Social Value for buyers

In principle, if a bidder can deliver the contract requirements, they should be capable of delivering the Social Value requirements too, assuming those requirements are proportionate and relevant to the contract. But it is true that SMEs often don’t have the same resources as larger bidders.

Engage with the market: Over the past couple of years, we have seen how important it is to bring bidders of all sizes into the process early on through preliminary market engagement.

Emphasise quality: Buyers should look closely at the qualitative aspect of the proposal and the benefits that the supplier would bring to the community in response to the specific tender.

Provide clarity: It is key to be clear about your needs and feed them into the individual contract.

The average ‘Social Value-add’ – Social Value delivered relative to total contract size – is around 20% on our platform. So, for a contract value of £60,000, we might see £12,000 of Social Value delivered. But this differs significantly across sectors, with notable variance in areas like health and social care, IT, construction, facilities management, professional services, and others.

We would advise caution when it comes to mandating a particular Social Value-add as this can result in ‘over-asking’ and makes it more difficult to differentiate between bids. Not all opportunities are large enough to deliver a 20% Social Value-add, and some contracts deliver a lot more than 20%, so it’s important to ensure that expectations are proportionate.

In our experience, many bidders welcome greater focus and clarity around what buyers are looking for and why – be it delivering on a policy objective  or addressing a local need.

By connecting Social Value outcomes to TOM System™ Measures, buyers can give clarity to bidders while also better measuring delivery under contract. This approach is effective whether the buyer is from the wider public sector, central government, or indeed the private sector. The TOM System aligns to the Social Value Model, enabling quantification in both tenders and contract management.

We help our members identify the right focus areas and measures through our consultancy team’s Local Needs Analysis service, and also during onboarding, where our Social Value Advisers work with members to map key TOM System measures.

Where Social Value Portal manages the evaluation process on behalf of a public sector buyer, the successful bidder becomes contracted directly with Social Value Portal. The data and evidence added to the platform throughout the lifetime of the contract is validated by Social Value Portal to ensure the requirements of the procuring authority are met.

Suppliers are also able to access quarterly reporting on projects, showing progress against targets and helping to manage Social Value delivery. At the end of the contract, suppliers receive an end of project summary report, and a case study. The fee also reflects the time and resource required to develop and continually refine the Social Value TOM System™ and its proxy values, which enable standardised third-party validation.