Professors Gabriella Racca (University of Turin) and Christopher Yukins (George Washington University
A special note to the international procurement community — the World Bank needs your help in its worldwide survey of emergency procurement practices for the COVID-19 pandemic, available here
Past Webinars
- COVID-19: Contractors’ Road to Recovery – May 6, 2020
- Government Contracting – Emerging Issues – April 23, 2020
- Protectionism in the Pandemic – April 21, 2020
- Fighting Fraud in COVID-19 Sourcing – April 9, 2020
- Straight Talk: Emergency Procurement in the Pandemic – April 2, 2020
- Public Contracts and the Coronavirus – March 24, 2020
Protectionism in a Pandemic: Does It Make Sense?
The first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic brought a new wave of trade controls, as countries imposed new barriers against trade in vital supplies such as masks and ventilators. Now as the COVID-19 pandemic enters its next phase – as the disease recedes in some populations, and attacks others with new ferocity – a simple but critical question has come into focus: do trade barriers make sense in a pandemic?
One striking aspect of the pandemic has been the global supply chain needed for supplies essential to fight the virus. In an April 2020 report, the World Trade Organization highlighted the global sources for medical supplies, and the World Health Organization and other international organizations have stressed the need for international cooperation in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Concerns over new protectionism in the United States arose earlier this year, when the Trump administration signaled that the United States might withdraw from the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) in response to a GAO study which suggested that European exporters enjoy lop-sided access to the federal procurement market. Lucian Cernat and Zornitsa Kutlina-Dimitrova, trade economists at the European Commission, have responded that the U.S.-EU trade balance in procurement, if read broadly, is actually much more favorable to the United States.
Robert Anderson (previously at the WTO) has pointed out that leaving the GPA could do permanent damage to the postwar trade regime in procurement, and Jean Heilman Grier (a former staffer at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative who has written extensively on the GPA) has argued that leaving the GPA could severely disadvantage the United States in future trade negotiations. [Editor’s note: Robert Anderson’s assessment of the flexibilities already available to member parties in times of crisis is available here: Keeping markets open while ensuring due flexibility for governments in a time of economic and public health crisis: the role of the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA).] The U.S. business community (including the National Foreign Trade Council) has also lodged strong objections to leaving the GPA. Perhaps as a result of the many voices of opposition, the Trump administration’s initiative to leave the GPA has quieted, at least for now.
Another potential Trump administration initiative would impose new trade controls to force pharmaceutical companies to bring their production to the United States. This initiative, long pressed by senior White House trade advisor Peter Navarro, appears to have faded as well.
The Trump administration instead took a focused approach to trade controls, when on April 10, 2020 the Federal Emergency Management Agency imposed export controls under the Defense Production Act on personal protection equipment, including certain masks and gloves. At the same time, companies such as 3M were being savaged by President Trump for shipping emergency supplies abroad, even when (as 3M made clear) those shipments might be critical to other countries’ efforts to fight the pandemic.
But even the Trump administration’s most aggressive export controls, such as those aimed at Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and other sanctioned nations, will not necessarily block life-saving supplies. As Tom McSorley and his colleagues have pointed out, exceptions built into the U.S. export regime will still allow humanitarian supplies to reach Iran and other nations under U.S. sanctions. The FEMA ban on exports of PPE also allows for exceptions – under FEMA’s approval – for humanitarian purposes, Tom McSorley and his colleagues have noted. [Editor’s update: FEMA’s exceptions to the export ban — including a blanket exception for shipments to Canada and Mexico — are published in draft form here.]
Even more striking was the Trump administration’s decision to waive certain import controls – long the heart of Trump’s “Buy American” rhetoric – on vital items in short supply, from N95 masks to bleach. In normal times, the U.S. General Services Administration, which runs “schedule” contracts used by federal agencies for tens of billions of dollars in annual sales, complies with the Trade Agreements Act (TAA) by banning supplies from countries that have not entered into free trade agreements with the United States (“non-TAA” countries). Because of acute shortages in fighting the pandemic, however, GSA has temporarily lifted that ban for certain supplies. [Editor’s note: Jean Grier’s summary of this development is at Perspectives on Trade: ‘US Temporarily Lifts Procurement Ban’] The Trump administration’s abrupt volte face suggests that trade controls can raise dangerous barriers in times of crisis.
Even more striking was the Trump administration’s decision to waive certain import controls – long the heart of Trump’s “Buy American” rhetoric – on federal procurements of vital items in short supply
U.S. trade controls in the pandemic are part of a broader trend around the world, as nations try to reshape trade flows to husband supplies needed to address the COVID-19 disease. Those trade controls, which Simon Evenett of the University of St. Gallen calls “sickening-thy-neighbor” measures, raise serious humanitarian and political questions now that some countries no longer need equipment that is desperately sought in other nations. With the pandemic receding, New York will now share ventilators it no longer needs with Maryland and Ohio; should the United States do the same for Senegal, or for new hotspots such as Sweden? And what role should international institutions, such as the WTO, the World Bank and the OECD, play in facilitating international cooperation rather than trade barriers – global cooperation, as Laurence Folliot Lalliot has argued, that will be needed to save lives. (An update: EU Commissioner Phil Hogan on April 16, 2020 called for a temporary international ban on tariffs for vitally needed COVID-19 supplies, and made clear that European Union cannot “on-shore” its manufacturing in the long term — it will continue to rely on an international supply chain for key medical supplies.)
Solving that puzzle – weighing protectionism in the pandemic – may require a new set of policy metrics. Zornitsa Kutlina-Dimitrova of the European Commission has argued that trade restraints make little sense when weighed against the secondary economic effects (e.g., the industrial atrophy, the isolation from innovation) that trade controls cause. Her research bears special attention now, when human lives – not just dollars – weigh in the balance.
Editor’s note: Join a free GW Law webinar on Tuesday, April 21, 2020 at 9:00 ET/14:00 UK/15:00 CET/21:00 CST. Simon Evenett, Robert Anderson, Jean Heilman Grier, Tom McSorley and Zornitsa Kutlina-Dimitrova (invited) will convene before a worldwide audience to discuss “Protectionism in the Pandemic.” The program will be moderated by Laurence Folliot Lalliot, Vanessa Sciarra of the NFTC and Christopher Yukins. Program information and registration.
Fighting Fraud in COVID-19 Sourcing – Webinar – April 9, 2020
A new threat has emerged in the pandemic: fraud in the supply chain for critical COVID-19 supplies. Governments the world over are fighting back against price gouging and defective supplies. What tools are available, and will they work? Join a free one-hour webinar with GW Law, as experts discuss these critical global developments in anti-corruption and procurement.
April 9, 2020, 9 am ET/15:00 CET/21:00 CST
Presented with the kind cooperation of the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA)
Register here
Panelists
Michael Bowsher QC – Monckton Chambers / King’s College, London (London)
Thomas Hendrix – GW Law / Decisive Point (New York)
Aris Georgopoulos — University of Nottingham (United Kingdom)
Rocco Burdo, Head, Analysis and Research Section, Intelligence Office, Anti-Fraud and Controls Department, Customs and Monopolies Agency (Italy)
Jessica Tillipman — GW Law (Washington)
Mihály Fazekas – Central European University (Budapest) DIGIWIST Report
Paul Whittaker – OECD (Paris) OECD – Corruption in Procurement
Moderators: Christopher Yukins, GW Law School (Washington); Jean-Bernard Auby (Professor emeritus, Sciences Po Law School (Paris)); Gabriella Racca (University of Turin); Laurence Folliot Lalliot (University of Paris Nanterre (joining from Dakar))
Resources on COVID-19 and Public Procurement
Previous Webinars
Public Contracts and the Coronavirus – Online Colloquium – March 24, 2020
The international procurement community is grappling with the COVID-19 coronavirus and its effects. To learn from procurement leaders in Europe and the United States how agencies and contractors are responding, GW Law held a free online colloquium (Zoom webinar) on Tuesday, March 24, 2020, at 12 noon ET.
Click here to register
Session recording available here or by clicking below
Topics
- Emergency procurement in Europe
- U.S. preparation and workforce issues
- Work stoppages and delays under the Federal Acquisition Regulation
- Claims and supply chain impacts in the U.S.
- Healthcare, grants and new contracting opportunities under stimulus legislation
Panelists
- Mario Comba (U. Turin/Piedmont Regional Purchasing Authority)
- Gian Luigi Albano (CONSIP – Rome – centralized purchasing agency)
- Michelle Coleman (Crowell & Moring – on preparations and workforce)
- J. Ryan Frazee (Wiley – on work stoppages and delays)
- Kristen Ittig (Arnold & Porter – on claims and supply chain impacts)
- Ellen Bonner (Epstein Becker – on healthcare and grants)
Moderators: Professors Christopher Yukins (GW Law) and Gabriella Racca (U. Turin).
Times
- Pacific US – 9:00
- Mountain US – 10:00
- Central US – 11:00
- Eastern US – 12 noon
- United Kingdom/Ireland – 16:00
- Central European – 17:00
Please note that the U.S. had already experienced a seasonal time change; Europe had not.
Resources on COVID-19 and Public Procurement
European and Australian Defense Procurement — Legal Perspectives
Wednesday, February 19, 2020, 9 am – GWU Law Learning Center – Room LLC006 – 2028 G Street NW
Join Andrea Sundstrand (Stockholm University) and Colette Langos (University of Adelaide) to discuss developments in Europe and Australia in defense procurement. Professor Sundstrand will discuss how defense procurement is treated under European law, including under the leading decisions of the Court of Justice for the European Union. Colette Langos will present a “snapshot” of the law and policy landscape surrounding Australian defense procurement. The session is free, and light refreshments will be served.
