CarbonClause SF

San Francisco Bay Area

Policy + Climate + Civic Tech

Procurement that rewards low‑carbon, circular vendors without breaking compliance.

A clause-and-scoring tool for public RFPs that helps agencies add circularity requirements and score bids transparently.

Local fit: Multi-jurisdiction complexity (cities, counties, utilities), high cost of living, climate/air quality events, and stark digital divide within a high-tech region.

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Core user stories

As a procurement officer, I pick a category (construction, fleet, IT) and generate compliant circular/low-carbon RFP clauses.
As an evaluator, I score two sample vendor responses with a transparent rubric and export a summary.
As a vendor, I see what evidence is needed to qualify (repair plan, take-back, recycled content, local sourcing).

Clickable demo scope (what you build)

Clause generator: category → clause set → editable output → export (PDF/Doc mock).
Scoring rubric page with a side-by-side comparison of two sample vendors.
Audit-trail view showing “why the score” (simple).

Team of four roles

Product & Policy Lead: Draft 10–15 compliant clause templates + a scoring rubric; define how to avoid greenwashing and keep it auditable.
UX / Frontend: Build clause generator UI (category → clauses → editable output) and the scoring screen with side-by-side comparison.
Backend / Data: Store templates/rubrics; implement export stub; compute scores from form inputs; seed two vendor examples.
Partnerships / Story / Ops: Interview one procurement-minded mentor + one vendor; craft a ‘save time + reduce carbon’ ROI story; deploy.

54-hour build plan

Hours 0–6: Pick one user segment; do 5–8 quick interviews; lock the “one workflow” MVP.
Hours 6–24: Build the clickable flow end-to-end with stubbed data; draft the policy narrative.
Hours 24–40: Add one policy-ready output (brief/dashboard/export); tighten UX; seed data for 2–3 neighborhoods.
Hours 40–54: Polish demo script; add analytics mock; finalize pitch + one-page handout.

What to show in the final demo

The “happy path” (one user completes the core task in under 2 minutes).
One policy-ready output (a brief, dashboard view, or export).
One local proof point (seeded neighborhoods / agencies / partner types relevant to San Francisco Bay Area).

How it can earn revenue without becoming extractive

Revenue fit (values-aligned): sell a low-cost subscription to local governments/nonprofits, or charge implementation/support for pilots—avoid extractive fees on community participation.

Guardrails: publish scoring criteria, minimize data collection, and default to community ownership where possible (co-op/commons patterns).