Earlier this year, the European Commission released the second edition of a guide addressed to European contracting authorities on how to introduce social criteria into public tenders. It is a non-binding document that provides guidance for public buyers to consider the social impact of their purchases and to use social procurement to achieve social goals.

The purpose of the document is to raise public buyers’ awareness of the potential benefits of Socially Responsible Public Procurement (SRPP) while explaining practically the opportunities offered by the EU legal framework. The notice contains five chapters, with each section ending with takeaways. The document produced primarily for public buyers aims to inspire others involved in procurement – service providers, private buyers, social economy players, including social enterprises or NGOs. The guidance also includes about 30 case studies from EU public buyers, with chapters covering all aspects of the procurement process beyond the tendering procedure itself.

To discuss this topic, on June 14th Eurodiaconia held a Social Services Network Meeting for members. During the meeting, our members shared their experiences with public procurement and Ms Anna Lupi, from DG Grow, presented the Buying Social guide. The report of the meeting can be found here.

As a follow-up to this meeting, we have produced a briefing for our members on the Buying Social guide, where we summarise its main content and explain how members can make the best use out of it. You can access the briefing here.

To access the European Commission’s guide (available in all EU languages), please refer to this website.