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Social Plarform has developed the guide “Public procurement for social progress” that shows how procurement can be used to achieve social policy objectives. The guide is now available in English, French and Spanish. You can download it from our web site. Version in Italian, German and Croatian will follow in the coming weeks. In this article you will find in a nutshell what can be done.

Public procurement can foster employment opportunities for people who are far away from the labour market. This is possible in different ways. Contracting authorities can restrict tendering procedures for works, goods and services to economic operators that have as mission the social and professional integration of persons with disabilities and disadvantaged persons. These operators include social economy enterprises. This option is called “reserved contracts”.

For example, in Italy, the Municipality of Gabicce Mare restricted a tendering procedure for the cleaning service of municipal buildings to economic operators with the characteristics specified above. The Municipality decided to select the contractor by using a combination of award criteria, previously called “most economically advantageous tender – MEAT” (the new directive uses the term “Best Price-Quality Ratio – BPQR”).  A weighting of 30% was given to the economic offer, while the technical offer was weighted 70%. The technical offer included, among others, 15 points for the quality of the work integration project of disadvantaged persons, 16 points for the creation of stable workplaces for them, and 9 points for the organisation, qualification and experience of the staff assigned to the contract.

Employment opportunities can also be achieved in other ways, through the so-called social considerations. If contracting authorities use MEAT (now BPQR) instead of the lowest price or cost, offers can be evaluated by taking into account different criteria: social considerations, environmental considerations, quality and price or cost. An example of social considerations can be illustrated by a procedure designed by the city of Burgos in Spain. The latter assigned 22 points to the work integration project of persons at risk of social exclusion – complying with Spanish law definition – in a procedure concerning the management, control and proper functioning of recycling centres.

Another virtuous example is the decree that the city council of Barcelona issued to require its contracting bodies to make use of reserved contracts and social (and environmental) considerations in award criteria and contract performance clauses. With this decree, the city of Barcelona set the obligation to consider the use of social clauses and reserved contracts the rule (and not the exception) in tendering procedures.

Tendering procedures should also ensure the accessibility of works, goods and services for the use of physical persons. In the case of ICT, a European Standard on accessibility requirements for ICT products and services is available. At EU level, a standard is being developed to include design for all in relevant standardisation initiatives, as well as a standard on accessibility of the built environment.

Public procurement can promote equal opportunities and gender equality. In Belgium, Selor, an organisation that provides recruitment services for the public administration, included equal opportunities in an offer for the development of selection tests. The contracts were screened on the basis of the methodology used in the drafting of tests, and more specifically with regards to the test’s gender neutrality.

Finally, public procurement can ensure a high level of quality in public contracts for social and health services, also going beyond what is required by law. The city of Edinburgh used 70% quality criteria (and 30% cost) in the tendering of services for homeless people.

With MEAT and BPQR – that recalls BBQ – , there is a lot of meat on the table provided by the new directive to achieve social progress! If you have any other good practice, please do not hesitate to share it with us.