Social Procurement
Description: The Region of Durham's Finance Department is undertaking research to explore the potential development of a Social Procurement Policy. Social Procurement is the intentional use of an organization’s purchasing activities to generate positive social, economic, and cultural outcomes for the community by incorporating social value considerations into procurement planning, processes, and contract delivery.
Host Department: Finance
Type of Collaboration: Open to collaboration type
Anticipated Outcome(s): Jurisdictional scan; Report containing findings of research & recommendations
Anticipated Deliverables: The project will examine the following questions: Does social procurement cost more? Do social outcomes justify additional expenditure? If so, which social procurement approaches deliver the strongest measurable community benefit for each public dollar spent, and where should Durham prioritize it's efforts. Work will involve conducting data collection, environmental scanning of practices across municipalities and other relevant organizations, benchmarking & best practices, reviewing relevant policies and research, measuring benefits of social procurement and whether they outweigh any extra costs, and developing a shortlist of categories suitable for a pilot. This project will build on existing preliminary work and will provide insights to support future policy considerations within the Region.
Timeline: 4 months
Desired Start Date: Winter Semester 2027
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