In this presentation, I stress the need to carry on with efforts to achieve higher levels of digitalisation and sustainability in procurement, despite the challenges and reallocation of resources required by the reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. The (not to be) forgotten
priorities of procurement
Prof Albert Sanchez-Graells
Professor of Economic Law
ICEL/Eversheds Sutherland Public
Procurement Law Conference
Bristol/Dublin, 15 October 2020

2. Goal
To try to keep an eye on the big(ger) picture
during these COVID-19 times and stress the
importance of (continuing to) pursue
sustainability in procurement, in particular
through harnessing digital technologies

3. Where were we pre-
COVID

4. Strategic
procurement
European Commission, ‘Making Procurement
work in and for Europe’ COM(2017) 572 final
• Need to facilitate and to further uptake of
strategic procurement, including SPP
• Proposals mostly geared towards
guidance, standardized solutions &
sharing of best practices

5. European Green
Deal
‘The European Green Deal’ COM(2019)640 final
Placed new emphasis on leveraging
procurement expenditure to achieve
environmental / sustainability goals
Detailed proposals still pending, including
minimum mandatory green criteria

6. Procurement
digitalisation
This is another strategic priority for the European Commission
Not only for procurement’s sake, but also in the context of the
wider strategy to create an AI-friendly regulatory environment and
to use procurement as a catalyst for innovations of broader
application – along lines of entrepreneurial State (Mazzucato, 2013)

7. Interesting
experiences
This is an area where eg the EBRD
has been supporting interesting leap-
frogging projects on e-Procurement
(eg in Ukraine (ProZorro) and
Moldova (MTender)

8. A vision for the future
Procurement X.0 “New technologies provide the
possibility to rethink fundamentally
the way public procurement, and
relevant parts of public
administrations, are organised.
There is a unique chance to
reshape the relevant systems and
achieve a digital transformation.”
European Commission,
COM(2017) 572 fin at 11
So far, eProcurement has largely
consisted in digitalising paper-
based processes
This is an enabler for the
deployment of more advanced
digital technologies

9. Sustainable digital
procurement
The combined strategic goal / ideal would
be to harness the potential of digital
technologies to promote (more)
sustainable procurement
This is a difficult exercise, surrounded by
uncertainty, so the rest of this
presentation is all speculation

10. Then, COVID-19 hit

11. Extremely urgent =
unsustainable?
So far, the sad answer is (largely) yes
However, the bigger problem is not
necessarily the negative short-term
impact, but the longer term effect re:
• COVID-related implementation delays
• Post-COVID recovery plans

12. COVID-related implementation
delays
One of the challenges of using digital technologies in procurement—regarding
sustainability, or anything else—is access to data
There are a number of ongoing initiatives at EU level
• B2G data sharing (applicable? right now)
• Open Data Directive (transposition deadline 17 July 2021, but requires
important decisions re high-value datasets foreseen for 2021)
• eForms (applicable 14 November 2022, adaptation deadline 25 October 2023)
I have argued that more needs to be done to also generate backward-looking
databases

13. COVID-related implementation
delays
I think one would be forgiven for doubting that any of that will be
delivered on time in the current context
• Reduced capacity in procurement teams
• COVID-related displacement of data and IT skills in public sector
/ available to the public sector
• Reduced capacity for consultation and more space for capture
by ‘digital tech entrepreneurs’, especially closer to deadlines

14. Post-COVID recovery
plans
Channelling economic support and recovery packages through
procurement will be
• Hindered by the unavoidable tensions between short-termist
economic interventions and long-term (more) sustainable
choices
• Constrained by existing shortages in digital skills
• Potentially (very) limited by the cumulative negative effect of
COVID-19 on public debt, despite new EU mechanisms in place

15. How to break the
impasse?

16. Where to throw the
money?
There is a clear need for more resources. It is
not ‘simply’ a problem of how much money to
throw at the problem, but where to throw it
I would argue that more needs to be done to
expand the capacity of the in-house public
procurement function in terms of
• Data scientists
• ‘Proper’ scientists

17. The role of practitioners
To the extent it is possible, this should not be left to policy-makers
(only) and the entire procurement community should push in the
same direction
It is easier (relatively) to do regarding ‘non-tech’ support for
sustainability goals
Regarding data, there is perhaps an opportunity to influence
domestic transposition in the face of limited public resources

18. Don’t let it be
tomorrow’s problem
Forgetting the longer-term challenges
can only perpetuate the need to be in
‘extremely urgent’ procurement and
inadequate policy-making
We can’t afford that!

19. Further reading –
COVID-19
Sanchez-Graells, A, “Procurement in the time of COVID-19” (2020) 71(1) Northern Ireland
Legal Quarterly 81-87. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3570154.
Sanchez-Graells, A, “Procurement and Commissioning during COVID-19: reflections and
(early) lessons” (2020) Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, forthcoming.
https://ssrn.com/abstract=3709746.

20. Further reading – Digital tech
Sanchez-Graells, A, “Data-driven procurement governance: two well-known elephant tales”
(2019) 24(4) Communications Law 157-170. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3440552.
Sanchez-Graells, A, “Some public procurement challenges in supporting and delivering
smart urban mobility: procurement data, discretion and expertise”, in M Finck, M Lamping,
V Moscon & H Richter (eds), Smart Urban Mobility – Law, Regulation, and Policy, MPI
Studies on Intellectual Property and Competition Law (Springer 2020) forthcoming.
https://ssrn.com/abstract=3452045.
Sanchez-Graells, A, “EU Public Procurement Policy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution:
Pushing and Pulling as One?”, Working Paper for the YEL Annual Conference 2019 ‘EU
Law in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution’. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3440554.

21. Further reading – Sustainability
Schooner, S L and Speidel, M, “‘Warming Up’ to Sustainable Procurement” (2020) 60(10)
Contract Management 32. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3697429.
Sanchez-Graells, A, “Digital Technologies, Public Procurement and Sustainability: Some
Exploratory Thoughts” (2019) SSRN working paper. http://ssrn.com/abstract=3482341.

22. Thank you for your
attention & stay in
toucha.sanchez-graells@bristol.ac.uk