This book provides a comprehensive description of the United Nations procurement rules. Benefiting from the author’s extensive legal experience from the secretariats of the United Nations and UNIDO, the work offers a comparison with the WTO’s government procurement procedures and a succinct analysis of the findings of shortcomings by the Independent Inquiry into United Nations procurement for the Iraq Oil-for-Food Programme. The accountability of the United Nations for its far-flung procurement actions is considered not to meet international legal requirements. As a remedy against disregard of established procedures – which may be caused by political interventions – the author recommends, inter alia, to open a venue for claims and objections by bidders under a rapid challenge procedure.

The Author: Peter Neumann completed 30 years of service as a legal officer in the UN, as the legal adviser of UNIDO and director of procurement. Thereafter, he was procurement consultant to international organizations and lecturer in EU law. He graduated in law from Aarhus University (Denmark), and holds a doctorate in international law from Vienna University, an M.A. in international relations from SAIS, Johns Hopkins University (USA), and an LL.M in EU law from Danube University Krems (Austria).