The policy background
The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requires commissioners of public services contracts in England and Wales to consider, before a procurement starts, how what they are buying could improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of their area. Many councils and NHS bodies now give social value an explicit weighting when they evaluate tenders, and central government has committed to taking the same approach in its own contracts.
Key findings
- SMEs won over 17,000 public sector awards in 2018, 45% of the total number. Of these SME suppliers, over 5,000 were awarded multiple contracts.
- Although they won a smaller proportion of contracts, the scale of the packages of work won by VCSEs was more diverse than for SMEs.
- Local government authorities were the top buyers from both SMEs and VCSEs in 2018, so they are the natural place to focus business development.
What it means for suppliers
Social value is now part of the quality score rather than an afterthought. Bids that set out specific, measurable commitments, such as local apprenticeships, spend with local supply chains, opportunities for SMEs and voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, or lower carbon emissions, are far easier for evaluators to score than general statements of good intent. Reporting on those commitments once the contract is running matters just as much as making them.
Social value featured on the PSS 2019 agenda alongside sustainable procurement and outcomes-based commissioning. More summaries are collected on our Procurement Insights page.