The Comparative Architecture of Public Procurement Regulation: Russia, Argentina and Mexico. Procedural Grounds for the Rejection of Bids as an Indicator of Regulatory Quality

This Research Note inaugurates the ARGA Observatory publication series within the Public Procurement Integrity Programme. The study provides a comparative legal analysis of procedural grounds for the rejection of bids in the public procurement systems of Russia, Argentina and Mexico. It examines how different regulatory models define, apply and constrain grounds for rejecting bids at the admission stage of procurement procedures. The central methodological contribution of the note is a three-tier analytical framework for assessing procedural grounds for rejection: the lawfulness of the requirement, the verifiability of compliance, and the requirement’s effect on competition. The framework is applied across the three jurisdictions to identify structural similarities and differences beyond country-specific legal terminology. The note analyses the Russian model under Federal Laws 44-FZ and 223-FZ, the Argentine model based on Decreto 1023/2001, Decreto 1030/2016 and the reforms introduced by Decreto 811/2022 and Decreto 105/2025, and the Mexican framework under the LAASSP, as reformed in 2024. The publication concludes that, despite differences in legal systems and institutional design, the three jurisdictions face comparable regulatory challenges: limiting excessive administrative discretion, distinguishing curable and non-curable defects, ensuring reasoned commission decisions, and preserving competition through clear and verifiable procurement requirements. This research note opens a broader ARGA Observatory line of publications on procurement integrity, administrative review mechanisms, technical requirements in procurement documentation and antitrust enforcement in public procurement.