The European Commission (EC) will produce a report that collects good practices on socially responsible public procurement (SRPP), and ICLEI is are supporting the EC to identify these outstanding examples from local, regional, national and European buyers.
Buying social is about acquiring ethical products and services; using public tenders to promote decent work along the supply chain; introducing gender equality criteria or other social considerations in your tenders; using the light regime for social services, reserved contracts to encourage social outcomes, and accelerating inclusion of people with disabilities by including certain specifications in your tenders, among others.
ICLEI will also support a communication campaign - #WeBuySocialEU - to reach public procurers and authorities to share with them the advantages of SRPP and encourage them to invest time and money on it, and to reach social economy businesses to provide information on the possibilities of SRPP and facilitate their participation in public tendering.

The International Working Group on Ethics in Public Procurement brings together leading European public buyers of IT as a means for exchange, stock taking, discussion and identification of actions towards a next-generation ethical procurement of IT. This report documents their main activities in 2022.

The Sustainable Trade Champions good practice reports showcase inspiring and replicable practices by EU cities that help advance sustainable trade, consumption, and production.
Drawn exclusively from the applications to the two editions of the ‘EU Cities for Fair and Ethical Trade Award’ (2019, 2021), the reports contain local and international stories of positive change for consumers locally and producers globally.

EC GPP Case Study - Malta’s National Action Plan (NAP) for Green Public Procurement (GPP), for years 2019-2025, makes it mandatory for all contracting authorities to include GPP criteria in their tenders for cleaning products and services. The criteria are based on the EU GPP Criteria.

This Procurement Policy Note (PPN) launches a new model to deliver social value through government's commercial activities.

The city of Bremen commissioned the new report ‘Beyond Buying: how can the circular economy principles feed sustainable public procurement policies and practices?’ to outline how municipalities can include circular economy principles into their procurement policies and practices. The report also makes policy recommendations to support these efforts and mainstream sustainability across the procurement process.

This second edition of ‘Buying social: A guide to taking account of social considerations in public procurement’ provides practical indications for public buyers to consider the social impact of the goods, services, and works they purchase. The guide is updated to reflect the changes brought about by the 2014 EU directives on public procurement and includes suggestions on how to use public procurement to achieve social goals. It covers the entire procurement process step-by-step, including information on how to set up an organisational strategy for socially responsible public procurement (SRPP), how to plan the tender procedure, as well as elements of contract management. To inspire public buyers, as well as other government and non-governmental stakeholders, each section also includes best practice examples and practical takeaways.

ICLEI is developing an updated version of the EU Commission's Buying Social - a Guide on taking account of social considerations in public procurement

This declaration from the german federal procurement office addresses the following questions: How can procurers in public procurement take responsibility from bidders for ensuring that human rights are respected by all participants in complex ICT supply chains? In what way can the contracting authority take on this responsibility for the public sector? How can the requirements be designed in such a way that bidders can take on the required responsibility and are able to submit bids?