On Thursday 1 September 2016, law firm VANEPS organized a seminar on procurement and contracting in St. Maarten. After three successful workshops on this topic in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, the firm now welcomed representatives of for example construction companies, state-owned corporations and architectural firms in St. Maarten. Procurement and contracting turned out to be a hot topic on St. Maarten as well.
During the seminar, specialized real estate lawyers Tom Peeters and Thies Leijsen discussed the different steps in various purchasing and procurement procedures, the basic concepts of procurement law, and the (im)possibilities in purchasing and procurement based on practical examples.
The presentations were the starting point for a lively discussion, with a lot of questions from the audience. Partner Tom Peeters explains: “Procurement and contracting is an increasingly hot topic on the various islands. Submitting a tender in a smart way is becoming more and more important to service providers, and both companies and governments sometimes struggle with the organization of the purchasing process. We wanted to share our knowledge in this area through the various seminars on all four islands where VANEPS has an office. We were happy to see that we were able to convince the participants that they are able to purchase quickly and adequately while simultaneously carefully following purchase and procurement procedures. As a firm, we aim to help our clients by showing them how legal quality can actually have added value in a practical sense – among others via seminars such as these.”
