Integrating social procurement into your sourcing strategy

As corporate responsibility becomes a performance driver, integrating social procurement into your sourcing strategy is no longer an option but a necessity. This approach is part of a sustainable procurement logic, aligning with the growing expectations of stakeholders. But how do you define social procurement, measure its concrete benefits, and implement it effectively? Complete insight.

What is social procurement? Understanding the fundamentals

Before transforming your sourcing strategy, it's essential to understand precisely what social procurement entails. This approach is based on well-defined principles, both regulatory, social and economic.

Definition of social procurement and scope of application

Social procurement is an integral part of sustainable procurement. It's a procurement act that incorporates, beyond economic performance criteria, a clear intention to generate positive environmental or social impact. Practically, this means favouring suppliers from the social and solidarity economy (SSE), such as adapted enterprises, ESAT (Establishments or Services for Assistance through Work), or economic integration structures.

It's important to distinguish social procurement from sustainable procurement. While both stem from an ethical approach, the former focuses specifically on social solidarity, whilst the latter also encompasses environmental, ethical, or economic issues. In this context, social procurement can also aim to reconcile economic efficiency and social utility, fully integrating into responsible consumption logic.

This approach enables businesses to act concretely for inclusion and social cohesion, whilst meeting their operational needs. It also provides a response to the growing expectations of stakeholders — customers, employees, partners — regarding corporate responsibility.

Regulatory framework and legal obligations

The rise of social procurement is also supported by a favourable legal framework. In France, several mechanisms encourage this practice, starting with the Pacte law, which integrates corporate purpose and social mission into French law. Meanwhile, the EGAlim law or the circular economy law impose quotas or incentives to favour procurement from the SSE in public procurement.

At European level, similar frameworks support these dynamics. The European Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement allows the introduction of social and environmental clauses in tenders, thus providing a lever for committed stakeholders. Countries like Italy, with its law on social cooperatives (L.381/91), or Spain, with the Ley de Contratos del Sector Público, also impose specific measures to include social enterprises in public markets. Lastly, the European Regulation on the social economy, adopted in 2023, aims to harmonise national approaches and strengthen the recognition of SSE in the Union's economic policies.

And social clauses in public or private tenders are becoming increasingly frequent. As Antoine Compin, Managing Director of Manutan France,[1] emphasises:

"In tenders, criteria linked to CSR and each supplier's strategy are increasingly important in the final score. This proves that our customers increasingly expect their partners to incorporate something into their strategy that corresponds to their obligations."

Social procurement, far from being a constraint, thus becomes a genuine lever for sustainable performance, in line with market expectations and regulation. For organisations, integrating these practices today means anticipating tomorrow's requirements.

Why integrate social procurement into your sourcing strategy?

Beyond regulatory obligations, social procurement represents a transformation lever for businesses. Their integration into a sustainable procurement policy can generate lasting and concrete benefits.

Economic, social, and image advantages

Integrating social procurement into your strategy first allows aligning economic performance and social utility. Contrary to preconceptions, social procurement is not synonymous with additional cost or complexity. It can involve routine services (cleaning, logistics, furniture) provided by social and solidarity economy structures, often agile, competitive, and locally anchored.

Using these committed suppliers contributes to reducing carbon footprint, developing inclusive employment, and revitalising territories. Moreover, sustainable procurement and, particularly, social procurement enhance the company's image with its stakeholders: customers, employees and investors.

This ethical positioning becomes a strong marker of the employer brand, particularly in a context of talent wars and the quest for meaning at work.

As Pierre-Olivier Brial, Deputy Managing Director of Manutan[2], emphasises:

"Environmental and social responsibility issues must be placed at the heart of the business model. Why? Because otherwise, as soon as the economic climate becomes unfavourable, these are the first subjects we abandon. They shouldn't be considered peripheral, but rather progressively integrated at the centre of the model."

A differentiation lever in markets

Social procurement also establishes itself as a competitive differentiation factor. In both public and private markets, tenders now incorporate CSR criteria that weigh significantly in evaluation grids.

Companies capable of demonstrating genuine commitment in their sustainable procurement strategy thus have a competitive advantage, particularly in segments sensitive to environmental and social impact.

Making social procurement a pillar of your strategy means combining purpose, performance, and competitiveness.

Implementing a social procurement policy: best practices and experience feedback

Establishing a social procurement strategy cannot be improvised. It relies on a clear vision, progressive structuring, and engagement from the entire organisation.

Developing a strategy consistent with your CSR policy

To integrate social procurement sustainably, the first step consists of fully incorporating it into the company's CSR strategy. This involves mapping internal needs: what types of procurement can be entrusted to social and solidarity economy structures? What volumes and frequencies are feasible?

Simultaneously, it's essential to identify potential suppliers among adapted enterprises, ESAT, cooperatives, or integration associations. The involvement of internal stakeholders — procurement managers, CSR management, operational services — is key to creating a collective and sustainable dynamic. This approach gives meaning to the sustainable procurement policy whilst fostering cross-functionality.

Building on structured and sustainable partnerships

The success of social procurement also relies on the quality of partnerships established with SSE structures. It's not about purchasing occasionally but developing solid and mutually beneficial relationships.

Integrating social clauses into contracts allows framing commitments and formalising expectations. Similarly, implementing monitoring indicators — procurement volumes, number of people in integration mobilised, qualitative feedback — facilitates evaluating the generated impact. This professionalisation of practices strengthens the credibility of implemented actions.

Concrete examples at Manutan and elsewhere

At Manutan, the approach is concrete and exemplary. As Pierre-Olivier Brial, Deputy Managing Director of Manutan[3], explains:

"We've established circular economy offerings: when a customer wants to purchase new furniture, we offer to collect their old furniture via integration structures. This furniture is then reconditioned and resold within the social and solidarity economy framework. This model enables us to win tenders. It's very concrete."

This furniture is then reconditioned and returned to the market via solidarity circuits. This model allows meeting customer needs whilst also winning tenders linked to sustainable procurement.

Other companies have adopted similar approaches, integrating SSE structures into their supply chain, proving that every social procurement opportunity can become a vector for overall performance.

Thus, a company specialising in eco-friendly office supplies has established a partnership with a local integration workshop for manufacturing recycled ink cartridges. By collecting old cartridges from its customers, the company entrusts them to this workshop, where they're sorted, cleaned, refilled, and reconditioned according to strict standards.

This system enables reducing waste whilst also creating local employment opportunities and incorporating procurement into a circular economy logic. Thanks to this approach, this company has accessed new public markets integrating demanding CSR criteria.

Thus, integrating social procurement into your sourcing strategy transforms every procurement act into a positive impact lever; more than a societal commitment, it's a genuine competitive and sustainability asset.