When Tim Van Wijk opened Pirmas Blynas in 2018, it marked a historic milestone as the first social enterprise of its kind in Lithuania. Operating a catering business and coffee shop in the heart of Vilnius, the establishment was built on a mission to employ people with disabilities, offering them a chance to integrate fully into the professional world. Yet, like many social enterprises, the business initially faced the constant challenge of financial stability, relying heavily on subsidies to stay afloat.

That dynamic began to shift dramatically after the enterprise secured a government catering contract, a breakthrough made possible by a sweeping transformation in Lithuania’s public procurement policies. Winning public contracts allowed the business to diversify its revenue streams, reduce its reliance on state subsidies, and scale its operations.

"Social procurement gives our company a lot of opportunities," says Van Wijk, reflecting on the broader economic impact. "We can make more products, we have more income, and with that, we have more impact on society." Last year, his employees gained valuable experience working across multiple functions for various government institutions. "They do something new, they learn new skills, or use their skills in a new environment," he adds.

Van Wijk’s enterprise is just one of many beneficiaries of an ambitious national reform that is redefining how the Baltic nation spends its public money. With more than 4,000 procuring entities distributing close to 10 billion euros annually—roughly 12% of the country’s entire economy—Lithuania commands an immense indirect labor market. Recognizing this vast economic leverage, the state has systematically turned public buying power into a strategic tool to uplift marginalized groups, most notably people with disabilities who face disproportionately high unemployment rates.

The Challenge of Disability Employment in Lithuania

The numbers underlying Lithuania’s labor market reveal a stark societal challenge. Approximately 151,600 people of working age in the country live with a disability. Among them, more than two-thirds remain unemployed, despite possessing a wide array of qualifications. They include software developers, academics, skilled tradespeople, and numerous other professionals who are ready and eager to contribute to the workforce. In most cases, what these qualified candidates require from prospective employers is simple and low-cost to provide: reasonable accommodation.

Yet, structural and cultural hurdles persist. Employers across Lithuania have historically shown reluctance to hire individuals with disabilities. This hesitation is driven by persistent misconceptions regarding the actual capabilities of disabled workers, compounded by state incentives that have proven insufficient to alter entrenched hiring practices significantly.

Public agencies and municipal governments recognized that they were uniquely positioned to offer a solution. By leveraging the vast sums flowing through the public procurement system, the state could set a new standard for the private sector, proving that inclusivity and economic efficiency go hand in hand.

Operationalizing Social Procurement

To translate this vision into reality, the Lithuanian Public Procurement Office (PPO) introduced eight distinct criteria for socially responsible procurement in late 2023. These voluntary requirements and supporting guidelines were designed to help public buyers direct their budgets toward creating jobs for people with disabilities, improving gender equality, enhancing staff well-being, and encouraging businesses to adopt more responsible and sustainable production processes.

These criteria are versatile and can be applied at various stages of the procurement lifecycle, including technical specifications, bid evaluation criteria, contract performance terms, and supplier qualification requirements.

However, introducing guidelines was only the first step. To ensure public buyers adopted these new measures in practice, the PPO relied on a comprehensive strategy of change management and collaboration. The office co-created the social criteria and supporting guidelines alongside a dedicated working group comprising 12 institutions active in disability rights. Key partners included the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the Lithuanian Public Employment Service, the Agency of People with Disabilities Rights Protection, and the Data Protection Agency.

Furthermore, the reform benefited from critical support through the Open Contracting Partnership’s (OCP) Lift impact accelerator program. With this backing, the PPO underwent a people-centered policy re-design. Expert recommendations were provided by the NGO Diversity Charter, a member organization dedicated to workplace diversity and inclusion, to refine the social criteria and shape robust training programs tailored for both buyers and suppliers.

"When we talk about immigrants and people with disabilities, they are the most vulnerable groups in the labor market. This is where public procurement can help. We need to include those communities in the decision-making process from the very beginning," notes Rygilė Trumpytė, Chief Executive of the Diversity Charter.

The PPO also engaged directly with major institutional buyers, such as the Ignitis Group and Lithuanian Airports, to assist them in integrating social procurement targets into their annual procurement plans. Emphasizing the importance of market consultation, Livija Šepetytė, Sustainability Partner at Ignitis Group, noted that blindly introducing social tender requirements without consulting the market is a direct route to failure.

To ensure transparency and accountability, Lithuania adapted its electronic government procurement (e-GP) system. The contract reporting sub-system was updated with a new set of mandatory fields. These fields track whether social criteria were used in a given procurement process, which specific criteria were applied, and at what stage of procurement they were integrated. This initiative mirrored a successful strategy Lithuania previously deployed to green its public procurement, which ultimately incorporated environmentally friendly criteria into 100% of applicable procedures.

Measurable Results and Growing Momentum

The impact of these systemic changes has exceeded initial expectations. Through the Lift program, the PPO established a target for at least 7% of total procurement value to incorporate socially responsible criteria within an 18-month timeframe. To incentivize public institutions through positive reinforcement and healthy institutional competition, the office launched a real-time public reporting dashboard in mid-2024.

The results speak for themselves. The share of public procurement value carrying social criteria rose sharply from 4.3%, representing 467 million euros in 2024, to 10.9%, totaling 1.2 billion euros in 2025. This performance comfortably surpassed the initial reform target. Momentum has continued into 2026, with the rate climbing to 12.6%, accounting for 955 million euros as of September.

Similarly, the proportion of individual contracts utilizing social criteria increased from 1.1%, or 1,657 contracts, in 2024 to 2.1%, or 3,336 contracts, in 2025. By 2026, that figure reached 2.5% across 2,587 contracts to date.

In 2025 alone, 376 public buyers—representing approximately 15% of all entities actively running public procurements—awarded at least one contract incorporating social criteria. Certain institutions embraced the policy across their entire portfolio; for instance, the social care home Jasiuliškių socialinės globos namai awarded all 83 of its contracts using social criteria in 2025, totaling more than 2.5 million euros.

"We will first ensure that all public buyers in Lithuania are aware of the power they have through public procurement and boost how they use these criteria and promote inclusion through their public contracts," states Greta Ambrutytė, Head of the SPP Department at the PPO.

Moving Forward

As Lithuania looks to the future, the reform is increasingly viewed not merely as a technical policy update, but as a profound cultural shift in how public governance can generate broader societal value. State officials are now exploring methodologies to measure the deeper socio-economic ripple effects of the initiative, aiming to demonstrate that social procurement is a vital catalyst for sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Reflecting on the journey during a recent social procurement conference in Vilnius, Darius Vedrickas, Director of the Lithuanian Public Procurement Office, emphasized the organic nature of the transformation. "Change in public procurement is happening. And it is happening not because someone requires it of us, not because it is somewhere prescribed and mandated—but because we ourselves are beginning to understand that public procurement can deliver on other policy areas too."

For entrepreneurs like Tim Van Wijk, whose business name translates to "First Pancake"—a nod to the idea that initial attempts at anything new rarely turn out perfect but serve as a learning tool—the ongoing evolution of social procurement mirrors his own philosophy. Social criteria are currently most frequently applied within contract performance terms, which remain among the hardest clauses to police, while public dashboards record application rather than granular implementation. Yet, as the PPO continuously refines its guidance to address concrete aspects like architectural accessibility, universal design, and wage transparency, the nation’s commitment to inclusive growth remains resolute.

The first pancake is rarely perfect, but Lithuania’s experience shows that nobody stops at just one.