Chapter 1 – Public procurement, a tool to shape societies
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The message is simple. Women who are safe, healthy, educated and fully empowered to realize their potential transform their families, their communities, their economies and their societies. We must create the conditions so they can do so.
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High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda1
W
hile the main goal of public procurement is to buy goods and services that governments need, public procurement can also be used to promote socioeconomic objectives. These are often referred to as ‘horizontal’ or ‘collateral’ objectives because they are ancillary to the primary purpose of public procurement, which is to acquire goods and services for the government (Quinot, 2013). Socioeconomic objectives governments consider when formulating public procurement policies are wide ranging. Public procurement has been used to: Promote non-discrimination in employment, by requiring contractors to develop affirmative action programmes; Encourage industrial development, by favouring locally produced goods and domestic businesses; Support environmental sustainability, by requiring contractors to supply energyefficient products and goods made from recovered or bio-based materials. Unfortunately, few governments have used public procurement as a tool to unleash the vast economic potential of women entrepreneurs.2
Why government purchasing affects markets Public procurement is a powerful tool to promote socioeconomic objectives because it operates at the intersection of the government’s regulatory and buying powers (McCrudden, 2004).
Competition laws and social regulations shape markets Governments have the power to regulate market participants by encouraging markets through competition laws or by restraining markets through social regulation, such as health and safety laws.
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Empowering women through public PROCUREMENT