From 21 to 23 January 2025 took place in Alcalá de Henares / Spain a seminar about “Responsible public procurement? The public sector in conflict over its role as an employer and as a guarantor of quality jobs”, organised by USO – CCFAS (Unión Sindical Obrera – Centro Confederal de Formación y Acción Social), in cooperation with EZA and funded by the European Union.
Firstly, the role of trade unions as social actors in demanding better public procurement conditions that guarantee labour rights and equal access to decent work, both at European level and within each country, has been highlighted as a priority issue.
In this regard, emphasis was placed on the guide that unites the trade union organisations grouped in EZA, which are united in a common objective which is humanism and the fight for the guarantee of labour rights and equal access to said rights, eliminating the barriers imposed on many people by their origin, sex, identity and/or gender expression, disability, among other conditions of vulnerability. Working for inclusion and equality must be a main topic on the trade union agenda.
The first panel, “Gender and Inclusion in Public Procurement”, addressed issues related to equality and inclusion in public procurement, highlighting the situations of inequality experienced by women, emphasizing women in rural areas and making visible different situations of multiple discrimination experienced by women in different labor sectors. Equality plans were presented as an effective strategy and an excellent opportunity to guarantee labor rights in accordance with the Spanish and Portuguese experience.
It was stressed that it is necessary to combat the situation of structural inequality of women, which hinders and limits hiring by companies led by women. Attention was also drawn to the precariousness and partiality of women's work that causes and widens gender gaps, as well as conscious and unconscious sexist practices in public procurement. The need to have empathetic, sensitized and trained public personnel who can incorporate the gender perspective in public procurement was emphasized.
It was also made clear that in many cases, equality obligations are seen to have a weaker momentum over time and in political discourses against equality. This is why it is essential to give a boost to equality policies in order to achieve social changes that impact public procurement and the workplace. The experience in Europe (both in Portugal and Spain) has taught us that equality is not achieved by decree; it requires constant work and a solid political commitment that must be promoted by unions to demand compliance with obligations both at the national and international level. The task is not to forget the intersectional approach and to make visible the multiple discriminations that women experience both in public procurement and in the labour market.
The second panel of the seminar, dedicated to the topic “Challenges and opportunities in the creation of decent employment”, addressed the challenges posed by decent employment contracting, taking into account the Spanish and Portuguese perspective, presenting the lessons learned in both countries, the European criteria and standards that influence this matter. In this module, it was concluded that it is urgent and essential to modify the Ley de Contratos del Sector Público / Public Sector Contracts Act (LCSP) in order to achieve socially responsible public contracting, where the quality of the service and employment takes precedence over the economic cost at the time of awarding. Or at least that this is not the only criterion to be taken into account. Equally important is to avoid fraud and under-contributions to social security and the public treasury, as well as to promote decent and quality employment, promote effective equality between men and women, as well as non-discrimination on the grounds of sex, age, sexual condition, country of birth, etc.
The third panel of the seminar was dedicated to “Fair and Transparent Public Procurement”. The emphasis was on the need to ensure that the companies awarded the contract comply with the specifications and provide an optimal service. In order to achieve this, administrations must:
Develop socially responsible specifications that prioritize quality over price.
Establish clear criteria for awarding contracts, with a proportional formula for calculating scores, clearly and specifically requiring compliance with current legislation.
Establish in the specifications mechanisms to be able to terminate contracts without penalty for the administration and the workers in the event of non-compliance by the companies.
The above must be specified in the modification of the Law of deindexation so that, as occurs in other sectors, the prices of the contest can be modified based on the prices of the products (for example, in construction) the costs of the contest can be modified when there are salary increases, either due to an increase in agreements or because the government modifies salaries (increase in the SMI).
In addition, the way in which social security debts are justified in order to be able to participate in competitions must be modified, compliance with sectoral collective agreements must be required and penalties and clauses for the termination of contracts must be included when salaries are systematically paid late or not paid monthly.
In order to comply with the Law, companies' equality plans must be duly approved and registered in the REGISTRO Y DEPÓSITO DE CONVENIOS COLECTIVOS / REGISTRATION AND DEPOSIT OF COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS (REGCON). In addition, the urgent need to have the Office for Monitoring and Control of public contracts in all public administrations awarded contracts was highlighted. Likewise, it is necessary to raise the requirements of economic and technical solvency of companies within the margins allowed by law and, with the same importance, it is necessary to allow the participation of social agents in all phases of the competition.
It is essential to have a formula that does not give decisive weight to an insignificant reduction in the economic offer, always respecting the necessary consideration of the price when choosing the offer with the best quality-price ratio and taking into account the importance of workers' remuneration in the sectoral cost structure.
The last module of the seminar was devoted to addressing the issue of “Public Contracting of External Services”. The precariousness of labour at the expense of public contracting is one of the main elements to combat. The execution phases of public contracting involve specific complexities and require solid institutional capacities to ensure that each of them is executed properly. As social agents, unions have the obligation to demand compliance with the law and that in the execution of public contracts, the specifications establish guarantees to respect the rights of workers with their respective salary updates. The technical staff of public administrations has a great responsibility in public contracts. They must be guarantors of compliance with the legal principles and, as unions, we must monitor and be aware of proper execution.
Corporate failures in the execution of public contracts must not be tolerated by the public sector, nor should the quality of privatised services be allowed to be lost due to a reduction in prices. The unsuccessful tenders show that the criterion that prevails in public contracts is the lowest economic offer.
It was also noted that security, cleaning and ambulance services are some of the services subject to public procurement that have experienced the most deficiencies and that have the fewest material resources for their execution. In addition, emphasis was placed on the legitimate interest and active legitimation of trade unions to be able to appeal abusive tenders in which the interests and rights of workers are at stake. Various areas of opportunity were pointed out in responsible public procurement, such as discretion, the absence of a systematization of companies prevented from contracting and the lack of adequate supervision.
In addition, international standards in public procurement were addressed at this roundtable, analysing the particularities of the European directives and the shortcomings of Law 9/2017 on public sector contracts in their transposition. In this regard, it was highlighted that the European Directives contain proposals drawn up by the trade union organisations in which USO has participated. In this process of European social dialogue, efforts have been undertaken to ensure that labour rights are guaranteed in public procurement and that states legislatively harmonise their national law in accordance with these international instruments. Among the contents of these directives, social clauses, equality measures, transparency and non-discrimination in public procurement were highlighted.
In conclusion, public procurement faces serious challenges in meeting its objectives. Achieving inclusive public procurement with a gender perspective is essential to make it effective and in accordance with democratic principles. The lessons learned have shown us that we need greater transparency, standardization of its operation and criteria that do not allow the cheapening of offers due to the sacrifice of working conditions and basic rights, as well as the guarantee of compliance with the principles of legal certainty, legality, transparency and respect for fundamental rights within public procurement processes. As trade union organizations, we must demand greater supervision by public administrations and accompany the procurement processes, make visible the deficiencies in them and point out the points of improvement and needs for legal and operational modifications to consolidate responsible public procurement that respects labor rights.