New: Utrecht University Centre for Public Procurement (UUCePP)
The Center for Public Procurement (UUCePP) was established on March 23, 2020. UUCePP 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 a range of innovative training courses and programs for professionals as well as for students.
Interdisciplinary research and education
Many societal questions are not adequately answered due to lack of a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research approach in the field of public procurement.
The UUCePP’s research method - based on the combination of knowledge and insights from different disciplines - enriches and strengthens the relevance of research in this area. Connecting with theories from other disciplines in addition to the legal and the economy, such as history, decision-making sciences and (legal) philosophy, is also one of the ambitions of UUCePP.
PPRC becomes UUCePP
To meet this scientific and societal need, prof. E.R. (Elisabetta) Manunza, professor of European and International Public Procurement Law at Utrecht University, Faculty of Law, Economics, Governance and Organization (REBO) and prof. J. (Jan) Telgen, chaired professor in applied operations research and public procurement (Faculty of Behavioral, Management and Social sciences) at the University of Twente (UT), founded the Public Procurement Research Center (PPRC) in 2013. The center was created as a joint effort of the University of Utrecht (UU) and the University of Twente, with the aim to develop, stimulate and carry out interdisciplinary fundamental and applied research.
After Jan Telgen's university retirement in May 2018, this collaboration was continued through a preferred partnership with the new established PPRC BV. The group of researchers - mainly lawyers - affiliated with the UU subsequently continued with the UU PPRC under the supervision of Prof. Manunza. This new form of academic collaboration reached an high point on September 6, 2019 with the PhD defense of ir. Niels Uenk (Twente and PPRC BV) under the supervision of Prof. Manunza.
With the appointment on 1 December 2019 of dr. Fredo Schotanus as professor on the Public Procurement chair endowed by the Ministeries van Defensie, BZK/DGOO en J&V, Gemeenten Amsterdam & Den Haag, Belastingdienst, Nationale Politie, UBR|HIS, UWV, Stichting Rijk in collaboration with Nevi Research Stichting at the School of Economics (of the Faculty of Law. Economics and Governance), the expertise and knowledge needed for the interdisciplinary approach of the study of public procurement was met within our faculty. By ensuring the possibility for interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of public procurement at the LEG Faculty, the appointment of Schotanus has created the possibility to formally establish the Utrecht University Center for Public Procurement (UUCePP) at both Schools - of Law and of Economy – at the LEG Faculty .
Continuous building on years of experience in societally relevant research and education
UUCePP builds upon the experience and work carried out between 2013 and 2019 by the PPRC research team. This concerns fundamental and applied research commissioned by a wide range of public and private, semi-public institutions, profit and non-profit organizations.
Examples are:
- 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
- the Institute of Safety,
- the RIVM, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment
- the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport
- Confederations of contractors in other EU countries,
- the Labour Foundation,
- several law firms,
- various international companies
- and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland).
In those research projects, PPRC scholars questioned the economic and legal aspects of award methods; how past and present performance works; how to safeguard national security in military defence procurement, more specifically in light of the autonomy of EU member states; how to make the best choice between in-sourcing or out-sourcing; how to realize public-public cooperation; issues of integrity and corruption have also been investigated and questions related to the distribution of automatization schemes and licenses, especially scarce rights; Best Price-Quality-Relationship issues in relation to the set-up of social procurement, how to prescribe social return on investments during a public procurement procedure and methods of performance based commissioning in the social domain (for example relating to Wmo, Youth care and 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 the 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 UCePP’s ‘secretaris’ (secretary).