Government Procurement Law Government Procurement Law

This course provides an introduction to the international law governing government
procurement (also referred to as “public procurement”). Students will gain an in-depth
understanding of what government procurement is and how it is regulated within the World
Trade Organisation (WTO) through the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA). The
course will focus on contemporary issues that surround international government
procurement, e.g. the strategic use of government procurement to advance sustainability
goals. Finally, students will familiarize themselves with current developments in government
procurement within the WTO, on a national level and through Free Trade Agreements (FTA).

About the lecturer

Rika Koch is a assistant professor and co-leader of the public procurement research group at
the Bernese University of Applied Science (BFH). In addition, she is a lecturer in WTO Law
and a guest lecturer on Swiss foreign economic law at the Universities of Zurich and Bern.
Before her current role, she served as a legal counsel in the Swiss Federal Administration,
where she advised on a number of legal issues, especially public procurement projects.
She studied political science at the University of Zurich, Law at the University of Bern and did
her PHD on green government procurement at the University of Zurich with a research stay
at the University of Nottingham (UK), funded by the Swiss National Foundation SNF.
In her research she focuses on public procurement law at the inersection of environmental
and social law, but also on questions surrounding public procurement law and digitalization,
such as data protection and artificial intelligence (AI).