ONV LAW is proud to announce that Partner Alina Bilan has been awarded European Union's TED Ambassador Award for the green procurement category.

The 'TED Ambassador award' is a competition that aims to identify and reward research in the field of public procurement since high-quality research is crucial for fostering innovation, sustainability and transparency in public procurement. In 2023, the Publications Office of the EU has launched this contest for specialists in the field of public procurement to participate. The competition has selected only 12 winners and its name comes from Tenders Electronic Daily (details below).

Alina Bilan won the Green Procurement category with the study "Buying Green? How a Green Public Procurement - dedicated law can do more harm than good".

"We are very happy and proud that Alina's work, expertise and innovative foresight in the areas of public procurement and green procurement have been acknowledged by EU's Publications Office Award", says Mihai Voicu, ONV LAW Partner and Legal Netlink Alliance Europe Board President. "Our firm has put public procurement among its strategic lines and our attorneys are at the forefront of this complex domain and practice area."

Alina coordinates the Public Procurement – Concessions – PPP, Administrative Law, Construction Law and Urban Law practice areas in ONV LAW, and her abilities to teach and inspire others are appreciated by her colleagues. She currently lectures on public procurement before various professional organizations. The 2016 edition of Legal 500 EMEA/Romania recommends Alina in the PPP and Procurement practice area.

Hilde Hardeman, Director General of the Publications Office of the European Union said, upon announcement of the competition winners:

"I am delighted to announce the 12 winning teams of our first ever ‘TED Ambassador Award’! The ideas, the thinking, the recommendations, the questions shared within the submissions … all these can help drive innovation, sustainability and transparency in public procurement. For example, the research can help enhance public procurement processes in many ways: establish more efficient and cost-effective solutions, provide insights into how AI can be used, ensure fairness, uphold ethics, achieve our ambitions for the EU Green Deal … and much more. Congratulations to all 12 TED Ambassadors! Well done and sincere thanks to the many other teams whose submissions could not be selected this time."

Experts from 11 other countries such as England, Sweden, Portugal, Serbia, USA or China were among winners.

About TED Ambassador competition and EU Strategies

Innovative ideas in public procurement can play a tremendous role in economic growth, jobs and transparency. As part of the Preparatory Action ‘Transparency in public procurement’, the European Commission's Publications Office - official publisher of EU law, public procurement, publications, open data and research results - seeks to recognise and reward high quality public procurement research in the following areas:

• Transparency in public procurement
• Green procurement
• Emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in public procurement
• Stimulating innovation through public procurement

TED is the online version of the 'Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union', dedicated to public procurement. It publishes 676,000 procurement notices a year, including 258,000 calls for tender, which are worth some € 670 billion. TED brings buyers and bidders together. It is the official gateway to business opportunities in the European Union, the European Economic Area and countries that are members of the Agreement on Government Procurement. 

The competition focused on 4 research topics: 

Topic 1: 'Transparency in public procurement'

Promoting transparency, efficiency and accountability. For example, tools to monitor transparency in public procurement; public procurement statistics in Member States about the quantity/quality of public procurement above/below the threshold; non-compliance of EU Member States with EU legislation on public procurement, etc.

Topic 2: 'Green procurement'

Analysing current gaps, future challenges and best practice. For example: current context; current policies; tools to identify and monitor green public procurement, etc.

Topic 3: 'Emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in public procurement'

Increasing efficiency, transparency, sustainability and gender equality in public procurement through AI. For example: how AI can facilitate better decisions, lower costs and increased transparency; mapping public entities that use AI technologies for procurement; integrating AI and good public procurement governance, etc.

Topic 4: 'Stimulating innovation through public procurement'

Bringing innovative solutions to the market. For example: the extent to which EU legislation stimulates innovation through public procurement; how pre-commercial procurement could foster innovation in the EU; markets where public authorities have a potential to encourage demand for new technologies; converting new inventions into new products and jobs; promoting globally accepted solutions instead of locally tailored ones, etc.