Victoria takes the lead on social procurement

19 Oct 2010

Source  Pro Bono News
The Victorian Government has launched a guide to social procurement in Local Government - as part of a national project to develop social procurement procedures for organisations and individuals. The Centre for Social Impact (UNSW) together with Social Traders, Foresters Community Finance, the Victorian Government, Parramatta City Council and Brisbane City Council are all funding a national research project into social procurement which is due for release later this year.

Social procurement is the process of an organisation choosing to purchase a service which will also provide a social outcome. The Victorian Government guide was launched by the Minister for Local Government, Richard Wynne and has been  developed to support Victorian councils deliver stronger social outcomes through procurement. It is closely aligned with Social Procurement in Australia, an overarching national paper commissioned by the Centre for Social Impact.

The Guide says that each year Victorian councils spend around $3 billion procuring goods and services in a wide variety of expenditure areas. Social procurement recognises the collective buying power of Victoria’s 79 councils and encourages councils to consider what could be achieved if even a small percentage of council spending was focused on ‘value adding’, so that the purchase of goods and services also had positive social outcomes.

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