The title of this book reflects the enormous changes that have occurred in the legal regulation of public purchasing in the 1990's. These changes have two main drivers. The first is the implementation of national reform programmes in public procurement, especially in developing countries and those countries making the transition from planned to market economies, which have been encouraged by international institutions such as the World Bank and UNCITRAL. The second is the efforts that have been made to open up government procurement markets to international trade, both through regional agreements and globally through the World Trade Organization. These agreements have required many states to modify their national procurement rules or to introduce regulation in procurement for the first time. This book brings together experts from academia, practice and the international institutions to describe the major global developments that have occurred in public procurement regulation, and to examine some of the key current policy issues. The book covers both the domestic and international perspectives on regulation, and also examines the relationship between them.
Topics covered include the UNCITRAL Model Law and its influence on procurement reform; problems of reform in developing and transition economies; World Bank procurement procedures; the implications of information technology for procurement regulation; the challenge of widening participation in global and regional agreements and of making these agreements work; regulating defence procurement; and the use of procurement to promote social and environmental policies.