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Last week I was invited to participate in a round table on social clauses in public procurement organised by the Luxembourgish Union of social and solidarity economy. The message that emerged from the debate is that the new public procurement directive has paved the way for a new dynamic that should trigger local authorities to buy services, goods and works that ensure value for money, respect the environment and contribute to social cohesion and innovation.

Luxembourg is still transposing the directive into national law. To benefit the most from this directive, after trnsposition is concluded, it will be necessary to put in place measures to ensure its effective implementation: training, legal advice, and exchange of good practices from other EU countries – said the Minister for sustainable development and infrastructures. I illustrated for example the good practice of Solidarité des Alternatives Wallonnes (SAW-B), a federation of social economy organisations, in Belgium. It has developed several programmes and tools aimed at spreading social clauses in public procurement procedures (namely meetings with public buyers and local social enterprises, a helpdesk service and counselling services for contracting authorities on how to manage the use of social and environmental considerations in public procurement). I also recalled the good practice of the city of Barcelona that requires its contracting bodies to make use of reserved contracts and social and environmental considerations in tendering procedures. Normally the use of reserved contracts and the inclusion of these clauses are considered to be the exception and not the rule. Barcelona instead makes them “the rule”. These are just some examples of good practices contained in our guide “Public procurement for social progress”. ULESS has also published a very good guide that contains other examples.

At the conference, we also highlighted that the directive offers the chance for for-profit companies and social economy enterprises to work together to jointly respond to calls for tenders that will include social and environmental considerations. Jean-Luc Majerus, an entrepreneur from the constructions sector, pointed out how the directive opens a window of opportunity to test new ways of cooperation between the tradtional economy and social economy.

For this to happen, a change in the mentality of procurers and entrepreneurs has to happen. For example, a widespread myth is that including quality, social and environmental consideration in procurement procedures increases the cost of the service, good or work to be procured. This is not true, as what it implies is that a set of criteria (social, environmental, quality) are weighted alongside the price or cost. If we are able to use public procurement as an instrument to encourage public authorities to better spend taxpayers’ money, we will also be able to produce savings in public budgets in the medium and long run. Nicolas Schmit, Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy, welcomed the shift from the “dictatorship” of price in awarding contracts: what is not the most expensive, becomes the most expensive because it doesn’t take into account the social and environmental aspects.

Someone from the panel said that by including reserved markets, social and environmental considerations you can save 20% in public budgets. Public and private sectors can work together for more sustainable and cohesive societies. You simply need political will, an open attitude to new collaborations and a new learning phase. Let’s do it!