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Social value guidance for suppliers

Your experience may change depending on the value and type of contract you are bidding for, but the summary below should serve as a useful guide in terms of what to expect.

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Early engagement

  • Staff from the council will first discuss social value at one of the market engagement events – this is an online or in-person session where you will learn more about the contract opportunity.
  • They will describe our approach to social value, the four priority objectives for the council, any particular areas of focus for this contract opportunity, and a rough description of how social value will be evaluated during the bidding process.
  • Please take the time to read through the information about social value on our website, looking in particular at the needs and priorities list and the to understand the types of things that people and communities in ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø would benefit most from right now.

Suppliers' questionnaire

  • At the first stage of bidding for a contract, you will fill out a suppliers' questionnaire, in which we might ask for an example of when you have delivered social value successfully in the past.
  • Here we are looking for the way in which you tried to understand the needs and priorities of the community, built local partnerships, and came up with solutions that really made an impact.
  • We would love to hear about activities or resource commitments that were particularly creative, or that had long-lasting impact, and where you clearly went above and beyond.

Invitation to tender

  • When we invite you to bid for a contract, we will ask a set of questions in a document called the invitation to tender.
  • There will be at least one question here about social value, and this will usually make up 10% of the total score available, although sometimes environmental sustainability is covered in a separate question, in which case this may be lower.
  • In this question we will likely ask you to focus on a few particular issues or themes within one or more of our organisation's priority objectives, coming up with a plan to deliver a set of activities, initiatives or resource commitments that will contribute towards these outcomes.
  • In your plan we are looking for commitments that are proportionate to the value of the contract. If it is a small, short-term contract, we will be looking for just a couple of realistic, practical actions that respond to local needs. If it is a large, multi-year contract, we would like to see a much more strategic response, for example looking at a more complex issue like skills and employment. This could mean not simply offering apprenticeships but thinking about how to reduce barriers to employment, reach those who are furthest from the workplace, and support apprentices in and beyond their time in your organisation.
  • If you are given much more flexibility in the social value question to come up with your own commitments, you can start by looking at the needs and priorities list to pick out one or more of the