Time to start gearing up for social value in procurement

28/03/2022

Public tenders will soon be required to allocate a minimum of 10 per cent of the total award criteria to social value.

The RSUA reported on the agreed changes back in July 2021 and this policy from the Department of Finance is due to come into effect from 1 June. This minimum weighting will apply to the thresholds set out in the Public Contracts Regulations. That is service contracts valued above £138,760 and construction contracts valued above £5,336,937.

This minimum weighting will apply to services and works procurements at or above the thresholds set out in the Public Contracts Regulations – (see PPN 01/21 – Scoring Social Value on finance-ni.gov.uk).

To help potential suppliers to prepare, informational videos have been developed for suppliers by the Strategic Investment Board.  These pieces sets out what social value is and how it will be scored in public sector contracts. They can be found here.

If you are interested in bidding for public sector construction contracts you may wish to watch the Scoring Social Value in Construction Contracts – Supplier Information Video. If you are interested in bidding for public sector services or IT contracts you should view the Scoring Social Value in Services/IT Contracts – Supplier Information Video.