Exciting policy progress at the City of Winnipeg
Last week, the City announced a Request for Proposals for a food service provider at City Hall, including 20% of the evaluation criteria on Community and Environment Benefits – possible considerations include advancing reconciliation, training & jobs for people with barriers to employment, addressing poverty & homelessness, using local & sustainable food sourcing, a zero waste strategy, and more. Read all the possibilities here.
A positive step for Social Procurement
Social Procurement is a policy tool to leverage positive social, environmental, and economic outcomes from government purchasing. This is a sign of progress on this innovative approach at the City of Winnipeg. While not only fulfilling the procurement need of having a food provider at City Hall, the RFP incentivizes bidders to include social and environmental outcomes in their proposals. The language included in this contract is an example of policy that could get greater value and community impact through municipal procurement dollars.
This RFP comes during the same time when a group of CCEDNet Manitoba social enterprise members and allied organizations – calling ourselves the We Want to Work coalition – have been collaborating to encourage the city to adopt social procurement policies throughout its projects. So, this news is encouraging!
Currently, Mother Earth Recycling, an Indigenous-owned social enterprise, has a contract with the city to recycle mattresses from Brady Landfill, while providing training and employment for people with multiple barriers to employment.
Our goal is to boost the use of social procurement at the city level through direct purchasing from social enterprises and Community Benefits Agreements for large projects – so that economic, social, and environmental outcomes can be achieved simultaneously and local communities benefit.
Want to get involved or show your support? Contact Michael Barkman (CCEDNet Manitoba Public Policy Coordinator): m.barkman [at] ccednet-rcdec.ca or call 204.943.0547.
Interested in the proposal?
For interested proponents, there will be an Open House at the site on March 5, 2020 between 2pm and 4pm
The RFP closes Tuesday, April 14, 2020 at 12pm
