QuantovaQstampby Quantova
EN
EnglishEN日本語JAFilipinoFIL한국어KO简体中文ZHFrançaisFREspañolESУкраїнськаUK
GitHub Start building →
Qstamp / QProcure
QProcure · Procurement integrity

Tenders that cannot be rearranged after the deadline.

QProcure is the procurement integrity tool of QGov. It seals the tender rules before publication and a commitment to each bid before the deadline, so that no bid can be added or replaced once competing prices are known, and then seals the opening, the score of each evaluator, the award decision and every later amendment of the contract. Bidders, audit bodies and review courts can verify the whole procedure without access to the confidential content of any bid.

Live flow

How QProcure runs inside a procurement procedure.

Each step lights in turn as a record moves through it. Steps inside your systems never send content out. Only the anchor reaches the Quantova network, and only chain facts are public on QVMScan.

Live flowQProcure, from tender notice to the explorer
  1. Your systemsProcurement platformNotice, criteria and weights sealed before publication
  2. Your systemsBidder systemSalted bid commitment sealed before the deadline
  3. Your systemsOpening and evaluationBids checked against commitments and each score signed
  4. Your systemsAward and amendmentsAward and every variation sealed in sequence
  5. Quantova networkAnchorOne salted 32 byte commitment per batch, sent under record kind 1103 in a transaction signed with ML DSA 65
  6. PublicQVMScanFinal in about 0.2 seconds and indexed on the explorer under QProcure, with no record content
  7. PublicReview body or bidderProves no bid was added or replaced after the deadline
Inside your systemsQuantova networkPublic and verifiable
The problem

Procurement fraud depends on changing records after the deadline.

Public procurement accounts for a large share of government expenditure in most countries and is consistently identified as one of the areas of government most exposed to corruption. Most schemes depend on a record that is changed once the information that should have been secret is known.

Late and replaced bids

A bid admitted after the deadline, or replaced once competing prices are known, defeats the purpose of competitive tendering.

Altered evaluations

Scores changed after the evaluation panel signed them, or criteria adjusted to fit a chosen bidder, are hard to prove from records held by the contracting authority.

Amended after award

A contract varied after award, with increases in price or scope that were never properly approved, can reverse the outcome of a fair tender.

Data flow

The procurement procedure, sealed from notice to final amendment.

QProcure follows the stages common to open and restricted procedures. Each stage is sealed by the party responsible for it and names the record it relies on, so the order of events is fixed by the network and not by the contracting authority.

  1. 01Notice and criteria

    The contracting authority seals the tender notice, the documents and the award criteria with their weights before publication, fixing the rules in advance.

  2. 02Bid commitment

    Each bidder seals a salted commitment to its bid on its own systems before the deadline. Only the commitment is anchored, so the content and the price cannot be learned from it.

  3. 03Deadline

    The deadline is tested against the anchor times of the network. A commitment anchored after the deadline is detected by any verifier.

  4. 04Opening

    After the deadline each bid is opened and checked against its commitment. A bid that differs from what was committed fails verification.

  5. 05Evaluation

    Each evaluator signs their scores under their own key. The overall result is computed from the signed scores and sealed with the award decision.

  6. 06Award and amendment

    The award, the signed contract and every later amendment are sealed in a chain, each amendment naming the approval that authorised it.

Sealed records

Every record, its signer and what it proves.

Each record is an ML DSA signed statement fixed in time by a Qstamp anchor under the QProcure record kind. Bid commitments are formed by the bidder, so the contracting authority never needs to be trusted with the timing of a bid.

RecordSigned byLinked toWhat verification proves
Tender noticeContracting authorityPublished noticeCriteria and weights were fixed before any bid was received
Bid commitmentBidderTender noticeThe bid existed in its final form before the deadline
Opening recordOpening committeeBid commitmentsEach opened bid matches its commitment
Evaluation scoresEach evaluatorOpened bidsScores are unchanged since each evaluator signed them
Award decisionAward authorityEvaluation scoresThe award follows the signed evaluation
Contract amendmentApproving officerContract and approvalEvery variation was approved and is in sequence
Detection

What QProcure detects.

Each check is performed by the verifier from the sealed records and their receipts alone. No check depends on the systems, the staff or the good faith of the body that produced the records.

Detected on verification

  • A bid committed after the deadline
  • An opened bid that differs from its commitment
  • Criteria or weights changed after bids were received
  • Evaluation scores altered after signature
  • An award that does not follow the signed scores
  • A contract amendment without a sealed approval
Integration

What QProcure works with.

QProcure is called by electronic procurement platforms and by the tools bidders use to prepare submissions. It does not host tenders or store bids.

SystemHow it connects
Electronic procurement platformsThe platform calls QProcure when notices, openings, scores and decisions are created, and stores each sealed record and receipt with the procedure
Bidder submission toolsThe bid commitment is formed and anchored on the bidder's own systems, so the bidder holds independent proof of timely submission
Open Contracting Data Standard publicationsEach published release can carry the fingerprint and receipt of the sealed record it reports
Contract management systemsVariations are sealed as they are approved and linked to the contract they amend
Review bodies and courtsChains are verified from records produced in proceedings, without access to the platform
Regulatory alignment

The obligations QProcure is designed to support.

Each instrument below creates a duty that depends on records being complete, unaltered and dated. QProcure supplies technical evidence for those duties. Compliance with each instrument remains the responsibility of the body subject to it.

InstrumentProvisionHow QProcure supports it
United Nations Convention against Corruption, Article 9(1)Procurement systems based on transparency, competition and objective criteria, including conditions and criteria established and published in advanceConditions and criteria sealed before bids are received, and every later step sealed in sequence
Directive 2014/24/EU, Article 22(3)Integrity of data and confidentiality of tenders, which may be examined only after the time limit for submission has expiredCommitments prove each tender was complete before the time limit while its content stays confidential
OECD Recommendation of the Council on Public ProcurementTransparency, integrity, electronic procurement and accountability across the procurement cycleA verifiable record of each stage from notice to amendment
WTO Agreement on Government ProcurementTransparency of procurement information and domestic review proceduresEvidence that review bodies can verify independently
United Kingdom Procurement Act 2023Transparency notices across the procurement lifecycleEach notice and decision fixed in time and linked to the procedure
NIST SP 800 53 Revision 5AU 9 protection of audit information, AU 10 non repudiation and SI 7 information integritySigned, sealed and anchored records whose alteration or removal is detected by any verifier
Confidentiality

What is published and what stays inside government.

Bids remain confidential until opening and are never published by QProcure. Only salted commitments and receipts reach the network, and a commitment reveals nothing about the bid or its price. Commercially sensitive content is disclosed only to those entitled to it under procurement law.

Status and scope

Where QProcure stands today.

QProcure is being built for release as part of QGov, the government branch of the Qstamp family, on the construction of QTax, which is released. QProcure is published on GitHub and npm only after rounds of security review and live testing on the Quantova network, and its release is announced on this page. Governments can begin pilots today with the released SDKs of the family. The current releases anchor on the Quantova test network ahead of production use, and records on that network carry no evidential weight. QProcure proves the order, integrity and authorship of procurement records. It does not detect collusion agreed between bidders outside the procedure, and it does not judge whether an award was correct, which remain matters for competition authorities and review bodies.