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On 17 March I contributed to a hearing of the European Parliament’s Social Economy Intergroup on public procurement – a very timely event as only one month is left for Member States to implement the Directive into their national laws.

The new Directive allows Member States to achieve social policy objectives through the procedures public authorities need to follow when they buy goods, services or works from external parties. However, Member States are not obliged to implement of the majority of the provisions that allow for social progress. Therefore, the choices that they make will result in either socially progressive or regressive national legislation.

This is Social Platform recommends Member States to include in their national laws all the relevant provisions that allow for the achievement of social goals. Then, it will be up to contracting authorities to identify which types of contracts are more suitable to include social aspects.

I have closely followed the process of the revision of the Directive, starting from the 2010 European Commission Green Paper, up until the release of our guide “Public procurement for social progress” last October – which has just been released in Portuguese. I want to recall the two most recurring myths about social procurement I came across in my advocacy work and check them against reality.

First myth: reserved contracts represent a restriction to competition and favour certain economic operators against others

The Directive indeed provides the possibility to restrict tendering procedures – for the purchase of any kind of work, good and service – to economic operators whose main aim is work integration of persons with disabilities and disadvantaged persons. Many are convinced that this provision undermines a level playing field among economic operators.

The reality is that ordinary businesses do not employ at least 30% of persons with disabilities or with disadvantages. Contracting authorities are not obliged to use this possibility in every single case: they can choose the contracts that are more suitable for the use of reserved contracts. Some Member States already have legislation in place that obliges public and private employers of a particular size to employ a certain percentage of people with disabilities. However, official statistics show that businesses often prefer to pay penalties instead of complying with such laws. For these reasons, reserved contracts are of paramount importance.

Second myth: the inclusion of quality criteria and social considerations in procurement procedures make rules too complex and increase the costs of the services, goods or works contracting authorities want to buy

Social considerations and quality criteria are additional criteria that can be included at certain stages of the procedure, in addition to price or cost, to assess bids.

The reality is that different elements are weighted in addition to price or cost and this does not necessarily mean increasing costs. On the contrary, the use of quality, social and environmental criteria in tendering procedures produces savings in public budgets in the medium- and long-term. In the context of contracts for social and health services, quality is essential for services that empower users and improve people’s lives.

In conclusion, public procurement, if well used, is a powerful tool to promote good policies that are likely to produce savings in the long run. For example, you can use public procurement to promote social services that encourage a social investment approach – shifting from the logic of pure social assistance – and empower people.

Our guide on public procurement is now also available in Portuguese!