Introduction

In response to fiscal pressures and broader societal trends, many governments
are seeking to unlock greater value from their infrastructure investments
and procurement spending. Through community benefits and social
procurement policies, which align spending and purchasing activities with
broader public policy objectives, governments are changing the way they do
business to reap greater social and economic benefits.

In Canada, the federal government, the province of Ontario, and the City of
Toronto together spend upwards of $23.5 billion per year procuring goods
and service, including construction.1 By embedding community and social
benefits criteria into public contracts, governments can leverage this vast
public spending to support important socio-economic goals, including poverty
reduction, improved labour conditions, and greater equality of income.

Businesses, too, are demonstrating greater willingness to meet rising contractual
obligations to secure valuable government contracts and sharpen competitive
advantage. At the same time, a growing social economy sector and the explosion
of social enterprises is creating a new landscape for socially-driven procurement.
In many jurisdictions, this has led to a unique window of opportunity to pursue
transformational community benefits and social procurement policies.

This jurisdictional review examines the current context of community benefits
and social procurement policies in Canada, U.S., UK, and Australia. It reviews
the trajectory of the policies, their structure and their impact, where supporting
evidence is available. It analyzes the objectives, scope, and strengths of the
policies and concludes with key challenges and strategies for success from
leading jurisdictions.