Norway
Every year, the public sector purchases goods and services for a total amount of NOK 600 billion (Kommunal- og moderniseringsdepartementet 2020). Procurements below NOK 100,000 are below the threshold of procurement regulation requirements, so public procurement may happen without competition. According to the regulations, the client is not allowed to separate one service into several deliveries in order to dip below this limit (Ferd 2019).
Although several reports have been written on social entrepreneurs and public procurement, there does not appear to exist any information illustrating the sales or number of tenders involving social entrepreneurs. In 2017, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development commented in their report that these experiences are still limited, and there are only a handful of examples of this type of collaboration between municipalities and social entrepreneurs (Kommunal- og moderniseringsdepartementet 2017).
Norwegian organisations like Effektlab support impact start-ups to connect with public sector suppliers. EffektLab provides public purchasers with insights, tools, and support that make them better equipped to take advantage of this opportunity. The programme also provides knowledge about how to measure the social effect to which their acquisitions contribute (Impact Start-up Norway 2022). By entering into a dialogue with the market, the public sector gains better knowledge about the present needs from the citizens, which also benefits the impact start-ups in facilitating collaborations on societal solutions (Ferd 2019).
The Norwegian government funded a website about innovation procurement that provides an overview of current innovation procurements. At the time of research, there are 216 innovation procurements listed, 31 of which are in welfare technology (velfærdstjenester), 28 in the health sector (helsetjeneste), and 13 in municipal services (kommunal tjenester). The remaining examples are in construction (bygg og anlegg), digitalisation of services (digitalisering av tjenester), county municipality services (Fylkeskommunale tjenester), ICT software and systems (IKT software og systemer) design and interior (innredning og interiør), climate and environmental technology (klima og miljøteknologi), reindeer herding (renhold), textiles (tekstiler), transport, water, sewage and infrastructure (vann, avløpp og infrastruktur) and others.
In addition to enabling different search categories, the website includes a “procedure selector” feature to assist in the procurement selection. To use this tool, it is important that it is clear what the need and purpose of the procurement is, so that it is clear what results and effects it will contribute to achieving. To apply the tool, it is also critical to have a dialogue with the market and a good knowledge of market conditions as well as the value of the acquisition (Leverandørutviklingsprogrammet 2022).
In June 2021, the Norwegian government introduced a new legislation: the government will delegate a task to the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) to engage in more innovative procurements — in particular, more open and smaller tenders that let small actors and social entrepreneurs test and scale within the system. Other resolutions around early intervention and more collaboration may also be of significance for social entrepreneurs and young changemakers (Ashoka 2021).
Collaboration between NAV employees and social entrepreneurs has also proven an important support measure. A study by Oslo Metropolitan University mapped the relations, and among the central learning points is that collaboration with social entrepreneurs is seen as useful because the social entrepreneurs contribute with a mindset and a methodology which is different from the one NAV has traditionally used to stimulate actions, such as employment (Oslo Met 2022). For example, a department head at a NAV office stated that the collaboration contributes to more innovative and better solutions because the social entrepreneurs know the target very well compared to, for example, a consultancy. Therefore the social entrepreneur contributes with new and useful ideas in the NAV offices (Aksnes et al. 2020).