Sue Arrowsmith

In the World Trade Organization regime, government procurement is largely excluded from the multilateral agreements. The "plurilateral" WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, with its challenging accession procedures and limited number of signatories, cannot be said to succeed in its efforts to liberalize this area of trade activity - more than 10 per cent of gross domestic product in most countries. This study investigates the special sensitivities of government procurement that have left major trade barriers intact despite the WTO mandate that has proven so effective in other areas. Professor Arrowsmith examines the following crucial factors in depth: why and how procurement practices create barriers to trade; the institutional structure for dealing with government procurement in the GATT/WTO system; the impact of relevant WTO law on national legal systems; the types of contracts and entities covered in the Agreement on Government Procurement; how the National Treatment principle and the Most Favored Nation obligation affect government procurement; rules of WTO contract award procedure and the controversy over their interpretation and revision; the free trade versus social and environmental issues question in the context of government procurement; and the monitoring and enforcement of WTO procurement rules. Throughout the presentation the author focuses on specific issues to illuminate the overall pattern of her legal analysis. For example, practical questions stemming from such activities as multi-phase tendering and electronic procurement are raised for special scrutiny. The legal literature of the WTO and its jurisprudence are frequently brought into Professor Arrowsmith's arguments.

Because of its enormous economic power and susceptibility to corruption, public procurement - the purchase by government of goods and services - has come under increasing regulation as world trade expands. Three international leaders in public procurement law fully explain how the procurement award process must be managed to achieve its goals in global market economy. This work should educate government officials, trade lawyers, and students in how to comply with existing and emerging regulatory schemes as they: select a contractor and plan the contract, with detailed attention to terms, conditions and specifications; allow for national security, national industrial development, and environmental protection; get value for money and avoid waste of public funds; publicize contracts; combat corruption; secure successful completion of contracts; balance pressures to buy from domestic sources with the economic benefits of international competition; harness procurement power to promote social and environmental goals; enforce compliance with public procurement rules; and recognize circumstances under which discretion-based (rather than rules-based) initiatives may be more effective.

The title of this book reflects the enormous changes that have occurred in the legal regulation of public purchasing in the 1990's. These changes have two main drivers. The first is the implementation of national reform programmes in public procurement, especially in developing countries and those countries making the transition from planned to market economies, which have been encouraged by international institutions such as the World Bank and UNCITRAL. The second is the efforts that have been made to open up government procurement markets to international trade, both through regional agreements and globally through the World Trade Organization. These agreements have required many states to modify their national procurement rules or to introduce regulation in procurement for the first time. This book brings together experts from academia, practice and the international institutions to describe the major global developments that have occurred in public procurement regulation, and to examine some of the key current policy issues. The book covers both the domestic and international perspectives on regulation, and also examines the relationship between them. Topics covered include the UNCITRAL Model Law and its influence on procurement reform; problems of reform in developing and transition economies; World Bank procurement procedures; the implications of information technology for procurement regulation; the challenge of widening participation in global and regional agreements and of making these agreements work; regulating defence procurement; and the use of procurement to promote social and environmental policies.