This paper aims at investigating the capacity of local public authorities to carry out public service procurement in order to provide accredited social service providers with a competitive social service contract for the population.

The research method is based on both an exploratory study using the public information sources and the legal framework applicable to public procurement as well as a quantitative and qualitative analysis of existing statistical data collected through the questionnaire.

Findings - presenting a perspective on the ability of contracting authorities in Romania to apply competitive procurement processes for granting social service contracts and identifying the need to generate easy tools dedicated to local public authorities for optimal performance of these processes.

Research limitations / implications - the paper focuses on the new opportunities offered by the legal framework applicable to public procurement regarding the organization of public procurement for the award of social service contracts, with implications for future research on the way in which policies to promote service procurement can be stimulated social services for the population.

Practical Implications - Developing tools in support of local public authorities to increase the administrative capacity to best solve social problems identified at the level of local communities by contracting social services in a competitive regime with a positive impact on the use of dedicated financial resources of these categories of expenditure respectively on the quality of social services provided by organizations that freely offer these services

Originality / value - the work contributes to improving the quality of literature in the field of public procurement by offering starting points for initiating research on the development of specific mechanisms / tools to support the procurement of social services under competitive conditions.