The Irish Social Enterprise Network were delighted to help launch the Buying for Social Impact Event as a partnership with our European membership networks Social Economy Europe Network, European Network for Social Integration Enterprises, DIESIS and the EU Commission. The event was primarily for Irish Procurement teams for public authorities. The event was opened by Minister Ring from the Department of Community and Rural Development and rounded off by Andrew Forde from DRCD. Estelle Bacconnier, Policy Officer in charge of the social economy, European Commission, DG Grow spoke on the topic of ‘Development of socially responsible Public Procurement in the European Union:the Buying for Social Impact project’.
The outcome from the conference will be posted soon and will make up part of ISEN submissions to make changes to procurement in future.
Buying for Social Impact (BSI) is a project commissioned by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) and the European Commission Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) to promote the use of social considerations in public procurement procedures. The project has two main objectives:
• To encourage contracting authorities to use public procurement to pursue social goals;
• To Increase the capacity of social economy enterprises to take part in public procurement procedures and to access new markets.
The project covers 15 Member States: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden.
What we do
We inform authorities and suppliers in these countries about social considerations in purchasing procedures by raising awareness, and by providing training to contracting authoritiesandsupplierstothepublicsector.TheworkofBSIisdividedintotwostrands:
- Knowledge development through desk research on: how the new public procurement directive has been transposed at national level, identification of good practices showcasing how the social aspects of the directive can be implemented in practice, and a mapping of the capacity of social economy enterprises in accessing markets.
- Knowledge sharing and exchange through the organisation of awareness raising and training events in the 15 EU countries.Who We Are
The BSI Team consists of a network of National Public Procurement and Social Economy
experts in the above-mentioned EU countries. The Team of National Experts is coordinated Page | 2 by a Consortium led by the European Association for Information on Local Development
(AEIDL) bringing together European organisations active in the promotion of local development and social economy enterprises: the European Network of Cities and Regions
for the Social Economy (REVES), DIESIS COOP, Social Economy Europe (SEE) and the
European Network of Social Integration Enterprises (ENSIE).The project in Ireland is implemented by Social Economy Europe in cooperation with the Irish Social Enterprise Network, the representative network for social enterprises for ENSIE in Ireland.
- Location: DublinCityCouncil–RediscoveryCentre,Ballymun,Dublin9.
- Time & Date: 09:00 to 17:00 on Thursday 5th of September 2019
- Format: Conference. Breakout session
Who We Are
The BSI Team consists of a network of National Public Procurement and Social Economy
experts in the above-mentioned EU countries. The Team of National Experts is coordinated Page | 2 by a Consortium led by the European Association for Information on Local Development
(AEIDL) bringing together European organisations active in the promotion of local development and social economy enterprises: the European Network of Cities and Regions
for the Social Economy (REVES), DIESIS COOP, Social Economy Europe (SEE) and the
European Network of Social Integration Enterprises (ENSIE).
The project in Ireland is implemented by Social Economy Europe in cooperation with the Irish Social Enterprise Network, the representative network for social enterprises for ENSIE in Ireland.
- Location: DublinCityCouncil–RediscoveryCentre,Ballymun,Dublin9.
- Time & Date: 09:00 to 17:00 on Thursday 5th of September 2019
- Format: Conference. Breakout session
