Purchasing with purpose: tools to develop an organisational strategy for social procurement

This resource provides two tools to help organisations plan their purchasing and procurement to achieve social benefits.

At a glance

Two tools have been designed for teams or individuals who are in charge of planning organisational purchasing or procurement processes and decisions:

• a framework to assess the organisation’s progress towards strategic procurement
• a checklist and action list for each phase in developing a social procurement strategy.

Dive deeper

The Steps towards Social Procurement framework is a four-stage model to help organisations assess their progress towards strategic procurement. It is based on Telgen, Harland and Knight’s model (2007) of seven stages towards strategic procurement and modified to reflect Australia’s advanced procurement legal and policy context

The checklists and action lists provide a systematic approach for each phase in developing a social procurement strategy. They draw on advice for creating social value across local government supply chains as identified in Social procurement: a guide for Victorian local government (Department of Planning and Community Development 2010) and Beyond value for money in procurement – social procurement in Victorian local government (Department of Environment & Municipal Association of Victoria 2017).

This research is a product of the Bayside Regional Partnership Disability Employment Project, an initiative of the BSL NDIS Local Area Coordination Team, the BSL Research and Policy Centre and the seven local governments servicing the Bayside Peninsula Region. The project aims to support Victorian councils in becoming employers of choice for people with disability.

This paper is part of wider BSL research into the value and potential of social procurement in expanding opportunities for disadvantaged jobseekers.