Social value is a big deal
Social value usually accounts for 10% of the tender evaluation criteria. Therefore – you must take it seriously if you are to be successful in your bids.
Central government departments are required to apply a minimum of weighting of 10% in accordance with PPN 06/20 (for procurements covered by the Public Contract Regulations 2015 – for which contract value thresholds are set by PPN 11/23) .
NHS procurements include a minimum 10% net zero and social value weighting.
Local councils have more flexibility but, as an example, Tender Support UK’s local council (West Sussex) applies a 10% social value weighting where appropriate on contracts over £100k and intend to include social value weighting in their evaluation criteria for 80% of all contracts over £500k.
In short – you must take it seriously and carefully consider your social value offer and what your plan is over the longer term. Don’t consider it an afterthought to be considered just at the time of bidding.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that social value is just about your environmental and carbon reduction initiatives. It’s about much more, including social and economic benefits for people and the local economy and creating value for our local communities.
If you have a tender opportunity coming up that you’d like to bid for which includes a social value element – then now is the ideal time to start thinking about what your offer should be (or how you should refine an existing offer).
Contact us to see how we can support and strengthen your next bid!
Some helpful links for you:
Let us know if you need help making sense of these!
