For a gender responsive public procurement policy

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize upon adopting and strengthening sound policies and enforceable legislation to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls at all levels. Economic empowerment of women is one of the keys to attaining the SDGs. Creating equal opportunities for women in public procurement can come up in the equation, as we have seen that the participation of women as tenderers is hardly worth mentioning. Women owned businesses (WOBs) are usually small and have insufficient networks or connections to reach out for help in public policies. Women are underrepresented in public procurement and tender committees. There may be more competition, better benefits, and innovative solutions for procurement entities by including women-owned businesses.

Public procurement contributes a significant proportion of government expenditure. There are specific policies so that taxpayers' money is not misused. To ensure transparency, government procurement has been gradually increasing through e-GP. In 2002 Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) was established to look into the issue. Government expenditure constitutes about 30 per cent of the GDP in developing countries. In the OECD countries it is about 12 per cent. In Bangladesh, about 45 per cent of the national budget is spent on public procurement every year. There are 1,365 procuring agencies in the country. Until August 1, 2021, 1362 agencies got registered with the e-GP system. The number of tenderers registered with e-GP stands at 90,000 at present. Among this huge figure, the number of women-owned businesses has not been identified. Still, it can be safely said that the number is insignificant.

We have seen educated women in the country; professionals are also there, a number of engineering graduates are coming up from universities every year. Women represent engineering consulting firms and they are doing good in private procurement, willing to participate in the public procurement if there are opportunities and for this policies need to be welcoming. 

As per Global Public Procurement Database (GPPD), of World Bank, global expenditure in procurement is estimated at nearly USD 9.5 trillion. It may be shocking to know that women-owned businesses account for only 1 per cent of public procurement globally, while 10-25 per cent of the public procurement losses occur due to corruption.

The Public Procurement Research Centre (PPRC), ITC highlighted through an analysis of Bangladesh's Public Procurement Act, 2008 and the Public Procurement Rules 2013, that there is no specific reference to women, youth, persons with disabilities or any other disadvantaged groups in the policy. This means that Bangladesh can consider creating a gender responsive public procurement policy that will facilitate the participation of women owned businesses in the procurement process. In addition to this, the government could establish solid legal grounds to include women, youth, and persons with disabilities in the procurement process. In achieving this objective, the government of Bangladesh should decide whether it wants to increase the participation of women owned business in the procurement process or whether it wants to make sure that women win more tenders. 

International Trade Centre (ITC) 's SheTrades Initiative (Geneva) and BUILD have jointly carried out several activities like stakeholders' consultation to gather inputs, conduct interviews of the public and private representatives who are related to public procurement and women empowerment to assess the situation and to agree on a plan of action. It is seen from the analysis that WOB faces mainly six barriers that create constraints in being a successful tenderer. These are: inadequate legislation and policies, misfit tender design, excessive requirements, poor practices by the government, lack of information shared with women-owned businesses and the limited capability of women-owned businesses. Suppose a level playing field ensured. In that case, women could participate and contribute to ensuring competition and transparency in public procurement. 

Increasing the number of winning participation of women is important, for these opportunities have to be created. Instilling confidence among entrepreneurs is also imperative. Presently about 63 per cent of tenders are accomplished through eGP; introduction of eGP system is an encouraging factor to women entrepreneurs. If crucial information is disseminated on time, procedures can be streamlined.

CPTU is working to put in place a measure that will determine the gender of participants in the procurement process.  It also proposed that there should be regulations governing the disposal of assets. With the introduction of e-GP system average procurement lead time for invitation to contract was reduced from 94 days to 50 days, percentage share of awarded bid within original bid validity period increased from 10 per cent to 90 per cent, rejection of bids reduced 8 per cent ( 2012) to 3 per cent, estimated savings is about USD 600 million. The e-GP system decreases 153,559 tonnes of CO2 emissions and huge amount of savings of papers. These are all very big achievements for bringing transparency in the procurement process with the introduction of an online system and creating an environment for WOB to participate.

Tender documents are standardized across Bangladesh. There was a question raised about the winning contracts in the workshops. The percentage of women participating in public procurement is low; when this number increases, the probability of winning contracts will increase too. Proof of experience when participating in tenders discourages them from moving further. There may be some relaxation in the case of WOB so that they can participate. Financial capability also contributes most as one of the qualifying criteria. Capacity-building for technical and economic aspects is essential, requiring expertise and skilled human resources.

The workshop tried to gather opinions about whether there is a need for a separate policy for WOB. The majority of participants said that a revision of the public procurement rules is necessary instead of creating a new gender-responsive policy at this stage. The definition of a women owned business is not standard. However, Bangladesh Bank includes any business where at least 51 per cent share is owned and the company is operated by a woman. Proof of registration with joint stock companies is one way this is verified.

There is eGP guideline 2011, which is a good document that entails all necessary information. Identified problems are; mandatory requirements, clarification on the country of origin, cross-border regulations, line of credit, etc. However, a very few WOB are aware of the requirements of documents, technicalities needs explicable to them. While talking to the WOB, the most important aspect is communication. Even those who are capable are not fully aware of the overall tendering process in the respective fields. Website information is not adequate to give a full description of the work. Pre and Post-award de-briefing do not happen. Reaching out to the most experienced tenderers is not always possible for WOB. 

Formulation of a preferential procurement policy for WOB, at least at the initial stage, is needed as like in other countries, such as; Chile where the quota of women participating in the public procurement system has been introduced in 2015. Consequently, women participation reached 36.5 per cent in this country. This corresponds to more than 21,345 women quoting, offering, or receiving purchase orders. The country amended its regulations so that women owned businesses could be hired directly for procurement under $600. The Gambia spends an estimated 1per cent of its public procurement budget for women-owned companies.

Government organizations have been implementing a number of projects, where building capacities for WOB to be a tenderer may not be felt as a priority yet. The need has not been reached to the central policy planning body. Budgetary allocation is also not enough or not available at all, but for compliance, procuring entities may deem it necessary in the coming days. Domestic preference is one of the areas raised by the tenderers, where proper monitoring ensures access to practically competitive bidders may get priority. 

Political commitment is the central point, and policies can be reformed targeting SDGs and ensuring equal opportunities. In order to encourage WOB, for first intervention, experience and turnover should not be the main criterion. Instead, quality of work, uniqueness, transparency, and accountability can engender the procuring process. Banks would need to be aligned with the procuring policies so that funding can be available. A clear road map with a targeted action plan can improve the situation.

The writer is CEO of BUILD a Public Private Dialogue Platform. She can be contacted at ceo@buildbd.org