prof. dr. W.A. (Willem) Janssen is an Associate Professor in European and Dutch Public Procurement Law at the law department of Utrecht University, and a researcher at the Centre for Public Procurement (UUCePP) and the Centre for Regulation and Enforcement in Europe (RENFORCE). He is a Professor of Public Procurement law and holds the Endowed Chair of the Dutch Association for Public Procurement Law at the Faculty of Law, Groningen University. 

Research 'Public Procurement (Law) for Good'
His line of research 'Public Procurement (Law) for Good' delves into challenging questions related to sustainable and responsible outsourcing and insourcing in the public procurement (law) context. How can effective regulation come into effect in light of sustainable development? This research focus touches upon issues related to the influence of EU public procurement law on the organisation of public tasks on the national level (in-house, public cooperation, make-or-buy decision etc.) and the stimulation of societal value via public procurement procedures (social policy, social enterprises, right to challenge, social entrepreneurship etc).

His work has been published in various international and Dutch academic journals, including Public Procurement Law Review, European Public-Private Partnership & Procurement Law Review, Utrecht Law Review, Tijdschrift Aanbestedingsrecht, Jurisprudentie Aanbestedingsrecht, Tekst & Commentaar, and Tijfschrift voor Staatssteun. In 2018, he published his monologue on the influence of EU public procurement law on self-organisation by public authorities (reviewed in Tijdschrift Aanbestedingsrecht & Staatssteunrecht, SEW and C.M.L.R.). 

He is a board member (academic secretary) of the interdisciplinary Utrecht University Centre for Public Procurement (UUCePP) en co-initiator of the university-wide Platform 'The Transactional State' within the research theme Institutions for Open Societies (IoS). He is co-initiator of the research project 'Public Interest Ecosystems' within RENFORCE. He is also a member of the EU-wide researchnetwork 'European Procurement Law Group'.

He was a Visiting Scholar at The George Washington University's Government Procurement Program in Washington D.C. in 2014 and at Copenhagen University in 2020/21, and has been priviledged to present his research at various universities and societal stakeholders, including the European Commission, Global Revolution Conference, the European Environmental Law Forum and at Oxford University, Nottingham University, Turin University, Dublin University, Leiden University, Maastricht University, Finnish Public Procurement Association, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, the Dutch Public Procurement Association, the Dutch Parliament, VNO-NCW and Mkb Nederland, Municipality of Utrecht, the Vereniging Nederlandse Gemeenten, and the Circular Economy Lab.

Teaching
At the univeristy, he lectures public procurement law, competition law, and European law. He is the coordinator of the master Law and Sustainability in Europe and initiated the master course ‘Societally Responsible Public Procurement’ since 2017. Additionally, he coordinates executive courses on public procurement law specifically for lawyers, public purchasers and policy-makers, such as 'Aanbestedingsrecht voor de Inkooppraktijk' and various other in-house courses. In 2018 and 2020, he was short-listed for ‘Best Lecturer of the Year’. In 2020, he founded together with prof. dr. Marcel Ruygvoorn the Utrecht Law Clinic.

Other activities
On 1 September 2022, he was appointed by the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate as the chair of the Advisory Committee Proportionality Guide. Since 2019, he founded and co-hosts the first Dutch and English monthly freely available podcast 'Bestek - de Aanbestedingspodcast', is an editor of Tijdschrift Aanbestedingsrecht (since 2019), was a monthly columnist at Gemeente.nu on the relationship between government and market (2018-2020) and is a board member of the Dutch Association for Public Procurement law (NVvA) since 2017. The podcast project was nominated for the Societal Impact Award 2019 of Utrecht University. In 2015, his joint research with prof. E.R. Manunza led to questions in the Dutch Parliament. In 2018, a commitee that he chaired advised the State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate on clustering of contracts, who followed all of the recommendations. Prior to 2016, he was a member of the NEVI and NVvA committees that were in charge of preparing for the EU public procurement directives of 2014. He enjoys engaging informally on public procurement issues on a daily basis on Twitter and LinkedIn. 

Research interests
(EU) Public Procurement Law | Sustainability I Social justice I EU law I Internal market law I In-house and public-public cooperation I Societally Responsible outsourcing and insourcing

Contact
Email: w.a.janssen@uu.nl
Twitter: @willemajanssen
LinkedIn: @willemajanssen
EN/NL Podcast: www.bestek-procurement.com