How to Answer Social Value Tender Questions

9 minutes of reading

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 became law on the 8th March 2012 and went live 31st January 2013. Public sector now have to consider social value as part of any procurement. Not just value for money (cost and quality). So now you may have to respond to social value tender questions when bidding for public sector contracts.

How to Answer Social Value Tender Questions

What is Social Value in Tendering?

The Act requires authorities to make the following considerations at the pre-procurement stage:

  • How what is proposed to be procured might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the “relevant area”
  • How in conducting a procurement process it might act with a view to securing that improvement

Some tenders have method statement questions on what social value you will provide. Others have social value calculator Excel spreadsheets to complete (see below).

Some public sector tenders completely ignored social value when tendering! But the Government’s latest measures (below) reinforce the need to include social value in tender evaluation.

Some tenders weight social value as high as 10-30% of the total possible score! So, there can be a lot at stake.

Social Value Tender Questions

Social value tender questions can appear daunting at first. But once you start to understand social value, they become a lot easier. These types of tender questions can also help local businesses to score higher than non-local competitors. The reason is that they are already contributing to their local “relevant area”. For example:

Economic – employment, training and work-experience opportunities for local people.

Environmental – local staff, local suppliers and local work reduces your carbon footprint.

Social – supporting local community initiatives e.g. charities, local amateur sports teams etc.

Many of the terms used by councils and government can be confusing: “social integration and community cohesion” and “community development and engagement“. But in fact most of it is common sense. Here are some typical areas for social value and how you might respond:

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Who Should Be Completing PQQs?

3 minutes of reading

An interesting question was raised about who should be completing PQQs (pre-qualification questionnaires):

“We are a multi-brand global manufacturer and would like to streamline the PQQ process to ensure that we are registered in customer’s approved vendor lists. Typically, who should be responsible to drive and complete the PQQs? Sales Department? Quality Assurance Department?”

Without any doubt responsibility for completing PQQs and approved supplier questionnaires should lie with the Sales Department… Even if they don’t do it themselves. A PQQ will hopefully lead to business so maximising its chances of success must be down to Sales. They must have ownership and control of winning businesses.

I’ve helped a number of larger firms get a more streamlined structured approach with proper ownership. This often involves process changes and new responsibilities. It also requires obtaining buy-in from the top down to ensure that new structure is followed.

UPDATE: Since writing this, in the public sector PQQs have mainly been replaced by SQs (Supplier Questionnaires). These are simpler and are no longer issued before the tender. They now form part of the ITT. See Tender Jargon Buster and the tendering process. But PQQs are still used for large contracts and some private sector tenders to get a shortlist of bidders.

Completing PQQs

As you will see in our Fit to Tender Check-list, PQQs tend to cover the following areas:

Completing PQQs Checklist Chart

You don’t really want field sales people tied up in the office completing PQQs. Much of the information is standard stuff. So secretaries and administrators from any department can usually tackle the majority of a PQQ. With some training they may well be able to complete many of the technical questions. A tender library will often provide similar answers that can be adapted.

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Who Should Be Completing PQQs? Read More »

How to Get Started with Public Sector Bidding

3 minutes of reading

New and smaller businesses frequently get in touch to ask how they can get started with public sector bidding.

How to Get Started With Public Sector Tendering

Our website has a useful guide to getting ready to tender called Fit to Tender Checklist. Not only does it show what you need to start tendering, it also explains some of the barriers.

Why do Companies Tender explains the tender process. 

Understanding Public Sector Tenders shows some of the key issues in public sector bidding.

However, it can prove difficult to to get started with public sector tendering as there are some obstacles to overcome.

Barriers to Public Sector Bidding

Larger public sector tenders often require the following information

  • 2 years accounts – this proves that your company is financially stable
  • A minimum turnover – the aim is to avoid awarding a contract to a small firm that cannot take on the additional work (the new 2018 Procurement Regulations state that the contract value cap cannot not exceed 50% of company turnover)
  • Public sector client references for similar contracts – evidence that your company has successfully provided this type of work to the public sector

These can be barriers to businesses that are young or small. If you don’t have a track record of working for public sector customers, it often seems like the proverbial chicken and the egg… How can I win this contract if I don’t have any customers in the public sector?

How to Get Started With Public Sector Tendering

There are no quick fixes to be able to compete for larger contracts, but you need to start somewhere. All the solutions take time but are pretty simple:

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New EU Procurement Rules 2014

2 minutes of reading

The new EU procurement rules 2014 are designed to ensure better value for money and improved quality. The reduction of red tape should also make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to tender.

New EU Procurement Rules 2014

EU-rules on public procurement apply to public authorities buying works, goods or services.

Note: See latest public sector contracts thresholds.

New EU Procurement Rules 2014 – Summary

They will include tougher rules on subcontracting and have a new award criteria that will put more emphasis on:

  • Quality
  • Environmental considerations
  • Social aspects
  • Innovation

Procurement will use the MEAT criteria (most economically advantageous tender). This balances the above elements with price.

One of the aims is to encourage more innovation. This will be achieved through openness – making it possible for tenderers to negotiate innovative solutions during the tendering procedure (as opposed to bidding on a pre-determined specification).

New EU Procurement Rules 2014 – Helping SMEs

Red tape will be reduced to make it easier for SMEs to tender:

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New EU Procurement Rules 2014 Read More »

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