About CSED’s Social Procurement Initiative
CSED, in conjunction with the working group, is advancing four areas:
Social Enterprise Directory
CSED maintains a directory of almost 140 Ottawa and Eastern Ontario social purpose organizations, and Indigenous and Black-owned for-profit organizations. Organizations are encouraged to register and add their profile to the Directory.
Matching Service
Through the social procurement working group, CSED offers a matching service that looks to introduce social enterprises with purchasing organizations for facilitated opportunities. The services offers a unique opportunity to introduce a social enterprise into an organization. CSED’s involvement can range from a simple introduction to a more in-depth assessment of the need and supplier capabilities.
Procurement Collaboration & Support
The social procurement working group provides an opportunity for procurement leads to network, share and support their peers. The group has identified key challenges and potential solutions to enable and accelerate social procurement in the Ottawa/Eastern Ontario marketplace. Collectively, they represent over $600M/year in goods and services purchasing and 30,000+ employees and leverage this extensive procurement knowledge in seeking common approaches and solutions.
Knowledge Database
Leveraging individual and corporate knowledge of the working group, CSED has created a shared Knowledge Database for use within the social procurement group to address areas such as Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) and procurement decisions, how Standing Offers impact social procurement, the use of Qualitative and Quantitative surveys in RFI/RFT and RFPS; Supplier Diversity and how organizations support social procurement within the confines of international trade agreements and the Ontario government’s Broader Public Sector Procurement Directive (BPSP).
