Prof. dr. mr. Willem A. Janssen is Endowed Professor of Public Procurement Law and Associate Professor of European and Dutch Public Procurement Law, respectively at the University of Groningen and at Utrecht University. He holds these positions respectively at the Faculty of Law, Groningen University and at the law department of Utrecht University. He is a researcher at the Centre for Public Procurement (UUCePP) and the Centre for Regulation and Enforcement in Europe (RENFORCE).
His academic work on ‘Public Procurement Law for Good’ focuses on public procurement law in its international, European and Dutch contexts, with particular attention to the legal principles, objectives, institutional structures and regulatory choices that shape public procurement systems. His expertise is rooted in EU law but extends beyond the EU Public Procurement Directives to broader regulatory questions concerning market access, competition, public sector organisation, strategic procurement, sustainability, third-country participation and the interaction between procurement law and wider economic regulation. Janssen has published numerous books and journal articles on public procurement law. His publications include Reforming Public Procurement (with K. Magga and François Lichère, Edward Elgar, 2026), Mandatory Sustainability Requirements in EU Public Procurement Law (with R. Caranta, Hart, 2023) and EU Public Procurement Law & Self-organisation: A Nexus of Tensions & Reconciliations (Eleven International Publishing, 2018). His research examines how public procurement law reconciles competing objectives, including competition, market integration, transparency, sustainability, circularity, governmental discretion, public value and accountability.
His international academic experience includes appointments as Visiting Scholar at the George Washington University Government Procurement Law Program in Washington, D.C., the University of Copenhagen and the University of Alcalá. He is a member of the European Procurement Law Group and regularly collaborates with procurement scholars and practitioners across jurisdictions. He is the Principal Investigator of CIRCLASH, an NWO-funded research project on circularity and public procurement law. He also co-leads several research initiatives on circularity within Pathways to Sustainability and the Institute 4 a Circular Society, and is co-lead of Fertile Soils, an initiative focusing on sustainable urban-rural transitions and Public Interest Ecosystems at RENFORCE.
Alongside his academic work, Janssen has extensive experience in procurement policy and professional practice through national and international advisory roles. He was appointed by the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate as Chair of the Advisory Committee on the Proportionality Guide, an important component of the Dutch public procurement regulatory framework. He has also been appointed to the Procurement Board of the European Space Agency. He regularly contributes to policy discussions on the development, implementation and reform of procurement regulation, including with EU institutions and the Dutch government. In this context, he conducted two major studies in 2025 and 2026, the latter jointly with R. Caranta, examining the coherence of EU public procurement legislation with environmental, security and trade law in the context of the ongoing reform of the EU public procurement framework.
Janssen teaches public procurement law to university students, legal practitioners, procurement professionals and policymakers. He is Programme Leader of the Master’s programme Law and Sustainability in Europe and teaches procurement law at both the University of Groningen and Utrecht University, and beyond those institutions. He is also actively engaged in connecting academic research with procurement practice, including through the bilingual podcast BESTEK – The Public Procurement Podcast / De Aanbestedingspodcast (English/Dutch).
Contact
Email: w.a.janssen@uu.nl
LinkedIn: @willemajanssen
EN/NL Podcast: http://www.bestek-procurement.com
