PROCURING ALGORITHMIC GOVERNMENT: PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE STATE ACQUISITION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS

Public authorities increasingly acquire artificial intelligence systems to support welfare administration, taxation, policing, migration control, health services, education, employment, fraud detection and the management of public infrastructure. The legal quality of algorithmic government is often determined before the system is deployed, during procurement. At that stage the contracting authority defines the problem, selects the data environment, allocates intellectual-property rights, accepts or rejects opacity, determines audit access and creates the contractual conditions under which a vendor may update the system. A technically successful procurement can therefore produce an unlawful administrative system if the tender and contract fail to preserve legality, equality, reason-giving, data protection and effective judicial review.