New: Utrecht University Centre for Public Procurement (UUCePP)

The Center for Public Procurement (UUCePP) was established on March 23, 2020. This center is an interdisciplinary research center in the field of procurement law and public procurement. The aim is to contribute to better regulation, stimulation and social and sustainable utilization of the public procurement market. The UUCePP team carries out scientific and applied interdisciplinary research and provides innovative education, also for a variety of market parties and (semi-) public institutions.

Interdisciplinary research and education

Because multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research in the field of procurement and public procurement is often lacking, many questions with which society is struggling are not adequately answered.

This research method enriches and strengthens the relevance of research in the field of procurement and public procurement. However, connecting with theories from other disciplines such as history, decision-making sciences and (legal) philosophy is an ambition of UUCePP.

PPRC becomes UUCePP

To meet this scientific and societal need, Prof. E.R. (Elisabetta) Manunza, Professor of European and International Procurement Law at Utrecht University, Faculty of Law, Economics, Governance and Organization (REBO) and Prof. J. (Jan) Telgen, professor by special appointment of Decision-making and Procurement Management (Faculty of Behavioral, Management and Social sciences) at the University of Twente (UT), the Public Procurement Research Center (PPRC). The center was created as a partnership between the two universities, the University of Utrecht (UU) and the University of Twente, with the aim to map, stimulate and carry out interdisciplinary fundamental and applied research in this field.

After Jan Telgen retired in May 2018, the collaboration with him and the employees of PPRC BV continued through a preferred partnership. The group of researchers - mainly lawyers - affiliated with the UU subsequently continued with the UU PPRC under the supervision of Prof. Manunza. The substantive collaboration between UU PPRC and PPRC BV took shape under the new circumstances in September 2019 with the defense of the PhD of ir. Niels Uenk under the supervision of Prof. Manunza as supervisor.

With the appointment on 1 December 2019 of Dr. Fredo Schotanus as professor by special appointment of Public Procurement at the Department of Economics of the Faculty of REBO, the necessary expertise and knowledge has been provided for the interdisciplinary study of procurement and procurement in the public sector - from legal and economic point of view - within our faculty. Now that interdisciplinarity at UU has been guaranteed by the arrival of this new professor, UU PPRC is being reappointed to Utrecht University Center for Public Procurement (UUCePP). This will give the center an institutional place within two departments of REBO, both within the Department of Law and the Department of Economy.

Continuous building on years of experience in societally relevant research and education

We would like to remind you that between 2013 and 2019 the researchers active in the PPRC carried out fundamental and applied research for a wide range of public and private clients, semi-public institutions, profit and non-profit organizations.

For example

• the Ministries of Defence, Interior and Kingdom Relations, Justice and Security, Economic Affairs,
• the Royal Netherlands Air Force,
• the National Police,
• Municipalities and water authorities and their joint ventures,
• the Institute of Safety,
• the RIVM,
• Confederations of contractors in other EU countries,
• the Labour Foundation,
• several law firms,
• various international companies
• and the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland.

In those studies, we studied (among other things) what the economic and legal aspects of award methodologies are; how fits and present performance works; what is possible in procurement and procurement in the defense and security sector in light of the autonomy of EU member states and national security; how to realize procurement structures and other forms of public cooperation; issues of integrity and corruption have also been investigated and methods of distributing scarce rights; Best Price-Quality-Relationship issues in relation to the organization of social procurement and social return and methods of result-oriented purchasing and commissioning in the social domain (Wmo, Youth care, Debt restructuring).

The researchers at UUCePP look forward to continue contributing to the center's mission through better interdisciplinary research and education in the coming years: better regulation, stimulation and social and sustainable utilisation of the public procurement market.

Organisation

The UUCePP is headed by prof. mr. dr. E.R. (Elisabetta) Manunza, professor of International and European Public Procurement Law and prof. dr. ir. Fredo Schotanus, professor by special appointment of Public Procurement, both working at teh faculty of Law, Economics and Governance at Utrecht University. Respectively at the Department of Law and at the Department of Economy. Mr. dr. W.A. (Willem) Janssen is secretary to UCePP.