Public procurement is increasingly used as a tool to promote social policy goals. Yet, while academic research takes a growing interest in the strategic use of public procurement as a policy tool, practical guidance remains rather scarce. In a (German language) contribution to the eminent Handbook for Equal Opportunity Officers in Germany, IER's Dr E.K. Sarter provides insights into possibilities and approaches of strategically leveraging public spending for goods, works, and services as a tool for promoting gender equality.

Public procurement is an important market and a key area of public spending. As such, it has increasingly come into focus as a tool for promoting social policy objectives. In this vein, ‘social value’ is an increasingly important concept in public purchasing.

As part of a drafting group formed of international experts, IER's Dr E. Katharina Sarter contributed to the development of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Guidelines on green and sustainable procurement of Public-Private Partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals, which were recently endorsed. The new Guidelines outline key concepts and considerations for green and sustainable procurement, showcasing promising approaches and examples of good practice.

Building on extensive work on sustainable public procurement over the past years, IER's Dr Eva Katharina Sarter presented a paper entitled "Hidden Debates: Public Procurement as a Venue for Negotiation", which examined the political dimension of debates on the strategic use of public procurement to foster (social) policy goals.

Over the past decades, public procurement has gained importance as a policy tool, also in the context of labour market and employment policies. Among others, public procurement is used as a lever to shape wages and working conditions, foster equality, and create jobs and training opportunities.