Public procurement systems structurally exclude women-owned businesses through gender-blind planning, thresholds, and timelines, concentrating public spend and reinforcing economic inequality.
PROCUREQUAL is a gender-responsive procurement planning and accountability system designed to be embedded directly into existing public, donor, and institutional procurement workflows. The project restructures how procurement decisions are made upstream, where exclusion most often occurs, by making gender impact a mandatory, auditable consideration before tenders are approved, rather than a post-award corrective.
The system operates through four integrated components:
1. a Gender Impact Scan applied at the planning stage to identify exclusionary design features;
2. an Inclusive Procurement Design Kit that translates findings into proportional, compliant specification adjustments;
3. a Gender Accountability Dashboard that tracks participation and award outcomes over time; and
4. a behavioural nudge layer that supports procurement officials to make inclusive decisions within existing rules.
PROCUREQUAL is modular, policy-aligned, and compatible with e-procurement and ERP systems. It avoids quotas, protects supplier data, and focuses on transparency, proportionality, and institutional accountability. Designed for phased piloting and scale-up, the project enables procurement to function as a public-value system that delivers efficiency, fairness, and measurable gender equality outcomes simultaneously.
PROCUREQUAL_Design Equality 2025.pdf