This brief academic note has been prepared as background reading material for prior study by course participants at PACT-2013 at the IACA, which the author is scheduled to address on September 25, 2013. It traces certain recent legal and regulatory developments relating to public procurement...

This working draft of a law & policy paper has been especially written as background reading material for a forthcoming session on public procurement reforms during in-service training of mid-career senior civil servants at LBSNAA, Mussoorie; with the simultaneous aim of submission to the 9th...

This short academic paper explores the rapidly changing legal position in India on contract extension to an incumbent contractor in an existing government contract, vis-à-vis the exercise of competing options by public contracting officials in terms of open re-bidding with or without a price...

The doctrine of "Pacta Sunt Servanda" revolves around the necessity of ensuring that reliable promises are made; and that any defaults by either party are properly evaluated and addressed during adjudication of contractual disputes. As an international best practice, this doctrine is always applied...

This short academic note explores possible improvements to India's public procurement regulations, in line with international best practices, for fostering domestic manufacturing in India as per the new “Make In India” policy. The note also looks at relevant provisions of the (now lapsed)...

This short policy paper attempts a comparative review of India's Defence Offset Guidelines with Canada's Industrial and Regional Benefits (IRB) Programme. Important aspects compared across the two regulatory regimes include, inter alia, causality tests for determination of industrial benefits,...

Historically, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) have insisted upon borrowing countries' use of MDB procurement guidelines for conduct of procurement actions under externally-aided projects, based on the assumption that MDB procurement frameworks are more effective and promote greater...

Integrity Pacts (IPs) have been adopted in a number of countries as an instrument for greater public oversight over possible corruption in government organisations, with application both in defence as well as in civilian purchases. In addition to their anti-corruption objectives, these pacts...

The practice of countries demanding discharge of offset obligations as a prerequisite to foreign firms’ participation in major civilian or defence contracts is not new, and recent years in particular have seen a number of countries, both developed and developing, apply offsets and industrial...