Social Value in Procurement

The Social Value (2012) Act requires Social Value to be considered in all public sector service procurement tenders over an agreed threshold. Public authorities must have "regard to economic, social, and environmental well-being ''.  

Progressive procurement is one of the pillars of Community Wealth Building and contributes directly to the development of a resilient and inclusive local economy.

The Council's Community Wealth Building strategy, CWB 2.0, included a commitment to develop a Social Value Policy for the delivery of public contracts or services.  

View the Social Value Policy

Preston's approach to Social Value in procurement  

Preston's approach to embedding Social Value in procurement requires suppliers bidding for contracts above a minimum threshold to respond to specific Social Value themes and measures as outlined in the tender documentation.  

Social Value Policy

Preston's Social Value Policy has five themes:   

• Fair employment
• Investing in the future workforce 
• Addressing the climate emergency 
• Investing in the local economy  
• Strengthening the voluntary and community sector. 

Each theme includes a set of corresponding measures, several of which will be selected by the council for inclusion in each tender. These measures are scored at Levels 1 - 5, with 1 being poor response and 5 being exceptional.

Preston City Council will apply the new approach to Social Value in procurement as follows: 

• The Social Value Policy will be used in all contracts which are expected to exceed £74,999. This is the threshold at which the council's current procurement rules trigger an open formal compliant tender procedure. 
• It is at the discretion of the council's procurement manager to include Social Value for a contract below this threshold.  
• A maximum of 20% of the overall assessment score for a procurement evaluation will be allocated to Social Value. This will be split evenly between the measures selected.
• However, the procurement manager will have the authority to increase or decrease this threshold in line with what s/he considers to be proportionate and appropriate.  

Where the contract value meets the threshold for the application of the Social Value Policy, Social Value considerations will be detailed in the commissioning and procurement documentation, evaluated in the tender process, and monitored as part of the overall contract management process.  

Monitoring and evaluation  

Monitoring and reporting will be central to successful delivery where Social Value commitments have influenced the allocation of public funds during the awarding of a contract. Suppliers will commit to regular reporting on the delivery of Social Value and this will form part of the Council's standard contract monitoring procedure.