Social Value in Procurement

London’s intensifying needs, budget constraints and charged public mood are driving toward increasingly defined requirements for social value within the procurement process: supporting local jobs, contributing to healthier places and social wellbeing, and ultimately building positive relationships between delivery partners, public organisations and communities served.
The appetite for understanding and requiring social value clearly exists, but time-poor procurement teams are often overwhelmed with options, and rarely have time to share lessons learned. The sector needs a better grip on current practice and needs and a manageable way forward – including common and rigorous metrics, flexible tendering and more emphasis on evaluation.
Running throughout 2019, this project balanced setting and monitoring outcomes against programme, finance and legal considerations. The goal was – through shared, cross-sector expertise and experience – to equip London’s public sector and delivery partners to form more consistent and effective procurement practices that deliver demonstrable, ongoing social benefit for London and for Londoners.
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