Initial reception center for asylum-seekers opened in meals – Innovative procurement model
At the beginning of February, the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia opened the initial reception center for asylum-seekers in Essen. Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek had drafted the award procedures and contracts. Accommodations for 800 asylum-seekers, facilities for a Foreigners’ Registration Office, and a branch office of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees were established on some 40,000 square meters.
Refugees are recorded in the Foreigners’ Registration Office, while the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees is responsible for asylum applications. This new type of accommodation with the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, the Foreigners’ Registration Office, and accommodations in one building complex reflects North Rhine-Westphalia’s modern refugee policy.
Owner of the initial reception center was GVE Grundstücksverwaltung Stadt Essen GmbH. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is now leasing the center from the city of Essen. Procurement law experts Dr. Ute Jasper and Dr. Jens Biemann of Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek advised GVE on the European-wide award procedures and developed an innovative procurement model.
Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek continues to assist the public sector in Essen and in many other municipalities with procuring asylum-seeker accommodations.
Additional information is available here.
Dr. Ute Jasper is one of the best known lawyers for public procurement and public infrastructure projects. She advises federal and state ministries, municipalities, and companies. Ute Jasper heads Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek's "Public Sector & Public Procurement" department. For years, she has been ranked number 1 in JUVE Handbook of Commercial Law Firms 2014/2015, and according to "Law Firms in Germany" is the "premier contact on the market" for infrastructure.
