Social Value
Though it is not a legal requirement to include Social Value criteria in tenders, the public sector are encouraged to use procurement to achieve wider financial and non-financial outcomes.
For us, social value and community benefits are more than just a legislative necessity, it speaks to the core of who we are as a business and what we wish to stand and be known for.
If done well, Social Value can:
- lead to cost savings – Social Value Act 2013 triggered changes in how the public sector buys goods and services.
- challenge suppliers and drive change for the benefit of the wider community.
52% of Public Sector organisations say including social value in their procurement led to cost savings
What does Social Value look like?
Social value can present itself in many ways. Every procurement process is unique, but the social value should be relevant to the contract. Here are some social value themes that you may typically see:
How Social Value can be included in tenders?
When an organisation signs a new contract, they can ask prospective suppliers to consider what they would be able to offer in support of the local community; this can include anything from training, apprenticeships and environmental action.
Social value should be included as part of the assessed award criteria when running a Further Competition.
Including social value when assessing the award criteria allows you to have an ‘output’ specification. It offers an opportunity for suppliers to suggest outcomes that will be innovative, flexible and proportionate to the contract.
The 3 Key areas social value can be delivered:
Social
- Community engagement
- Facilitation of gardens
- Cooking/Fitness promotion
- Charitable initiatives
Economic
- Work experience
- Local recruitment
- Support local supplier
- Staff training
- Paying the Living Wage
Environmental
- Environmental policy
- Recycling and energy reduction
- Minimising waste
How can we help?
As part of our category management services, we can help you identify, specify and deliver social value outcomes across three key areas of social, environmental and economic opportunities.
Social Value considerations are built into each stage of the category management process. It forms part of supplier and customer engagement strategy at pre-procurement stage, and forms part of our award criteria as proportionate and relevant to do so.
This is then monitored as part of the contract/supplier management process, and we work alongside suppliers to encourage and innovate on how social value benefits can be delivered and grown.
