The Public Procurement Agency (PPA) is developing a Social Procurement Policy to enhance the social impacts of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s purchasing activities. The Public Procurement Agency wants to hear from stakeholders to ensure that any newly developed policy meets the needs and expectations of both residents, vendors, advocacy groups, and industry leaders in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Social procurement means the inclusion of relevant social considerations into processes for procuring goods, services and public works alongside traditional considerations like price, quality and technical specifications.
Social procurement provides benefits in two primary ways:
(1) by utilizing the procurement process in a manner so that public expenditures are not only used to obtain goods and services, but provide social benefit as well; and
(2) by encouraging suppliers to include social benefit considerations into their own business processes.
This engagement seeks to explore how a social procurement policy could be implemented in Newfoundland and Labrador.
This engagement is focused on the means by which government can better leverage public spending to accrue social benefits and reduce barriers to the marketplace while minimizing the burden on vendors and suppliers. Environmental impacts and the facilitation of local procurement opportunities are outside the scope of this engagement as PPA has pursued separate engagement opportunities on these issues.
Background and Purpose
The Public Procurement Agency’s mandate is derived from the Public Procurement Act (the Act). It includes the purchase of goods and services as the central procurement unit of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador as well as the oversight of, and establishment of policies for, the procurement activities for all provincial public bodies.
The legal framework providing the authority for the development of a Social Procurement Policy is contained within the Act, Public Procurement Regulations, and the Public Procurement Policy. The Act provides the Chief Procurement Officer with the authority to develop and publish general policies for the procurement of commodities for application by some or all provincial public bodies. It also requires the Chief Procurement Officer to, in the development of those policies, apply any social, economic and environmental priorities that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may direct. The Act also states that public bodies shall value diversity in procurement.
Given the purchasing power of public bodies, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador can use its procurement activities to leverage social value for residents.
A Social Procurement Policy will also encourage vendors and suppliers to consider the social impacts of their operations.
The development of a Social Procurement Policy must balance social needs with economic costs. Such a policy should encourage socially responsible procurement while minimizing any additional burden to public bodies and vendors/suppliers.
Public bodies have many opportunities to create positive social impacts through their purchasing activities. It is intended that implementing a Social Procurement Policy will both reward vendors and suppliers for actions that add social value, and encourage businesses to pursue these approaches in order to improve their ability to compete for future procurement opportunities.
Social value is typically understood as the effects on people and communities that occur as a result of a policy, actions and/or activities. The application of which results in changes and impacts that occur to people and their communities. Typically, social value is pursued to enhance equity and opportunities for those individuals and groups facing systemic barriers to employment and the marketplace.
The Social Procurement Policy will seek to explore how public procurement may facilitate opportunities to achieve positive social impacts via purchasing activities. This would typically be achieved by considering the inclusion of social requirements in procurement activities or by purchasing from under-represented businesses/groups.
Get Involved
To make an informed decision, the Public Procurement Agency is seeking your views on the development of a Social Procurement Policy. The input from this questionnaire is an essential element in ensuring any policy meets the needs of stakeholders and residents in the province.
Thank you in advance for your participation.
Online Questionnaire:
This questionnaire will be available until Tuesday, April 12, 2022. It should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete this questionnaire.
If you have any questions related to this questionnaire or require an alternate format please contact the department at the contact information below.
Please note: You must log in or register to participate.
The information we receive will be reviewed by the Public Procurement Agency. All feedback will be considered when developing the Social Procurement Policy.
Privacy Statement
Please do not include your name or any information that could identify you. Please do not provide unnecessary personal information on any open-ended questions. The collection of information is done under the authority of section 61(c) of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015, for the purpose of collecting public feedback on the Social Procurement Policy.
If you have questions about how this information will be collected, used, or disclosed, please email [email protected] or call (709) 729-0358.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or additional comments regarding this engagement opportunity, please contact:
