Public Procurement
CMS is one of the biggest law firms in the world and provides local and international expertise across the full spectrum of Public Procurement.
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The quality of public services is increasingly determined by the professional management of public procurement. Public authorities are increasingly responsible for not only organising and implementing their procurement processes in an effective and efficient manner, but are also being asked more frequently and more insistently to incorporate requirements and criteria into their procurement that contribute to more sustainable, innovative or social objectives. The parameters within which public bodies must tender are not always easy to identify, but must be derived from complex legal, national and European rules, which sometimes also follow from case law. The knowledge that a wrong choice can immediately lead to legal escalation makes contracting authorities cautious and, as a result of this caution, they may not always or not always sufficiently exploit the potential that exists.
CMS has in-depth expertise in the procurement of works, supplies, services, and concessions. In this regard, we have experience in advising both contracting authorities and bidders. Our clients include provinces, municipalities and water boards, contractors and ICT companies. We also count educational institutions, healthcare institutions, transport institutions and housing associations among our clients.
We are proud that our clients enjoy returning to us. We are therefore committed to long-term relationships based on trust and the conviction that we are working together towards the same goal.
Solutions for contracting authorities and registering parties
We have over 100 procurement specialists in 36 countries, giving us global reach. This enables us to assist you not only with national procurement procedures, but also with tenders in other countries or tenders with a cross-border aspect. We are increasingly seeing our clients working across national borders, and they appreciate being able to call on a trusted advisor outside the Netherlands.
This approach means that we can assist you in complex procurement issues with concrete, practical advice and tools regarding, for example, the drafting of tender documents and agreements, the formation and composition of bidding consortia, the protection of confidential information, antitrust issues, evaluations, specific rules on framework agreements, concession contracts and complex public-private partnership projects (PPPs). If you are unsure whether a tender has been conducted correctly, whether the outcome is lawful, or whether you are encountering problems in the performance of the contract after it has been awarded, we will be happy to assist you in or out of court.
As a contracting authority or tenderer in local, EU and international procurement procedures, you can benefit from a large team of legal advisors with extensive experience on both sides of the process in a wide range of areas. We have assisted contracting authorities in setting up large-scale and urgent procurement procedures, such as the nationwide procurement of test locations for Covid and the realisation of temporary accommodation throughout the Netherlands. In addition, we are involved in various innovative forms of procurement and contracting for water boards, municipalities and drinking water companies, such as two-phase contracts or serial procurement.
Bidding parties cannot function without a thorough understanding of how tenders regulate plans. Expertise not only in the tendering procedure itself but also in the contract being tendered is essential to operate successfully and not only increase the chances of winning a tender but also ensure that the contract on the basis of which the parties will cooperate is reasonable and offers opportunities for a profitable assignment. We critically assess the legality of tendering procedures on behalf of parties submitting bids. Are the various exceptions to the law on advance payments justified, and is the market being unfairly excluded? We recently litigated such questions before the European Court of Justice.
Our legal areas of expertise within Public Procurement
Within the Public Procurement group, we specialise in supervising tendering procedures, assessing tenders, drafting award decisions, ensuring that tenders for tendering procedures are legally correct, co-drafting tender documents or drawing up tender and procurement policy, and conducting (urgent) proceedings in tender disputes before the Arbitration Board, the civil court and the Committee of Experts on Public Procurement, as well as litigating on awarded contracts.
But we also tackle more fundamental issues, such as the granting of permits for charging stations along Dutch motorways. In large tenders, we advise with a broad perspective, not only on the tender itself but also on combination and financing structures, subcontracting and post-award implementation disputes.
Public Procurement references in the Netherlands
Legal experts for Public Procurement
