Social Procurement and SROI in Public Tenders

What is social procurement?

Social procurement means governments include social objectives in their tenders, creating social value through public contracts, such as employment for people distant from the labor market.

SROI: Social Return on Investment

SROI is the most common instrument for social procurement in the Netherlands. It requires contractors to spend a percentage of the contract value (typically 2-5%) on employing people with a distance to the labor market.

How SROI works

1. The contracting authority sets an SROI percentage
2. The contractor fulfills this through social deployment
3. An SROI plan is created after award
4. Monitoring and reporting during execution

Target groups

Long-term unemployed, people with disabilities, refugees with status, 50+ unemployed, youth without qualifications, and social assistance recipients.

Implementation options

Employment, apprenticeships, hiring through sheltered workshops, subcontracting to social enterprises, and training programs.

SROI in the procurement process

Most commonly included as a special execution condition. Can also be used as an award criterion within MEAT, where higher social investment earns more points.

Legal framework

The Procurement Act 2012 provides space through Article 2.80 (special execution conditions) and Article 2.82 (social and labor-related conditions).