Over our January and February blogs we are providing insight to improve your social value strategy.
Following on from January’s ‘All About Social Value: Part 1’ blog where we discussed How to Make Sense of Social Value; the Importance of Social Value, and The Power of Social Value in this, ‘All About Social Value: Part 2’ instalment, we delve deeper and explain:
- How buyers decide who offers the best Social Value
- How to match Social Value offers with Buyers’ requirements, and
- Where to Seek Additional Information on Social Value.
How buyers decide who offers the best Social Value:
Your tender and social value offer should be tailored to those seeking to procure your product or service. Every Social Value pledge must be measurable, quantifying your impact and attributing value to your commitment (i.e. in numbers of people, or numbers of hours). Buyers may compose their own questions and scoring or they may use the Social Value portal, so you must be prepared for social value to be evaluated using either of these methods (the method will be stated in the tender documents)!
One way that buyers can administer their Social Value procurement process is through the Social Value Portal . This portal exists to administer the Social Value aspects of tender submissions and also the subsequent contract management of commitments made. Measurement of Social Value through this portal is undertaken using the TOM System (themes, outcomes and measures), enabling the recording and reporting of Social Value in your supply chain, projects and contracts, and within the activity of your business. We recommend viewing ‘How do we Measure Social Value?’ for more information about how the portal works.
Whether or not buyers use the Social Value Portal , the Social Value offer that you put forward will be evaluated and assigned tangible point(s), or monetary value, or other quantifiable measures (scores) which influences your overall quality score in the evaluation of your tender.
To recap, when setting their Social Value criteria (often using the Social Value portal) buyers will assign the individual Social Value offers and measures that they are seeking for their contract. When using the portal , the Portal assigns a unique reference number and question to each individual measure under each theme (there are numerous measures under each theme); the unit of measure is then detailed, followed by the value or multiplier.
The total values and scoring applied to the Social Value part of your tender will then be recorded as a score for that section, contributing to the overall tender scoring which is used to determine the successful bidder(s).
How to match Social Value offers with buyers’ requirements:
It is essential to consider how your Social Value offer can align with the buyer.
First, consider Social Value theme(s) that suit your business purpose. Reflect on achievability of commitments to increase the appeal of your business and don’t forget that the supply chain that you select to engage with can support or undermine your Social Value offer! Ensure your supply chain is optimised for your business. It should be ethical, transparent, proven and reliable.
With all tenders, it is important to demonstrate due diligence through the tender process: read the documents, research your buyer, select contracts that suit your business. When seeking buyers and looking to secure tenders, market engagement assists your success. If you are involved in a market engagement stage, query the buyers Social Value intentions to help inform your strategy.
To transform your tenders and showcase your impact, make sure you can evidence your commitment to your Social Value offer, that it is proportionate and that it is relevant to the specific contract that is being tendered for, not just existing examples of good practice.
Provide clear evidence-based explanations for how you shall deliver on Social Value commitments. This will increase your appeal. Alongside service/product level management and successfully meeting your contract requirements, the expectation is that you will commit to Social Value offers that are performance managed. In your Social Value written responses we recommend naming a specific person in your business and the frequency of Social Value performance review that they will undertake, to provide the buyers with confidence in the deliverability and management of your offer and commitments.
If you are a contender for a local contract, do not underestimate the importance of your local knowledge – utilise it! Your offer could enhance the local workforce through training, increase use of local supply chains supporting the local economy, involve the community, support local charities and provide support for the enhancement and/or protection of the local environment.
Where to seek further information on Social Value:
We understand that venturing into the realm of Social Value can be daunting and we hope that these latest blogs have assisted.
There are a wealth of online sources offering information, from government guidelines for SMEs to the Social Value Portal, Social Value UK and Social Enterprise UK. The Social Value Portal have released a Success Factors Model, insights report and have an available Webinar: Success Factors (socialvalueportal.com)
Useful online sources:
You may also find the following online resources useful and informative:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smes-a-guide-to-working-with-government
Social Value Portal: https://socialvalueportal.com/
Social Value Portal – Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVcpVu0GZDTTlRZh MUIranw
Social Enterprise UK: https://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/
Social Value UK: https://socialvalueuk.org/
Tender Victory’s experts deliver a range of services and we can map your route to success by revolutionising your tenders and helping you to create your Social Value offers and strategies! If you’ve got a specific question in mind or need to understand how Social Value relates specifically to your business, contact us for a no-obligation chat and we’ll let you know how we can assist you.
Click here to get in touch with us at Tender Victory!