Seminars on Public Procurement and Social Enterprises in Örebro
Region Örebro county and the Partnership for Social Innovation have over the past week facilitated two half-day seminars on the topic of public procurement and social enterprises. The seminars reached a large portion of the social enterprises in the region.
The first seminar was held on the 24 May in the city of Lindesberg. Representatives working in the procurement departments of Region Örebro county, Nora municipality and Lindesbergs municipality presented an introduction of public procurement, the legal framework, practical information and local examples of social public procurement. The event was attended by social enterprises from the northern municipalities of Örebro county.
The second seminar had a similar agenda and took place on 28 May in Bohmanssonsalen at Örebro University Hospital. The attending social enterprises were primarily from Örebro municipality.
During both seminars there were interesting discussions on how the small social enterprises in the region can play an important role in both small and large scale public procurement. The procurement departments of Region Örebro county, Nora municipality and Lindesbergs municipality all agreed that they have political support and pressures to increase the social aspects of public procurement. They also made the point of the importance of informing the public procurement departments of the available services provided by social enterprises in the region. Several social enterprises expressed an interest of expanding their areas of business as a result of the discussions.
More conversations and actions on the topic need to be facilitated this autumn.
