The Legal Regime of Smart Contracts in Public Procurement

Abstract

This article attempts to critically review the appli­cations of smart contracts in public procurement. The literature on the topic is characterized by an emphasis on potential advantages and uses of this emerging technology, while it lacks in the concrete practical implementations of smart contracts in public procurement. In this context, we wish to re­alistically outline the legal regime of smart public procurement contracts. For this, we analyze the potential use of blockchain and smart contracts in public procurement at two stages: contract award and contract execution. Our article also discusses case studies of smart public procurement contracts, in order to assess their compatibility with and their impact on the EU public procurement system.

Keywords

• public procurement
• smart contracts
• blockchain
• digital administration
• sustainability.