Our social value guidance and policy statement
Our social value guidance and policy statement outline our commitment to social value. They fall in line with the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012.
Policy statement
As part of the Public Service (Social Value) Act 2012 the council is required to consider how the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the district may be improved through the procurement of its services.
The Procurement Act 2023 requires contracting authorities to award contracts to the ‘Most Advantageous Tender’ (MAT) placing more weight on criteria, such as social value, proportionate and related to the subject matter of the contract.
Services or works that the tenderer is required to provide as part of the core contract requirements cannot also be counted as additional social value. Social value is about ‘additionality’ (what you will provide over and above the core contract.)
Through social value, Lichfield District Council expects businesses and third sector communities to:
- Support the future prosperity of Lichfield District, its businesses and all its citizens.
- Value and respect the needs and aspirations of the diverse communities in Lichfield District.
- Enhance social opportunity and cohesion in a dynamic and changing business environment.
- Help to develop improvements for disadvantaged neighbourhoods and people.
- Create and maintain a sustainable, clean, safe and attractive environment for living, work and leisure.
- Recognise and promote Lichfield District’s diversity as a major asset.
Social value requires officers to think about how they achieve outcomes in a more integrated way at the pre-procurement stage. Rather than thinking about services in isolation or in the short term, this approach requires officers to consider long term costs, sustainability and how inclusion of additional social value outcomes can potentially reduce pressures in other areas and provide capacity and funding for improved community benefits.
A number of Advance Social Value National Measures have been selected via the Compliance Chain online platform to reflect both the council’s organisational and wider societal priorities, to create the golden thread from strategy to delivery. This will enable stakeholders, businesses, and community partners to support the council’s social value objectives and deliver measurable change. These measures are taken from the Office of National Statistics, the Unit Cost Database and the Green Book.
As more social value can be delivered from higher value contracts a tiered approach to approach to optimise benefits shall be adopted using the following guidance, based on contract value:
Table 1
|
Value |
Process |
Potential outcomes |
|
Under £150,000 |
Light touch social value by including a social value question in the request for quotation documents. |
Innovation around one or two issues such as community volunteering or linking up with a local school.
Expectations will not be specific to a project but consider what the organisation does as a whole.
A suggested 5% weighting to be used on project assessment. |
|
£150,000 - Public Contract Regulations (PCR) thresholds |
Procurement will guide specifications and tender documents to ensure that the social value outcomes are included within the procurement process. It is an expectation that social value will apply to procurement requirements that fall within this threshold and any exceptions to this rule must be authorised by the lead officer in line with the list of justified exceptions. |
Bidders will be expected to respond to Lichfield District’s 2050 strategy and the social value priorities drawing on proposed projects as appropriate. They will be assessed on their project specific proposals.
A 5 - 10% weighting is to be used on evaluation and agreed with the Social Value Co Ordinator prior to tender publication. |
|
PCR thresholds and above |
Social value must be included in tenders. Consideration to be given to social value and the maturity of the market at the pre-procurement stage. Procurement will guide specifications and tender documents and bidders will be expected to respond fully to the social value outcomes and commit to project specific deliverables that will be included in KPIs drawing on the proposed project ideas as appropriate. The Social Value Co Ordinator will ensure that the evaluation scores and weightings are clearly set out and that an action plan is implemented during the contract period. Any exceptions to this rule must be authorised in the Procurement Initiation Plan. |
Weightings are recommended to be set at 10 - 20%. Weightings above 20% are used where contract price is set, or there is a specific opportunity around social value to solve a specific need. Procurement will provide guidance on what is expected although this will not be prescribed. |
When the council uses a third-party framework agreement social value should be optimised to the extent permitted by the framework guidance.
Bidders will be required to provide details of activities they will undertake, if successful, to support Lichfield District Council with reference to the 4 key priorities below, as stated within the Lichfield 2050 Strategy:
- Be the place where people across the UK aspire to live
- Enable Lichfield, Burntwood and villages1 to flourish
- Make Lichfield district the most active in the UK
- Create the greenest district in the country
Related policies and procedures
The council is committed to developing and delivering services in a way that ensures it treats people fairly and promotes equality of opportunity and social cohesion within the wider community.
This policy aims to give the fairest outcomes to everyone regardless of race, gender reassignment, age, disability, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, marital or civil partnerships status and/or disability.
This policy has been subject to an Equality Impact Assessment to ensure that there is no discrimination in the way that it has been designed, developed or how it will be delivered and that, wherever possible, equality is promoted.
This guidance has been created with the existing Procurement Strategy 2020 – 2024 in mind.