Integrating gender equality in public procurement: The spanish case Available to Purchase

Public procurement, as well as constituting a means of providing goods and services, also represents a powerful legal instrument available to contracting authorities to ensure compliance with secondary or noncommercial goals. Among these secondary objectives, equality between women and men may be highlighted. The possibility of integrating social concerns into public procurement is envisaged in the Community Directives on public procurement and has also been incorporated in the legal systems of various Member States. This paper studies the inclusion of social clauses on gender equality that appear in the different phases of a procurement procedure in the Spanish Public Procurement Law (Law 30/2007, 30th October, on Public Sector Contracts).