Edited by Torino Social Impact

Policy & Practice

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25 November 2024

“The potential of Public Procurement for Social Economy enterprises”

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EESC opinions ask the European Commission a new European Action Strategy for public procurement

On October 23, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) approved an opinion on the potential of public procurement for social economy enterprises; the text emphasized that it’s crucial for social economy enterprises to have access to public procurement, and that it’s important to establish innovative criteria, with real, non-market value, taking into account for example social and ecological impact and territorial proximity. 

14% of Europe’s GDP, 15 trillion €, is spent on public procurement; however, according to a recent report on social impact of public procurement, most public contracts are still awarded based only on the economically most advantageous offer, without including environmental, social and innovation considerations in the selection process.

The document approved by the EESC highlighted five main obstacles to a larger use of public procurement practices

  1. differences in the way Member States had transposed the 2014 directive
  2. a lack of knowledge of the directive by the entities responsible for awarding public contracts
  3. difficulties in implementing the directive
  4. the underdevelopment of social economy ecosystems
  5. the public sector’s lack of knowledge of local social enterprises

The EESC therefore calls on the European Commission to adopt a European Action strategy on public procurement as soon as possible, and to amend some of the articles of the 2014 Directive to make it more effective, stressing that the experiences of recent years have shown that public procurement can contribute to achieving the Union’s social objectives..

To read more about the document, visit the EESC website