Public contracts are more and more concluded following (pre-contractual) competitive tendering procedures that are governed by public procurement law. In some legal systems, including Dutch law, both public procurement law as well as general law of obligations are simultaneously applicable to the pre-contractual stage of the contract. In the event that conflicts between the contracting authority and one of the tenderers arise during that stage, questions on the interaction between public procurement law and the law of obligations may arise. This project seeks to identify and answer these questions, in order to take away legal uncertainties and to diminish (unnecessary) transaction costs of tendering procedures. Its further goal is to contribute to the body of knowledge on the general issue of interaction between multiple systems of legal rules.
The Centre
The Centre for Public Contract Law & Governance is an expert centre of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. It focuses on government contracts, public procurement, distributing scarcity, public-private legal relationships, semi-public entities, and distribution of responsibilities on the market.
