Launching ITC Procurement Map

The International Trade Centre (ITC) today announced that it was launching a new tool – ITC Procurement Map – with a view to help businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, navigate the myriad of opportunities to bid for public procurement contracts around the world.

Procurement Map was unveiled by ITC Executive Director Arancha González at the Trailblazer Summit of the Women Vendors’ Exhibition and Forum (WVEF), which is taking place in São Paulo, Brazil, from 1-3 September.

Speaking at WVEF, Ms. González highlighted the potential for government purchasing decisions to contribute to women’s economic empowerment. Describing public procurement as a ‘critical source of business for enterprises run by women,’ she pointed out that the world’s governments spend trillions of dollars each year on purchasing the goods and services they need to fulfill their public functions, goods and services. ‘Right now, only a fraction of this massive government business goes to women-owned businesses,’ she said.

‘That is why today we are launch Procurement Map, a free online database aimed at making the public procurement market more inclusive,’ Ms. González said.

Procurement Map – which has special sections for women-owned businesses – includes a country-by-country breakdown of up to 100,000 public tenders, with information updated on a real time basis. Procurement Map also indicates when countries have policies that favour women-owned businesses or SMEs, and provides information on standards.

‘Our goal is to make it easier for women-owned businesses in developing countries to find and bid for public contracts at home and abroad,’ Ms. González said.

Find out more and access ITC Procurement Map.