The Potential of Social Procurement

Melbourne School of Government and social procurement

As our government departments and agencies at federal, state and local levels are the largest purchaser of goods, services and construction projects in Australia, the potential for public expenditure to improve social and economic outcomes through social and Indigenous procurement is extremely significant. This is evidenced by the role that social procurement is playing in stimulating economic and social recovery from the recent Australian bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.

MSoG is creating partnerships with government agencies, NGOs and industry to improve the uptake and impact of social procurement initiatives. This program of work will assist government departments and agencies through:

• program evaluation
• research on measuring the value and impact of social procurement programs, optimal design of social procurement criteria, contracts and implementation mechanisms, and the impact of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth ) on procurement
• co-design of social procurement pilots and trials
• providing recommendations for improvement of existing programs or program expansion
• development of education and training programs

For this project, a multidisciplinary approach is needed to take into account the social, environmental and economic aspects of social procurement. To support this, MSoG will bring in expertise across a number of faculties and schools at the University depending on the project.

There is potential for the findings from this program of work to be adopted by other jurisdictions and countries, as well as across all levels of government.

Want to learn more?