Fuerteventura Island Council and the Canary Islands Observatory for Responsible Public Procurement join forces to promote reserved and strategic contracts on the island

Fuerteventura Island Council, through its Department for Procurement, and the Canary Islands Observatory for Responsible Public Procurement, launched by Red Anagos, have begun working together to promote reserved and strategic public procurement. The aim is to make island-wide public purchasing a tool for social cohesion, inclusive employment and local development.

According to the Island Council and the Observatory, the initiative responds to a clear reality. Law 9/2017 on Public Sector Contracts requires public authorities to reserve part of their contracts for Special Employment Centres with a social mission and work-integration enterprises. It also allows them to include social, environmental and innovation criteria across their tenders. However, Fuerteventura still has a very small social enterprise sector, limiting the reach of these tools. The partnership therefore combines work with the public administration with efforts to strengthen the island’s social economy ecosystem.

The partnership will focus on three areas: training, tailored advice and technical support. An initial training course for the Island Council’s procurement staff and managers began this week. It covers the regulatory framework, reserved contracts and the inclusion of social clauses in tender documents. Over the coming months, procurement services will be able to receive tailored advice on identifying which contracts can be reserved and how to design tenders that are accessible to social economy organisations.

The final stage will involve technical support for drafting and approving an Island Council Government Agreement. The agreement will set minimum reservation percentages, strategic procurement criteria and monitoring mechanisms.

Procurement Councillor Luis González highlighted the value of initiatives of this kind, which create jobs for the island’s most vulnerable people and promote socially fairer public procurement.

Samuel García-Castro, the Observatory’s coordinator, said: “Reserved contracts are not an option; they are a legal obligation and an opportunity. A well-designed Government Agreement makes it possible to put the law into practice and provide certainty for technical teams and social organisations.”

Both parties agree that this work could make Fuerteventura a benchmark in the Canary Islands for using public procurement as a lever for inclusion.