WOMEN ENTERPRISE FUND 30% PROCUREMENT PROCESS. June, When you empower a woman, you empower a family & a whole nation

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1 WOMEN ENTERPRISE FUND 30% PROCUREMENT PROCESS June, 2014

2 INTRODUCTION In 2013, His Excellency the President Uhuru Kenyatta directed that the procurement rules be amended to allow 30 per cent of contracts to be given to the youth, women and persons with disability without competition from established firms. The Public Procurement Directorate under the Ministry of Finance is in charge of the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) initiative which was launched at KICC on June 29th The aim of the AGPO Program is to facilitate the youth, women and persons with disability-owned enterprises to be able to participate in government procurement. This will be made possible through the implementation of the Presidential Directive that 30% of government procurement opportunities be set aside specifically for these enterprises. It is affirmative action aimed at empowering youth, women and persons with disability-owned enterprises by giving them more opportunities to do business with Government(source: TARGET GROUPS The Access to Government Procurement Opportunities Initiative targets the following groups: Youth Women Persons with Disability

3 TIPS ON HOW TO QUALIFY FOR ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES 1. Qualification For the purpose of benefiting from preference and reservations schemes, an enterprise owned by youth, women or persons with disabilities shall be a legal entity that:- is registered with the relevant government body; and has at least seventy percent membership of youth, women or persons with disabilities and the leadership shall be one hundred percent youth, women and persons with disability, respectively. 2. Required documents For you to qualify, you will need the following documents: Identity Card(s)/Passport(s). Business Registration Certificate/ Certificate of Incorporation. PIN/VAT Certificate. Tax Compliance Certificate. Partnership Deed for Partnership Business. Memorandum/Articles of Association and CR12 mandatory for Registered Companies. For Construction Category Letter/Certificate from the National Construction Authority, Energy Regulatory Commission or any other Authorised Public Technical Body.

4 INTERVENTIONS Women Enterprise Fund has sought to ensure that these opportunities are available to women and that these same women are aware of the same. There have thus been conscientious efforts to ensure that women throughout the country are trained on the 30% procurement process and Access to Government Procurement Opportunities and are thus guided into the next steps they will take to be able to access these opportunities. The Fund has also placed e-tenders stemming from different institutions within government in a bid to ensure that women are aware of the tenders that are in the market and are thus able to apply for the same and get business. For the women s entity to qualify for the tendering process there are preliminary mandatory requirements that they MUST possess failure to which they will not qualify for the tender. These requirements are: KRA tax compliance VAT certificate Business registration/single business permits Audited accounts Women Enterprise Fund has also put in place measures to set aside 30% of its procurement opportunities for women. The Fund s prequalification of suppliers allows for entities owned by women to be given preference when any procurement opportunities arise CONCLUSION The Fund would like to urge women throughout the country to ensure that they take advantage of this provision and engage in business with the government. The statistics show that only 2.8 billion of the government s budget for the 2013/2014 financial year had been accessed through the 30% rule and an allocation of 200B has been provided for in the budget and thus

5 30% of this should ideally be around 60B. Women need to up the ante in accessing the opportunities available since if this trend continued then the policy providing for 30% procurement opportunities, which is soon to become law, will be discontinued and women would have lost their chance to engage in income generating activities.