Chapter 1 – Public procurement, a tool to shape societies
About this guide This guide reflects extensive consultation with government representatives, trade support institutions and women entrepreneurs. It is designed to assist governments and procuring entities develop public procurement policies, practices, and programmes that will stimulate women-owned businesses. Well-designed preferential procurement policies can ‘serve the goals of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and a fair distribution of government contracts to them whilst also promoting value for money in procurement’ (Linarelli, 2013, p. 450). Government ministries and agencies involved in public procurement may wish to develop and implement their own preferential procurement policies and programmes at the ministry and agency levels, even if those policies and programmes are not rolled out government-wide. This could serve as a model for government-wide initiatives. Coherent government-wide policies would, however, seem more likely to have a significant impact and increase transparency through multiplication of rules and practices. Chapter 1 introduces readers to public procurement and why it is relevant to womenowned businesses. Chapter 2 provides a brief overview of the public procurement process and objectives of public procurement systems. Public procurement involves: Acquisition planning; Source selection; Contract administration and close out. Governments regulate this process based on policy objectives. For most public procurement systems, these objectives include: Obtaining suitable goods, works and/or services in an economically efficient manner and on the best possible terms; Eliminating corrupt practices; Ensuring equal opportunity and equal treatment; Opening markets to international trade. Promoting socioeconomic, industrial and environmental policies, including those related to women-owned businesses, are important secondary objectives of public procurement systems. Chapter 3 addresses the beneficiaries. Defining the target population is the starting point in designing procurement policies that promote participation of women-owned businesses. This chapter discusses the importance of defining what it means to be a women-owned business. These definitions and associated criteria are key to understand market capacity, establish a baseline against which to measure progress, target technical and financial assistance, and determine which businesses are eligible for preferential status. Chapter 4 highlights common challenges faced by women-owned businesses in public procurement markets and discusses techniques to address them. Removing or reducing these barriers is a necessary first step to increase women’s access to public procurement markets. This can be through ensuring that international best practices in government procurement, such as those embodied in the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO GPA)3 and other international instruments such as the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Public Procurement are followed. However, additional targeted measures are required to ensure the success of women-owned businesses in those markets.
Empowering women through public PROCUREMENT
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