The Social Value Act came into force in January 2013, aiming to ensure that public service procurement adds value to the local economy; ensuring social, economic and environmental benefits as well as delivering the procurement service offered by the vendor. This article, in line with the slightly provocative title, is the start of series of discussions to help small enterprise business navigate the pros and cons of this, seemingly worthwhile and advantageous act. Through these missives, the author aims to inspire debate and identify opportunities for XFE to spearhead the implementation of improvements in the Act. In 2015 The Rt Hon Lord Young, the then Minister for the Cabinet Office and founding Patron of XFE, commissioned a review of the act. Whereby it found that the Act had a positive impact, it identified three main barriers to progress: 1. Awareness and take-up of the Act is a mixed picture. 2. Varying understanding of how to apply the Act can lead to inconsistent practice, particularly around: • defining social value and how and when to include it during the procurement process • applying social value within a legal framework and procurement rules • clarifying its use in pre-procurement. 3. Measurement of social value is not yet fully developed. Lord Young’s recommendation was that these barriers be addressed recognising
that procurement must represent value for money and that social value support this. It should be noted that Lord Young remained a constant supporter of the Social Value Act and a champion for the vision. One recommendation in the 48 page report was for the Cabinet Office to promote awareness and take up of social value and work with cross-departmental and SME champions to understand the potential of social value for small business. In addition, a Cabinet Office SME panel would work to promote the concept of social value and produce guidance for small business. Following this, the Government introduced an evaluation process in 2018 for social value that would apply a weighting factor of 10% to each contact bid. The output from this is the Social Value Model that must apply to new procurement activity from Jan 2021. So has it worked? Future articles will investigate each of the barriers above in turn, and identify what has been implemented to overcome them in order to ensure that Lord Young’s recommendations have been addressed. In addition, the author will seek to identify how an SME can make the most of the Social Value model when submitting bids and, how the proposals are reviewed post-win, to ensure that the winning company implements and delivers its social value content. The debate continues in our next issue...
