Procurement category: Construction
Social impacts targeted: Employment of disadvantaged groups
Background
Slovakia has one of the largest Roma communities in Europe (67,179 persons in 2021), a population which is suffering from a high risk of poverty and social exclusion. Indeed, this ethnic minority faces several challenges, such as poverty caused by unemployment or low-paid jobs, as well as the lack of formal education. For example, almost half of the Roma households in Slovakia declare themselves as unemployed (48%).
To promote Roma inclusion, Muránska Dlhá Lúka, a small municipality in the Banská Bystrica Region, designed a call for competition contributing to increase the Roma community’s participation in the labour market through public procurement. The subject matter of the tender was to procure works to rebuild and renew the access road to the Roma village of the municipality (including pathways and public lighting).
While drafting the call, the contracting authority conducted a market analysis and estimated that the value of the contract was 269 948,21 EUR excl. VAT.
Procurement objectives
The access road to the Roma village of the municipality was in bad condition and the municipality of Muránska Dlhá Lúka needed to invest in its reconstruction. Building on need analysis, the contracting authority decided to use public procurement not only to better connect the Roma village with the rest of its territory, but also to reach social objectives. In particular, the tender aimed to provide working opportunities to the Roma communities.
The initiative of Muránska Dlhá Lúka was in line with the national Roma strategy 2030 (National Strategy for Equality, Inclusion and Participation of Roma by 2030), which aims to improve employability and increase the employment of Roma by creating opportunities leading to their integration into the labour market.
Tender requirements
Contract performance conditions
As a contractual obligation, tenderers had to ensure the employment of at least two persons meeting the following conditions:
They belong to a marginalised Roma community;
They are unemployed (with a priority to long-term unemployed persons). The successful tenderer was obliged to employ these two employees in the road renewal project not later than 15 working days before the start of the construction works.
The fulfillment of the conditions a) and b) above had to be proved by:
- A self-declaration of the job applicant stating that s/he belongs to the Roma communities (the self-declaration is checked through the Office of Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities, created by the Slovak government);
- Confirmation by the Labour, Social Affairs and Family Office that the applicant is registered as unemployed.
- In case of the termination of the employment relationship with any of these two employees during the construction contract duration (because of a bad performance or other reasons), the successful tenderer was obliged to find another employee fulfilling the same conditions within 7 days from the termination of the previous working relationship. If the successful tenderer could not find another employee fitting the required conditions, it was obliged to pay a penalty of 100,00 EUR / per day.
The contracting authority committed to providing the successful tenderer with a list of persons meeting the conditions a) and b) above. If the tenderer did not select a suitable job applicant from the list of persons submitted by the Contracting Authority, the successful tenderer was entitled to employ other persons meeting the requirements a) and b) above.
Results
Following the call for tenders, three suppliers bid. Among them, two offers were compliant with the Technical Specifications set by the contracting authority. Among the two offers, the contracting authority selected the cheaper one and signed a contract with the selected bidder. In the contract, the successful tenderer committed to deliver the required works for an amount of 243 150,37 EUR excl. VAT.
The call allowed the municipality to test possible new concrete ways to improve the employment of the Roma community, as well as to involve the Roma population in local policies and initiatives that have an impact on them, such as the reconstruction of the access road to the Roma village in Muránska Dlhá Lúka.
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the onset of the war in Ukraine, the prices of construction materials significantly increased, thus delaying the execution of the contract. The contract was awarded, but the construction works have not started yet.
Environmental and social impacts
By enabling the creation of two job opportunities, the small village of Muránska Dlhá Lúka, which counts less than 1000 inhabitants, wanted to concretely tackle the significant social challenges the Roma communities face. The tender also aimed to provide two unemployed Roma persons with relevant skills to find a job on the open labour market once the construction public contract is over.
The contract performance conditions of the call were an innovative way for the contracting authority to integrate the Roma population into the labour market. It also helped to engage the Roma community with local policies.
Unfortunately, the unforeseen events mentioned above delayed the impacts of the initiative. However, the contract performance conditions of the call have the potential to be replicated by other contracting authorities aiming to integrate the Roma communities or other minorities/ disadvantaged groups into the labour market, thus potentially increasing the impact of public procurement as a tool to achieve social objectives.
Lessons learned
Advice to other contracting authorities:
Public procurement is a concrete tool contracting authorities can use to achieve environmental and social objectives, such as the integration in the labour market of disadvantaged groups. It also allows contracting authorities to partner up with the private sector on specific projects, as well as to raise awareness on its plans among relevant stakeholders.
While conducting market analysis, in the pre-procurement phase, contracting authorities shall take into account possible market risks (e.g. inflation of material prices).
Contracting authorities shall avoid signing contracts with successful tenderers without foreseeing the possibility of flexible adjustments to changing market conditions.
More information
Contact person: Dr. Tomáš Slávik, Department of education and socially responsible public procurement - Section of Methodology and education.