Omer Dekel

Omer Dekel (born 1964) is a professor of law at the College of Law and Business. in Ramat Gan, Israel.
His field of expertise is Public Procurement Law and Administrative Law.
Biography
Dekel was born in 1964 and was raised in Rehovot, Israel. He graduated from the Amos de Shalit High-School and in his youth was very active in the Boy Scouts. During his IDF service, Dekel served in the town of Hatzor HaGlilit, and as an intelligence officer. In reserves service, Dekel was a military judge.
In 1992 Dekel earned his bachelor’s degree in Law (LL.B.) from the Law Faculty of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dekel interned under the State Attorney Dorit Beinisch, and on completing his internship in 1993, was appointed as legal assistant to the State Attorney - Dorit Beinisch - until her appointment to the Supreme Court of Israel. He then served as a legal assistant to the Minister of Justice - Prof. David Libai - and to the following State Attorney - Edna Arbel. Dekel also served as secretary of the Public Commission headed by Haim Zadok, for the drafting of a new Press Law, and represented the State before the Supreme Court.
Dekel wrote his LL.D. dissertation in a direct-track program at the Hebrew University Law Faculty, under the supervision of Prof. Eyal Benvenisti. His dissertation dealt with the legal requirement of competitive bidding for administrative agencies; in 2001 it was published as a book by the Hebrew University’s Institute for Legislative Research.
In 1998 Dekel joined the Academic Center of Law and Business as a lecturer in Administrative Law and Public Procurement Law, a position he still holds. He is chairman of the Center's Disciplinary Committee, and between 2008 and 2010 served as the Dean - the first to be appointed from internal faculty members.
In 2000 Dekel was a Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley. At that time he began writing his books on Public Procurement Law, that have become the leading textbooks in the field, cited in hundreds of judgments of Israel’s Supreme Court and Administrative Courts.
Dekel was again at visiting scholar at UC Berkeley in 2012.
In 2005 Dekel was appointed a special advisor to a governmental CEO's committee to carry out a reform in government procurement and tenders; and in 2008 he served as a special advisor to the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, that performed a comprehensive reform of the Tenders Regulations.
Between 2007-2010 he served as the chairman of the Administrative Tribunals Council, operating under the Administrative Tribunals Law.
Dekel teaches Public Procurement Law in both academic and practical frameworks. Dekel is an Adjunct Professor at the Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University, and has also taught in Haifa University, Bar-Ilan University, the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, and the College of Management. He is regularly invited to speak on Procurement Law at judges' and lawyers' seminars, as well as in professional training seminars conducted by public entities mandated to contract by tenders.
Research
Most of Dekel's research is in the field of Administrative Law and Public Procurement Law, and focuses on developing the theory and practice of public procurement from interdisciplinary perspectives - legal, economic, psychological, and others.
Dekel's books on Public Procurement Law are the leading textbooks on the matter, and have made him an authority in that field. The books are cited in hundreds of judgments of the Courts of Administrative Matters and dozens of judgments of the Supreme Court. Many of the ideas outlined in the books constituted judicial rulings, and some have been implemented in the Tenders Regulations.
In a series of studies examining the effects of cognitive biases on bid evaluators, Dekel showed cognitive bias in favor of a lower bid, even when that bid was qualitatively inferior. These findings were presented in a series of major international conferences and published in prestigious journals.
Other studies have examined implications of the research in Game Theory to Public Procurement law and practice. One such study showed that applied game theory insights on real tenders conducted by the government can improve their effectiveness. Other research implemented Auction Theory on insolvency selling, under the court's supervision.
Another study by Dekel suggested a radical change in the approach to defective bids - allowing the correction of a defective bid, instead of rejecting it, while imposing sanctions on the bidder at a predetermined rate.
A study in Administrative Law criticized the Israeli Administrative Law practice that does not permit cross-examination in the HCJ, and allows cross-examination in the Court of Administrative Matters only on rare and exceptional occasions. The study reviews this practice from normative and empirical perspectives, using quantitative and qualitative data. Another study claimed that an acquitted defendant in criminal proceedings is entitled to compensation for damages caused him by the criminal proceedings.
Selected publications
Books
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* Procurement Law, Theory and Practice - vol. B (2006) (564 pp).
* Procurement Law, Theory and Practice - vol. A (2004) (621 pp).
* The Legal Requirement of Competitive Bidding for Administrative Agencies, (Harry and Michael Sacher Institute for Legislative Research and Comparative Law of the Hebrew University, 2001) (506 pp).
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Articles
*"Improving Public Procurement Efficiency - Applying a Compliance Criterion", 24 Public Procurement Law Review 63 (2015).
* "Cognitive Biases in Government Procurement - an Experimental Study with Real Bid Evaluators", 10 REVIEW of LAW AND ECONOMICS 169 (2014) (with Amos Schurr).
*"The Bankruptcy Auction as a Game - Designing an Optimal Auction in Bankruptcy", 32 Review of Litigation 323 (2013) (with Yaad Rotem).
*[http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1924884 "Should the Acquitted Recover Damages? The Right of an Acquitted Defendant to Receive Compensation for the Injury He Has Suffered"], 47(3) Criminal Law Bulletin 474 (2010).
*"Modification of a Government Contract Awarded Following a Competitive Procedure", 38 Public Contract Law Journal 401 (2009).
*"The Legal Theory of Competitive Bidding for Government Contracts", 37 Public Contract Law Journal 237 (2008).

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