New book - The Internationalization of Government Procurement Regulation

Aris Georgopoulos (Nottingham) together with Bernard Hoekman (EUI, CEPS) and Petros Mavroidis (Columbia Law School) produced the edited volume The Internationalization of Government Procurement Regulation. As the title suggests the book examines the interrelation of the dynamic mix of bilateral, regional, plurilateral and international norms on government procurement, their impact on purchasing practices at the national level and whether these are leading to convergence in policies and approaches. The countries studied span both advanced, high-income economies and emerging economies. Some are members of the WTO government procurement agreement, others are not. Even though at this stage many WTO members have opted not to commit to binding international disciplines on procurement the book explores whether there has been nonetheless internationalization of good procurement practices; it also examines what current public purchasing processes suggest as regards the value added of signing onto binding rules of the game in this area.

The book has a strong focus on identifying the policy lessons and implications based on evidence of the effects of international procurement rules. The approach taken in the book is interdisciplinary. Contributors include economists, political scientists, legal scholars, and practitioners with a solid understanding of both the extant international disciplines and national government procurement policies. Each chapter assesses the current state of play of legislation and procurement practices; the degree to which industrial policy considerations feature in the relevant regulatory frameworks; the existence and use of domestic dispute resolution and review procedures that allow firms to contest the behaviour of procuring entities; and the availability of data on procurement processes and outcomes.