Tender ready social value

The 80-strong firm works primarily in the defence and security sectors, delivering complex digital transformation projects. A key driver for engaging our services was the recent introduction of the central government social value model, and the increasing importance being placed on social value as part of tender and procurement activities, particularly for Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice contracts.

Tailored social value support

A tailored consultation package was agreed with the client, which would provide them with:

• A better understanding of contemporary social value and how it applies within public sector procurement in particular
• An assessment of the organisation’s existing social value activities and how these could potentially be expanded, and new activities adopted to increase their impact and become a more social value orientated company.
• A range of options to leverage their social value strategy to win public sector contracts and gain a competitive advantage.

Stephen Kennett led the consultancy, with our package comprising three main stages, which were delivered over a series of weeks to fit around the client’s day-to-day activities, and included:

1. Fact finding – to identify the organisation’s existing social value activities and benchmark the level of understanding around social value within the organisation, a range of activities were undertaken, which included:
   1. 14 Microsoft Teams interviews – with key members of staff including the senior management team, HR, bid management, business operations, and client-facing roles. The interviews adopted a semi-structured format comprising core questions and open discussion to ascertain where the company was in its awareness and implementation of social value activities.
   2. A comprehensive document review – including CSR, quality management, supply chain and HR policies and procedures, to develop a stronger understanding of how social value commitments were communicated, and how the natural interfaces between social value and other functions are represented.
   3. Competitor analysis – desktop research of their key competitors’ social value strategies to identify the social value ‘maturity’ within the sector.
   4. Buyer analysis – to identify the key social value priorities of existing and potential clients to enable an informed approach to any future social value procurement strategy.
2. Analysis – data from the fact-finding stage was collected, collated and analysed to identify and quantify the social value impacts of existing initiatives, establish priority social value themes and outcomes of existing and potential clients, and assess current activities against national and local social value priority areas for consideration in their future social value plans.
3. Reporting and options – outputs from the fact-finding and analysis stages were presented in a report, which included:
   1. A summary of existing social value activities and an estimate of their value
   2. A comparison of their existing initiatives with those of their closest competitors
   3. How their social value activities currently align with their organisational strategy and, importantly, the changing landscape of public sector procurement
   4. Options for an organisation-wide social value strategy for the future, including measures for increasing their impact and becoming a more social value orientated company.

Outcome

At the end of the project, the organisation and its staff had a greater understanding of social value in procurement, as well as their existing social value activities and those of their closest competitors and the options available to them. They are now well positioned to select the most appropriate social value approach and strategy to meet future organisational and procurement needs.

To discuss our bespoke social value consultancy packages, contact our team today.