To Boldly Go: Social Clauses in Public Procurement

Abstract

Public procurement has become exciting for labour lawyers. With the adoption of three new ‘revised and modernised’ directives on public procurement in 2014, whose express aims include enabling ‘procurers to make better use of public procurement to support common societal goals’, labour lawyers need to start taking procurement law seriously. At a time when the EU and domestic legislative cupboard in the social field is pretty bare, public procurement may offer a lever to deliver social change. This article will explore some of the potential offered by procurement law to achieve employment law objectives.