Encourage use of social procurement
Action 3: Encourage use of social procurement arrangements by large organisations in the region to increase sustainable employment for our priority communities.
Engage with government procurement leadership to maximise the opportunity of social procurement in the region
Focus area: Maximise workforce
Timeframe: Year 1-2
Encourage the region’s councils to join the Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui Accord on social procurement and take up opportunities to build social procurement capacity and capability.
Te Upoko o Te Ika a Māui Commitment is a region-wide agreement to use procurement as a tool for building social and economic prosperity
Focus area: Maximise workforce
Timeframe: Year 1-2
Promote inclusion of Living Wage criterion in social procurement requirements, with a view to the procuring organisation becoming an accredited Living Wage employer
Focus area: Thriving workplaces
Timeframe: Year 1-2
What ‘good’ looks like
We want actions that will make a difference.
When a council called for tenders for a major new build, it wasn’t just looking for the lowest price. It has adopted a procurement policy that emphasises economic, social, cultural, environmental and public well-being outcomes. To be successful, the contractor needed to show, amongst other criteria, that it was making a commitment to formal and well supported staff training, that it had systems in place to support staff, and that it paid the Living Wage or above. Encouraging and spreading this powerful tool of social procurement is high on the agenda in this plan.
See appendix 1 for a summary of our priority communities and sectors