The Agreement on Government Procurement (abbreviated GPA) is legally binding and plurilateral agreement in the World Trade Organization (WTO) focusing on the subject of government and local government agencies procurement. The procurement in the Agreement includes goods, ranging from commodities to high technology equipment, and services. The Agreement was negotiated in parallel with the Uruguay Round in 1994, and entered into force on 1 January 1996. This Agreement is a plurilateral treaty administered by a Committee on Government Procurement, which includes the WTO members that are parties to this Agreement, and thus have rights and obligations under the Agreement.

The concept and the principle is based on openness, transparency and non-discrimination, which apply to party countries to the benefit to both country and country's suppliers in bilateral or plurilateral.

See also[link]

• Government procurement
• World Trade Organization
• General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
• Trade in Services
• World Development Movement

External links[link]

• The plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA)WTO
  • Parties and observers to the GPA

It has been suggested that Call for bids be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since April 2010.

It has been suggested that Request for information be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since May 2011.

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Government procurement, also called public tendering or public procurement, is the procurement of goods and services on behalf of a public authority, such as a government agency. With 10 to 15% of GDP in developed countries, and up to 20% in developing countries, government procurement accounts for a substantial part of the global economy.^[1]

To prevent fraud, waste, corruption or local protectionism, the law of most countries regulates government procurement more or less closely. It usually requires the procuring authority to issue public tenders if the value of the procurement exceeds a certain threshold.

Government procurement is also the subject of the Agreement on Government Procurement, a plurilateral international treaty under the auspices of the WTO.

Phases[link]

Usually there are some distinct phases in the whole procedure:

• Project/Service/Supply preparation/maturity period, sometimes including a Prior Information Notice
• Call for bids or Request for proposals
• Request for information, prior to bid
• Bid delivery
• Evaluation of the bid (awarding procedure)
• Contract award

Regulation by jurisdiction[link]

European Union[link]

Government procurement in the European Union is regulated and harmonized by community law since the 1970s. European regulations also provide for electronic procurement.

Russia[link]

Russian Federal Law N94-ФЗ of 21.07.2005 require all federal, regional and municipal government customers to publish all information about government tenders, auctions and other purchase procedures on special public government websites.

The Soloviev Institute of Government Procurement is active in procurement certification and training.

United States[link]

US government procurement is generally governed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation, which appears in title 48 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

The National Institute of Governmental Purchasing and the Federal Acquisition Institute are active in procurement certification and training. A specialized program in procurement law in the United States is located at The George Washington University Law School.

See also[link]

• Contract
• Contract awarding
• Standstill period

External links[link]

• WTO government procurement portal
• Online list of EU public tenders
• Federal Acquisition Institute of United States
• Federal Procurement Data System of United States
• (Russian) Russian federal procurement portal
• (Russian) List of all Russian government procurement portals
• National Institute of Governmental Purchasing
• National Association of State Procurement Officials
• Universal Public Purchasing Certification Council
• Government Procurement magazine: Official magazine of NIGP
• Government Procurement Law Program - George Washington University Law School
• Government of Canada procurement information

References[link]

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