Are you bidding for a public contract in 2025?
Here in Britain, the concept of ‘social value’ has become an integral part of public sector procurement. If your business is bidding for a public contract in 2025, you’ll be aware it’s become a much more complicated and often frustrating process.
You will be judged on how well you can deliver real social, environmental and economic benefits to a community. So, how does this process work, and how does whatimpact make it easier?
Understanding Social Value in Procurement
The idea of social value stems from the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, which asks public authorities to consider how the services they commission and procure can improve the social, environmental, and economic well-being of the area.
Put simply, it means how a project or service benefits a community beyond the immediate objectives.
If you need to submit a bid for a public contract, you might need to show examples like:
- Employing local people or creating apprenticeship opportunities.
- Supporting small businesses or social enterprises in your supply chain.
- Reducing carbon emissions or improving biodiversity.
- Offering free services or expertise to community organisations.
Our platform not only makes it easier to connect you with organisations that align with your values but also for the organisations to produce validated impact reports.
Councils or public bodies will outline their expectations in the tender documents, and it’s up to you to demonstrate your plan. This process is much quicker, easier, and more affordable on our platform.
It’s About More Than Just Good Deeds
Social value isn’t just a ‘nice to have’ anymore; it can account for up to 20% (or more) of the scoring in a tender evaluation. That means even if your price and delivery model are competitive, failing to deliver a strong social value proposal could lose you the contract.
Here’s how the process usually works:
- Tender Requirements: The contracting authority provides specific social value criteria in the bid documents. These might relate to themes like employment, sustainability, diversity, or wellbeing.
- Submission of Proposals: Bidders must outline clear, measurable plans for how they’ll meet these criteria. It’s not enough to make vague promises; you need concrete metrics, timelines, and evidence.
- The Evaluation: Your bid will be scored based on how well it meets the outlined social value priorities. The better your approach and the clearer your outcomes, the higher your score.
Why it’s so Challenging
One of the biggest obstacles for businesses bidding for public contracts is the sheer complexity of integrating social value into their operations and bids. Every council or contracting authority has varying priorities. Some might focus on creating jobs, while others might want to see carbon reduction or support for local charities.
Furthermore, you’re not just ticking boxes to win a contract; you’ll need to prove you’re delivering on your social value commitments. This can mean regular reporting or even working with local community organisations to show measurable outcomes.
It can feel overwhelming for smaller businesses or those without dedicated teams to handle this, but this is where our whatimpact comes into play.
How Impact Simplifies the Process
Our social value reporting platform is designed to bridge the gap between businesses, public sector organisations, and VCSEs (charities, social enterprises and community groups). Our mission? To make delivering and reporting on social value easier, more transparent, and more effective.
Here’s why more and more businesses are using our platform:
- Matchmaking Companies with VCSEs
Finding the right projects to support is one of the hardest parts of delivering social value. whatimpact serves as a matchmaking service, connecting businesses with local VCSEs. This ensures your efforts are meaningful and aligned with what the community actually needs.
- Streamlined Reporting
Long gone are the days of juggling spreadsheets and writing lengthy reports. With our powerful tools, you can easily generate professional reports that can be shared with the relevant authorities. This not only saves time but also ensures your reports meet government standards.
- Transparency and Accountability
whatimpact makes it easy to report the impact of your initiatives. This helps build trust with contracting authorities and ensures you stay on top of your commitments.
- It’s Highly Cost-Effective
By streamlining the process, whatimpact can save your company significant time and money. For SMEs in particular, this can be a game-changer, making it easier to compete with larger companies in the bidding process.
Find out more about our social value management platform. Or simply sign up for free.
