Social Procurement Practices in the Construction Industry
Summary
Social procurement in construction refers to the deliberate integration of social objectives into the purchasing of goods, services and works. It extends beyond cost and quality considerations to prioritise outcomes such as local employment, skills development, inclusion of marginalised groups and community well-being. Driven by public policy imperatives and corporate social responsibility goals, social procurement reshapes contract design, performance metrics and stakeholder relationships across the supply chain. Practitioners employ innovative targeting strategies and performance-based specifications to embed socioeconomic development targets—such as local hire quotas, supplier diversity requirements and training commitments—into bid evaluation and contract management. While success stories demonstrate tangible benefits for disadvantaged populations and host communities, the field grapples with barriers including misaligned policies, role ambiguity among practitioners, resource constraints and fragmented supply chains. Enablers such as dedicated “champions” of social procurement, collaborative frameworks and robust monitoring systems have emerged as critical to translating policy into practice. Globally, projects from South Africa to Scandinavia reveal how a mix of top-down mandates and bottom-up innovations can coalesce to deliver social value through construction investment.
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Social Procurement Practices in the Construction Industry publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in social procurement practices in the construction industry across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Social procurement: A procurement approach that intentionally seeks social and economic benefits in addition to traditional value for money.
Social value: The broader benefits to communities and society generated by a project, including employment, skills development and social inclusion.
Performance-based specification: A contractual requirement that defines desired outcomes or performance levels rather than prescribing detailed methods.
Capability empowerment approach: A theoretical framework that assesses how opportunities and resources enable individuals to achieve valued functionings and reduce social vulnerabilities.
References
- A Systematic Literature Review of Research on Social Procurement in the Construction and Infrastructure Sector: Barriers, Enablers, and Strategies. Sustainability (2023).
- Using construction procurement strategy to achieve socioeconomic development objectives. Heliyon (2024).
- Social Sustainability in Projects: Using Social Procurement to Create Employment in the Swedish Construction Sector. Project Management Journal (2022).
- Preventing Youth Homelessness through Social Procurement in Construction: A Capability Empowerment Approach. Sustainability (2021).
- Champions of Social Procurement in the Australian Construction Industry: Evolving Roles and Motivations. Buildings (2021).
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