The UK government announced a programme to support carbon capture and storage projects. But opinions differ on whether this is an appropriate use of public money in terms of reducing emissions.
We mustn’t allow “social value” requirements create new barriers to entry for smaller firms or social enterprises that want to win public sector contracts.
Converting “social value” proposals in bids and tenders into financial values is tempting and certainly has some benefits. However, the negatives may well outweigh the positives.
Including suppliers’ approach to diversity and equality in tender evaluations is not necessarily wrong - but it needs to be considered and handled carefully.
The recent workshp with Novo-K and public procurement leaders dived into both challenges and positives around sustainable procurement and social value.
The new Social Procurement Manual is well researched, written and presented - a useful resource for anyone interested in this topic or procurement with purpose generally. .
David Shields, with the Contract for Change initiative, under the auspices of Social Value UK, is bringing his great energy and drive to UK public sector procurement with purpose.