Back in May last year we reported on the Cabinet Office...
... consultation on introducing social value as a mandatory evaluation criteria for procurement processes.
16 months on and the Procurement Policy Note 06/20 on Taking Account of Social Value in the Award of Central Government Contracts has been published.
What You Need to Know
- A minimum 10% weighting should be given to social value as part of the evaluation criteria for a procurement process.
- The guidance applies to new procurements commenced as from 1 January 2021.
- The guidance is mandatory for central government bodies, but all contracting authorities are required to have regard to the guidance, including local government, universities and academy trusts.
- One of the difficulties in practice with building social value into the procurement process is how you define and evaluate it. To assist with this, the government has published a set of outcomes according to themes. These themes have been updated since the initial consultation process to reflect the government's priorities as communities seek to manage and recover from coronavirus (COVID-19), including the creation of new businesses, jobs and skills, equal opportunity and well-being.
A copy of the consultation response paper is also available.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
