prof. mr. dr. W.A. (Willem) Janssen

prof. mr. Willem Janssen teaches the master course Sustainable Public Procurement Law (in Dutch).

Sustainable Public Procurement Law
Every year, over 250.000 public authorities in the EU spend around 14-19% of the EU GDP on the procurement of services, works and supplies. This amounts to a staggering 120 billion in the Netherlands alone. The purpose of these public procurement procedures in, for instance, healthcare, construction and IT, is to create as much societal value as possible. A substantial part of society is, thus, directly shaped by these procedures.

Public procurement is regulated within the context of the internal market. The Public Procurement Directives and the Dutch Public Procurement Act 2012 contain procedural rules based on the principles of equality, transparency and proportionality, aiming to overcome discrimination of foreign bidders. Public procurement is also increasingly regulated by environmental legislation that imposes obligations to procure sustainable outcomes instead of low-cost purchases. On top of this, geopolitical developments, including the war in Ukraine, also further influence procurement. Based on reflections from academia and inspired by practice, this course aims to create an understanding and discussion of public procurement law.

The leitmotiv of the discussions during this course is shaped by pressing societal challenges like climate change and social inequality. Given its substantial economic value, public procurement is seen as a lever to achieve sustainability objectives in the EU Green Deal and Sustainable Development Goal nr. 12.7. This course investigates how public procurement law can/should be interpreted, how tensions exist between its economic foundations and sustainability objectives, and how they be resolved through effective legal solutions within the social market economy.

Learning objectives
After successfully completing this course, students:

- are able to analyze and discuss the objectives, principles and rules of European and Dutch public procurement law;
- are aware of the legal, economic and policy context of this field of law, amongst other things, in light of climate change and social inequality;
- are able to independently analyze and solve public procurement law cases in which, for instance, sustainability considerations create legal tension(s) with the economic foundations of the internal market;
- have further developed their writing skills by means of a written paper assignment about a specific topic within the theme of sustainable public procurement law.

Period: 2a
Description Ocasys: https://ocasys.rug.nl/current/catalog/course/RGMEE00006