International procurement training led by the Ministry of Finance, Republic of Maldives (Minister Ibrahim Ameer, pictured below), and coordinated by the U.S. Department of Commerce – Commercial Law Development Program was held in Male, capital of the Maldives, on August 4-5, 2019. Chris Yukins’ slides for the program are included here.
Our colleagues at the Public Procurement Research Group at the University of Nottingham, led by Professors Sue Arrowsmith and Peter Trepte, will be hosting the ninth of their “Global Revolution” conferences on June 17-18. Academics and practitioners from around the globe (including a team from GWU Law School) will join the program for one of the world’s leading conferences on emerging developments in public procurement law.
On April 30, 2019, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division announced revised guidance for assessing corporate compliance systems. The guidance goes to what authorities abroad sometimes call corporate “self-cleaning” — efforts by private firms to identify and remediate improper behavior. (See, for example, Article 57 of European Public Procurement Directive 2014/24/EU.) The new guidance expands on the 2017 guidance (below), and elaborates on the Justice Department’s summary discussion of corporate compliance programs in the Justice Manual § 9-28.800.
As the new guidance suggests, it is generally in accord with prior guidance on corporate compliance systems, such as the guidelines issued by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the guidance published by the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and the UK Ministry of Justice guidance implementing the UK Bribery Act, among many similar guidance documents published by governments and international organizations under recent anti-corruption laws. As the FCPA guidance acknowledges, at page 56 and note 309, requirements for corporate compliance systems are highly uniform around the world.
The new guidance is noteworthy, though, for stressing (at pages 9-12) that a firm with an effective compliance system should maintain a strong compliance function, either in-house or through an outsourced vendor. As companies around the world move to implement compliance systems, they should recognize that enforcement authorities will often expect to see a robust compliance function in place, with the autonomy and authority necessary to address emerging risks of corruption and misconduct.
This is the fourth European conference on e-public procurement organized by the Portuguese Observatory of Technology Foresight (OPET), focusing on the European public procurement directives and their implementation in the European member states through e-procurement. The conference scientific committee is headed by Professor Luis Valaderes Tavares, and the conference program is here.
On March 5, 2019 Christopher Yukins joined a videoconference for King’s College, London’s online diploma course on EU and global procurement law. His slides are below. On April 24, 2020, he joined them for a supplemental class by Zoom videoconference (linked below).
A conversation with
Senior Economist, Chief Trade Economist Unit, European Commission
Most debates over protectionism look only at the direct effects of “Buy National” laws — how do those laws help specific domestic producers, and how do they raise costs and reduce choice?
The European Commission is taking a new approach. Building on other transnational studies, the Commission has undertaken a multi-year effort to assess the economy-wide impact of domestic preferences in procurement. Through this effort, the European Commission will be able to predict the costs, direct and indirect, of new “Buy National” laws around the world.
Please join Zornitsa Kutlina-Dimitrova, a senior trade economist at the European Commission, in an interactive discussion of this important development in international trade.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 6-7 pm
GWU Law Learning Center Room LLC006
Entrance: 2028 G Street NW (next to Tonic Restaurant)
Info: ccrawford@law.gwu.edu, tel. 202 994 8689
Nearest Metro stations: Foggy Bottom and Farragut West
Light refreshments will be served
On May 30, 2019, there will be a conference on U.S. – EU environmental issues in Rome; the program for the colloquium, which will cover issues from climate change to sustainability in procurement, may be downloaded below.
The conference was launched by Dr. Giovanni Antonelli, of the “Sapienza” University of Rome, with the support of Prof. F. Giglioni and Prof. M.V. Ferroni of the University’s Department of Political Science, and the Center for American Studies. Dr. Antonelli writes:
For over the last year we have been thinking how to engage some of the most eminent international experts for empowering our common interest and work towards potential models of sustainable development.
Built upon the shared belief that the current political divide felt over our continents is polarizing and alienating not only our cultures but often it is even estranging groups and movements that have similar values and goals, the “U.S.–E.U. Environmental Law Colloquium” aims to encourage participation and collaboration between American and European Scholars on a regular basis, to share the progress of our researches and to launch new initiatives and projects for the implementation of the environmental policies.
For the organization of this first edition we do want to acknowledge the important role played by the Sapienza University Department of Political Science and by the Center for American Studies of Rome, without whose fundamental support this international project would not have been carried out.
We would like to thank all the speakers who have decided to join our project, with a specific regard to Prof. J. Freeman (Harvard Law School), Prof. M. Gerrard (Columbia Law School), Prof. M. Scanlan (Vermont Law School), Prof. C. Yukins (GWU School of Law) and Prof. J. Dernbach (Widener University).
The all-day colloquium will begin at 9:30 a.m. on May 30, 2019, at the Center for American Studies, Via M. CAETANI, 32, Rome.
For information and reservations: giovanni.antonelli@uniroma1.it
On February 20, 2019, Dr. Colette Langos, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide, made a very interesting presentation at GWU Law School, on developments in Australia’s bid protest procedures. She explained that these latest reforms, outlined in her attached slides, were an important part of Australia’s accession to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement.
Professor Andrea Sundstrand of Stockholm University will be visiting GWU Law School this week to teach on European procurement law.
We will meet in Law Learning Center (LLC) Room 006, 2028 G Street NW (across the street from the main law school building) on the following days and times:
This is a very nice (and rare) opportunity to learn about Europe’s approach to procurement law, first-hand. We hope to see you there.
Further info: cyukins@law.gwu.edu
On April 5, 2019, scholars from Pace University, the University of Copenhagen and George Washington University hosted an all-day roundtable on emerging issues in sustainable public procurement, through Pace University’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law.
The First Annual Transatlantic Roundtable on Sustainable Public Procurement was hosted by:
Researchers and renowned specialists from around the globe discussed recent developments in the field of sustainable public procurement. The global value of public procurement spending is enormous. OECD countries alone spend a total of a trillion U.S. dollars per year, and each year their governments spend around 14-19% of GDP on the purchase of services, works and supplies. In many sectors such as energy, transport, waste management, social welfare, education and health services, public authorities are the principal buyers. The sheer scale of public procurement spending can literally create and shape markets, impact lives of citizens across the country, and foster greater sustainability in terms of environmental protection, public health, and economic equality.
Speakers included:
This event was held at Pace University’s Downtown Campus – 1 Pace Plaza, on the 18th floor in the North and South Boardrooms.
Click here for detailed program information.
Introductions
Jason J. Czarnezki –Kerlin Distinguished Professor and Associate Dean, The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, New York
Marta Andhov – Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law,
University of Copenhagen, Denmark;
Haub Visiting Scholar at Pace University’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law
Session 1 : Does the United States need a sustainable
public procurement legal framework?
U.S. Federal Public Procurement –
A lack of interest in sustainable purchasing? – Steven Schooner,
Nash & Cibinic Professor of Government Procurement Law,
The George Washington University Law School
Do state level and local contracting authorities drive the sustainable procurement agenda in the United States? – Jason J. Czarnezki, Kerlin Distinguished Professor and Associate Dean, The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, New York City
Sustainable Procurement in Local Governments – Nicole Darnall
Associate Dean and Professor, School of Sustainability,
Arizona State University
Session 2: European Union – A leader in sustainable purchasing?
How we got to the Strategic Public Procurement Agenda-Understanding the EU legal framework – Roberto Caranta, Professor of Administrative Law, University of Turin, Italy
All that glitters is not gold – Paradoxes of EU Public Procurement Law –
Marta Andhov, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; Haub Visiting Scholar at the Pace University’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law
The Evolution of Sustainable Procurement in the United Kingdom: From Thatcherism to the Social Value Act and a widening and deepening policy agenda. Where next post-Brexit? – Michael Bowsher QC – Director of the Distance Learning Diploma and Masters in Public Procurement Law at King’s College London; Visiting Professor, Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London; Barrister (Monckton Chambers), England & Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland
Session 3: WTO & UNCITRAL
SPP: International perspectives, including under the UNCITRAL Model Law and the WTO Government Procurement Agreement – Christopher R. Yukins – Professor of Public Procurement Law and Co-Director, Government Procurement Law Program, George Washington University Law School
Sustainable public procurement under the OECD and the multilateral development banks- Carol Cravero, PhD student at the University of Turin, Italy and University of Paris Nanterre (CRDP), France
Sustainable procurement at UNOPS –Benedetta Audia, Corporate Legal Advisor, Head of the Commercial and Institutional Law Practice, Legal Group, United Nations Office for Project Services, New York
Session 4: Selected Countries and Their Experiences
Canadian experience with Sustainable Public Procurement –Paul Emanuelli,General Counsel and Managing Director, Procurement Office, Toronto
Challenges and the future of sustainable public procurement in Poland – Michal Kania, Professor, Silesian University, Poland; Fulbright Visiting Scholar The George Washington University Law School
Brazilian experience with SPP – Luciana Stocco Betiol, Professor – Department of Social and Legal Sciences, São Paulo School of Business Administration – FGV/EAESP