The Renewed Focus on Social Value is Welcome and Timely
The shock our industry has received from Covid-19 and the urgency of upgrading the built environment created the risk that social value would be quietly ushered into a corner, ready to be coaxed out in better times.
The renewed focus on social value in publicly procured contracts is, therefore, very welcome. First of all, it recognises the vital role public procurement generally, and construction in particular, play in economic regeneration. Targeting social value helps ensure that the benefits of regeneration will be directed towards communities and individuals whose livelihoods have been most affected.
There are a number of other long-standing issues the industry needs to tackle that are linked to social value. These include sustainability, climate change, and equality and diversity.
The Government’s policy changes require all departments to account for social value with a minimum of 10% weighted to tenders. Local authorities are also looking to embed social value in the planning process. Specific objectives include the following:
- Supporting Covid-19 recovery, including helping local communities manage and recover from the impact of Covid
- Tackling economic inequality – creating new businesses, jobs and skills, as well as increasing supply chain resilience
- Fighting climate change and reducing waste
- Driving equal opportunity, including reducing the disability employment gap and tackling workforce inequality, improving health and wellbeing and community integration
The construction industry has an important role in supporting all of these objectives. Incorporating them into the procurement process will ensure that they are delivered in practice across all projects, and that no contractor is penalised for trying to do the right thing.
Encouragingly, a recent survey by Building magazine reported that social value is frequently a factor worth 10% of scoring in nearly half of procurement processes. This percentage will certainly increase – and probably quite rapidly.
Delivering social value has always been part of Osborne’s ethos. We strove to give something back to the community on every project even before it had the name social value. It is particularly welcome to see it now at the heart of public sector procurement rather than being an add-on or ‘nice to have.’
