Gender-responsive Public Procurement

Article 71 of Directive 2014/24/EU aims to ensure visibility and accountability within subcontracting arrangements in public contracts. Depending on the subject matter of the contract, supply chains may stretch across the globe and involve many different sectors. Gender issues may be particularly relevant for contracts with a high proportion of low-paid workers in developing countries, such as those in the...

‘Reserving’ a contract means that only businesses that meet the relevant conditions can bid for that particular contract. This does not mean that public authorities can favour these businesses generally or restrict the tender to only one operator. Under EU procurement law, reservations in public procurement do not explicitly relate to women-owned or women-managed businesses. Directive 2014/24/EU allows for only...

Dividing contracts into lots can help to ensure the participation of a wide range of bidders, including SMEs and social enterprises, and potentially including more women-led businesses. It can also facilitate the use of a reservation (see " Reserved contracts"). Division into lots does not in itself promote GRPP unless additional measures such as market engagement, reservations and award criteria...

Directive 2014/24/EU defines six separate procedures for the award of contracts: open procedure restricted procedure competitive procedure with negotiation competitive dialogue innovation partnership design contest. While GRPP may be applied in any of these procedures, when open or restricted procedures are used, there is no flexibility to engage with bidders to refine their offers in respect of gender equality or...

Contracting authorities are free to define the subject matter of their tenders. At the pre-tender stage, you should consider how the purchase may affect women and men differently and address this in the subject matter and/or in a short description in the contract notice . There are two main reasons for incorporating gender aspects within the subject matter of the...

The purpose of grounds for exclusion is to determine whether an operator is allowed to participate in the procurement procedure or to be awarded the contract. Several of the exclusion grounds set out in Article 57 of Directive 2014/24/EU and Article 136 of the financial regulation are relevant to GRPP: mandatory exclusion for people trafficking / child labour; non-payment of...

Selection criteria may address legal capacity, financial and economic standing, technical ability (including experience) and professional skills and qualifications. Selection criteria should be tailored to the specific contract and should be proportionate to the requirements. However, many authorities apply a generic approach to selection and are reluctant to introduce new criteria. This may limit the extent to which GRPP selection...

This tool can be used by contracting authorities to divide contracts into lots for GRPP. This tool allows you to assess whether lots may be a useful approach to promote GRPP in a particular contract or framework. The questions will help you in the decision of whether or not to divide a contract into lots. Do you have knowledge of...

This section looks at the different stages of the procurement cycle. You will find practical guidance on how to include gender considerations at each step of the procurement cycle. Guidance is coupled with national examples on the use of GRPP and practical tools. Examples can be neither representative nor exhaustive, but they do provide important insights into the effective and...

Figure 2. GRPP at the pre-procurement stage Prior to launching a tender, contracting authorities undertake various preparatory activities. This is an important stage in the implementation of GRPP, as it determines the way in which the authority will interact with the market to purchase supplies, services or works according to its needs. During this stage, you need to reflect on...