Social value in procurement: what it means

NB: Ahead of the introduction of the Procurement Act 2023, Cabinet Office updated the Social Value Model for implementation by October 2025, meaning that Central Government departments must check which model applies to each contract, and comply with the relevant requirements

Social value in procurement is about making sure that what you buy creates additional benefits for society. To get it right, you need to start thinking as early as possible about how to apply it to what you are buying.

What is social value and why is it important?

The Social Value Act 2012 states that all public bodies must consider how what they are proposing to buy might improve economic, social and environmental wellbeing. The legal requirements of the act are quite limited, and many public organisations choose to go further than just ‘considering’ social value, and actively apply the principles across their procurement activities. 

Please note: central government bodies must also comply with the requirements contained in Policy Procurement Note 06/20 for agreements published under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, or Policy Procurement Note 002.

Social value is traditionally applied as part of a community, local, or regional contract. A local authority commissioning a built environment regeneration project may require the companies bidding for the work to state what social benefits they would offer to the area, should they win the contract. These could include a commitment to employing local people, offering a number of apprenticeships, or supporting the growth of responsible local businesses.

Before you start any procurement, you should think carefully about whether the goods or services you’re going to buy, and the way you are going to buy them, will secure social value benefits.

Early preparation is key

Consider social value as early as possible, ideally when your requirement is still in the pre-procurement / development phase. The decisions you make during this stage will be integral to the final contract and the type of suppliers that will perform it. It needs to be right from the start.

As a first step, consult with your key stakeholders, supply market, and customer base, to reach a common understanding of what social value might look like for your contract.  Many organisations want to be effective contributors to social value and will be happy to start a conversation with you. Some public agencies and commercial companies may be able to provide you with case studies or other supporting evidence to show how they have delivered it in the past. 

The procurement will be more successful if you have a clear understanding of what your social value ‘ask’ is. Use this when drafting your specification and evaluation questions to avoid any sense that social value is arbitrary. 

Be specific about the themes you’d like bidders to focus on – whether that’s creating new jobs, protecting the environment or tackling inequality. Clearly state your objectives and the social value outcomes you want to achieve for each theme. 

How to evaluate bids for social value 

We have discussed ‘how to evaluate bids’ in another article in this series. The core principles are the same for social value, but the following specific advice applies:

Take time to get your questions right

Writing a great social value award question is a skill.  While you can ask as many questions as you want, often one straightforward question in plain English is sufficient. The most effective social value questions are forward-looking and have a clear link to the contract specification – asking a supplier what they will specifically do over the life of the contract, in support of the identified outcomes.  

Include clear evaluation criteria so that suppliers know what you’re looking for in a response, and set a word or character limit that gives bidders enough space to make a meaningful proposal. Ideally, you should choose evaluators who have some understanding of the topic. 

The Government Commercial Function has produced  guidance on model evaluation questions, criteria and reporting metrics aligned to PPN 06/20 and PPN 002.

Outcomes over outputs

Social value should always be evaluated for quality and not quantity.  A large, national company might have the capacity to create an apprenticeship whereas a smaller business may partner with other local organisations to create specialist training, using their unique skills.  Both contribute to the development of new skills, but in ways that suit the bidders’ skills and capacity. Evaluating proposals based on how well they contribute to the desired outcome, rather than on how much they promise, levels the playing field and encourages innovation.

Consider your weightings

Central government departments are required to evaluate social value, applying a minimum overall weighting of 10%. For other public bodies this can vary.  A higher percentage won’t necessarily drive more social value, so balance your weightings carefully. See the social value model for further guidance on this.

Monitoring

Once you’ve completed the evaluation process and chosen a supplier, the social value deliverables should be incorporated within the contract in readiness for managing them throughout the life cycle of your procurement. 

It’s important that you’re clear on your reporting criteria at the specification stage so that you can measure social value impact effectively. For example, you could include ‘the supplier shall report on social value progress and impacts monthly / 3 monthly / 6 monthly etc.’ These will be your key performance indicators.

Finally, remember that evaluating social value doesn’t stop once the contract is awarded. You need to be consistent in collecting, recording and monitoring your KPIs.

Learn more about social value

Visit our social value webpage or get in touch with our expert team to find out more about social value and how it’s embedded into our agreements.

Customers save over 39% on Adobe software

The requirement

Following the success of our previous Enterprise Term License Agreement (ETLA) with Adobe, which was co-termed to expire at the end of March 2023, we needed to provide a replacement solution for existing customers that would also be open to new customers.

The solution 

We negotiated directly with Adobe to establish pricing of commonly purchased products such as Acrobat Pro, Acrobat Standard, and Creative Cloud. Adobe then made this pricing available to all their Platinum Partners for the CCS aggregation.

The aggregated procurement used lot 3 of our Technology Products and Associated Services agreement (RM6068). The most economically advantageous offer in the market was obtained by taking into consideration both price and non-price factors. The further competition was concluded with sealed bids.

The results 

The pricing negotiated with Adobe is based on the aggregate demand across the 93 customers who took part in the aggregation. This amounted to £24.6 million in market value.

The new ETLA runs from 30 March 2023 to 30 March 2026 and offers savings on average of 39.9% compared to market pricing. This is equivalent to a saving of £9.8 million against market pricing for the customers who took part.

Let us bring power to your procurement

Even if you didn’t join the aggregation, you can still take advantage of the pricing we have negotiated with Adobe by joining the ETLA during its term. To register your interest or find out more, please complete our online form quoting ‘Adobe ETLA’ and one of our team will be in touch.

National aggregated further competitions are a fully managed service provided and funded by us. You can count on us to help you save time and resources. We will draft all the documents, build the specification and run the procurement for you. If you are interested in making savings by aggregating your requirements with other customers for commodity goods and services, we’d love to hear from you.

Explore all our upcoming aggregations.

Customers save over £3.5 million with mobile voice and data aggregation

Our latest mobile voice and data services aggregation helped customers achieve savings of over £3.5 million.

What is the mobile voice and data aggregation service?

The aggregation service combines the mobile voice and data requirements of multiple customers, taking much larger volumes to market. This helps us achieve savings that individual customers are unlikely to achieve on their own.

How do aggregations work in practice?

We provide each customer with a savings and cost analysis based on their individual requirements. It shows them the minimum guaranteed savings and the maximum amount they will pay. Suppliers compete on the overall volume, and bids must not exceed the prices set for each participating customer or the overall aggregated maximum price.

We draft all documentation, build the specification (which is shared and approved by customers) and run the further competition on behalf of customers. The competition identifies the supplier who is able to offer the best quality and price for the requirements. Each customer contracts with the successful supplier individually. We host initial introductory meetings between the supplier and each customer.

The results

The most recent mobile voice and data aggregation took place in April 2023:

  • 9 local authorities saved £3 million or 75% on average
  • 5 health customers saved £500,000 or 73% on average
  • a university and a non-departmental body saved £49,000 or 71% on average

Alicia Wydell, Senior Procurement Specialist at Kirklees Council said:

Kirklees procurement team is always striving to achieve value for money within every procurement they undertake, especially on essential year on year contracts.

Joining the CCS aggregation for mobile voice and data has provided a 51% saving against the previous contract which under the current economic climate is essential. The aggregation attracted 16 buyers which increased the buying power, encouraging the suppliers to pass on savings because of the volume of the collective connections and data volume requirements.

From the point of view of the process and instructions provided by CCS it is a seamless process. All the instructions are clear and concise and easy to follow as a procurement officer. The time saved, as it is led entirely by CCS, is also a huge saving on resources and this is valued in a very busy procurement team. I would highly recommend the aggregation process to other buyers.

Let us bring power to procurement

Our next mobile voice and data services Aggregation is now open. You have until Friday 13 October 2023 to submit your requirements, with a formal contract award set to take place in January 2024.

If you would like to take part, please complete our online form quoting ‘mobile voice and data aggregation’ in the comment box and a member of our team will be in touch.

If this timetable doesn’t work for you, we are also offering another aggregation with a closing date of Friday 15 March 2024.

How local authorities can harness the power of national procurement to meet local objectives

NB: This article was originally published on 14 August 2023. All information was correct at the time of writing, but may not be fully applicable following the introduction of the Procurement Act 2023.

Local authorities are at the forefront of regeneration and placemaking, delivering projects which support a thriving local economy or address other priority needs of the locality such as skills development and decarbonisation. Such activity is often complex, consisting of multiple, diverse projects that may be interrelated or overlapping, and require substantial investment. 

The challenges

Access to resources, procurement expertise, and commercial routes to market is critical to any regeneration scheme’s success but local authorities may lack the necessary experience or capability in these areas. 

In this article, we explore how effective regeneration procurement can support the complex needs, goals, and priorities facing local communities and provide our top tips for where local authorities can begin with their regeneration project to help guide your team to the best possible outcome.

What are regeneration and placemaking, and why are they important for local authorities?

Local regeneration projects can help to promote economic growth and improve the quality of life for citizens. For many projects, central themes are stimulating local economic activity and improving the built environment. 

Programmes to revitalise town centres and former industrial buildings can help attract investment for commercial landmarks while introducing valuable quality-of-life improvements for residents. For example, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council are using our solutions to reinvent and reinvigorate the Nuneaton town centre completely. Their regeneration programme features the Grayson Place project, an exciting new family-friendly meeting, eating, drinking, and entertainment destination currently under construction. 

According to a report by the UK government, adopting a placemaking approach to regeneration can generate value for residents and the local community through improved neighbourhood pride, a locally informed housing offer, better connections to local opportunities, and improved services.

Placemaking is the collaborative process of designing and shaping public spaces to create vibrant, inclusive, and attractive environments. Placemaking focuses on creating places that people feel connected to, that promote social interaction, well-being, and a sense of belonging within a community.  

Take a phased approach to regeneration procurement

If you need help determining where to begin with your regeneration procurement, start by breaking down the end-to-end journey into phases, such as project development, public engagement, and project delivery. 

Here’s what these 3 phases could look like:

Phase 1 – Strategic planning and project development

Regeneration procurement starts with strategic planning and project development – where you set project objectives, scope, and timelines. Here, you should identify the community’s specific needs, establish regeneration goals, and determine the required resources. For example, putting social value at the core of regeneration and placemaking projects will help deliver great places that serve the people who live in them. 

Many local authorities don’t have dedicated resources or inhouse knowledge experts to manage regeneration projects. You can access professional service for a wide range of technical advisory services and expert support for regeneration and infrastructure projects of all scales and sizes.

Phase 2 – Public engagement

Effective regeneration procurement involves engaging and collaborating with various stakeholders, other local authorities, developers, community organisations, and residents. 

Some practical approaches to community engagement for regeneration projects include:

  • implementing a Social Value and Community Engagement Plan that provides activities and services for the local community
  • partnering with local leaders, the private sector and community groups to deliver new housing, facilities, roads and infrastructure
  • supporting community-led plans that oppose social housing demolition and propose alternative schemes

Engagement should also be inclusive and enable all voices to be heard. Investing in participation support for under-represented groups, for example, can help build stronger relationships with and across different communities. Regular communication and consultation ensures that the procurement process considers diverse perspectives and aligns with the needs and aspirations of the community. 

Phase 3 – Project delivery

Regeneration and placemaking schemes often encompass integrated themes, such as: 

  • digital and smart technology
  • electric vehicle charging
  • town centre revitalisation
  • pedestrian and vehicular traffic management

As you prepare your regeneration business case and look at the project’s delivery phase, it’s essential to understand what routes to market are available for your procurement and how to factor in sustainability and social value when aligning projects with local priorities. To determine what agreements to use, start with a base set of criteria and then align its specifications for a project with the agreement’s scope. 

Factors to consider include: 

  • the lotting structure if your regeneration project specification falls within the scope of the agreement
  • the number and type of the appointed suppliers 
  • is it a direct award or does it allow for direct further competition processes
  • what opportunities are there to deliver Social Value

Once contracts are awarded, monitoring and evaluating the performance of suppliers and contractors is critical. Performance monitoring ensures compliance with contractual obligations, quality standards, timelines, and budgets. It also helps identify any issues or challenges early on and allows for appropriate remedial actions.

Embed social value and sustainability into procurement early

Consider social value and sustainability in the earliest stages of development. How do the goods or services you’re going to buy and how you’re going to buy them help secure social value and sustainability benefits? The decisions you make when your requirement is still in the pre-procurement / development phase will be integral to the final contract and the type of suppliers that will perform it. 

CCS offers tools and guidance on measuring and reporting social value, helping local authorities to track their progress and demonstrate their achievements. You can also encourage suppliers to develop sustainable supply chains and show how they deliver social value. 

Regeneration activity must also be mindful of the requirement for our local places to support the transition to carbon net zero. Embracing sustainable principles, such as green infrastructure, energy efficiency, waste management, and sustainable transportation options, helps to create environmentally friendly and resilient places that help mitigate climate change and enhance the overall quality of life. 

Achieving sustainability goals through regeneration projects can include procuring everything from the decarbonisation of property to the use of smart technology to develop clean air and low emissions zones. 

Find out more

Meeting the complex needs, goals, and priorities facing local communities requires an approach as advanced as the problems you are trying to solve. Following these principles helps maximise the positive social impact of regeneration projects. 

To learn more, visit our Regeneration and Placemaking webpage. You can find more resources about our work to support local authorities on our website, or visit our social value webpage to learn more about how we can support your organisations social value goals. To speak to a member of our expert team, please call us on 0345 410 2222.

Funding by Crown Commercial Service has helped NHS procurement teams identify millions in potential savings

  • Commercial buying system, Atamis, has supported NHS teams to identify millions in potential savings in its first year
  • 69% of all NHS organisations across the UK are benefiting from the digital system, with many more scheduled to onboard
  • Identified savings could help money be reinvested into patient care

Many NHS-affiliated organisations previously used different platforms to buy goods and services. These weren’t possible to integrate, meaning it has historically been difficult for buying teams in the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS to share insights and data between organisations in order to make effective commercial decisions.

The Atamis system, which brings together each element of the commercial process in one location, has removed burdensome manual processes and saved millions of pounds in administration costs. This has also freed up capacity in NHS teams while helping health services run more efficiently.

The platform currently holds a pipeline of £24bn and active contracts with a value of £108bn.

NHS services in North West London were able to identify £34 million of savings by grouping 9 organisations on the same e-commerce system. This has helped them to identify £34 million of potential savings in the past 12 months.

Cabinet Office Parliamentary Secretary Alex Burghart said:

To meet the Prime Minister’s goal of reducing national debt, we’re making efficiencies for the taxpayer.

CCS funding has been invaluable to DHSC, its Arm’s Length Bodies, NHS Providers, newly formed Integrated Care Systems, Integrated Care Boards and Commissioning Support Units.

The roll out of the Atamis e-commerce system, which was enabled by £12.8 million in funding from Crown Commercial Service (spread over 3 financial years), has already seen 258 NHS organisations (69% of total) sign up with a further target of 90% by 2025.

In addition to supporting NHS organisations to identify savings, Atamis provides procurement teams with a unified view of the data, which can be segmented according to the need of the organisation, ensuring it’s easier for procurement and commercial teams to make informed decisions that ensure the best value for money for the taxpayer.

The Department of Health and Social Care said that CCS funding has proved ‘invaluable’ in enabling widespread adoption of the system – one of the 2 key technology platforms that provide the foundations for most of the Central Commercial Functions workstreams – by organisations. The target is to achieve a 90% onboard rate by March 2025.

Health Minister Lord Markham said:

I’m pleased to see the success so far of this digital platform, which is already helping NHS organisations across England identify savings opportunities.

We are committed to using the latest technology and new ways of working to increase efficiencies, save staff time, and deliver value for money.

Sarah Jewell, Deputy Director for partnerships at Crown Commercial Service said:

We’re delighted with the success of the rollout of the Atamis e-commerce system. This is a great step forward in bringing the commercial activities of the health service together in one place to increase the effectiveness and resilience of NHS procurement.

Jacqui Rock, NHS England Chief Commercial Officer said:

The NHS is one of the most efficient health services in the world, and finding further efficiencies to be reinvested into patient care remains a key priority. Atamis is an incredibly important tool to support procurement teams to do this, and it’s encouraging to see the progress we have made in just a year to help deliver significant savings and value for the taxpayer.

As guardians of taxpayer money, having a unified view of the commercial data landscape is essential, so I expect the remaining NHS organisations who haven’t yet onboarded to do so as a matter of priority.

Lee Jackson, Managing Director North West London Procurement Services said:

Atamis has been key to the development of ICS based procurement across North West London. We now have a robust 3rd party intelligence suite of which Atamis is the cornerstone. In the past twelve months we have integrated all data from all nine NHS trusts into the system and also the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. This has helped us identify and track savings opportunities worth £34.8m across our ICS.

Melinda Johnson, Commercial Director for the Department of Health and Social Care said:

CCS funding has been invaluable to DHSC, its Arm’s Length Bodies, NHS Providers, newly formed Integrated Care Systems, Integrated Care Boards and Commissioning Support Units.

August customer newsletter

Welcome to our August customer newsletter – read it here.

If you don’t currently receive our monthly customer newsletter, you can sign up by completing this short form. Each month, we’ll send you our latest news stories and case studies, as well as information on upcoming aggregation opportunities, events, webinars and much more.

You will also find a full list of all the commercial agreements we offer, alongside details of how we can help you build policy considerations into your procurement, in our interactive digital brochure.

Changes to our agreements in July

Welcome to our monthly framework update to help you with your procurement planning. We will publish it online each month and also share it in our newsletters and on our social media channels.

The update provides a brief summary of what has been awarded, extended or expired during the previous month. It also outlines what is due to expire in the next 3 months.

You can also get an overview of all of our live frameworks in our interactive digital brochure.

Agreements awarded in July

No agreements were awarded in July.

Agreements extended in July

Agreements that expired in July

Agreements due to expire in the next 3 months

Further information

If you need further details about any of these agreements please get in touch.

You can also find out what new procurements we are working on by exploring our upcoming deals page.

If you don’t currently receive our monthly customer newsletter why not also subscribe to receive these updates and more directly to your inbox? Just fill in this short form.

DWP Digital make savings on digital transformation with pay as you use model

Introduction

A recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Crown Commercial Service (CCS) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) provides public sector organisations with access to a range of commercial discounts and additional social value.

The MoU includes HPE Greenlake, an infrastructure (compute and storage) as a service model which can help organisations in their digital transformation by providing hybrid/private cloud and secure edge to cloud solutions. This consumption model has the financial benefits of being an operating expense (OPEX) model that means you ‘pay for what you use’ to prevent over provisioning, maximising value for money.

DWP Digital, the digital department within the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recently progressed their own digital transformation journey, and this case study examines the issues they were facing, how HPE Greenlake helped and the benefits they have achieved.

The challenge

DWP Digital recognised the need to advance their technology maturation by considering alternative cloud models that would provide flexibility and innovation to support their core function of providing state pensions and a range of benefits to over 20 million customers.
They identified 3 priority areas they wanted to tackle:

  1. creating greater flexibility and capacity in a time when demands on infrastructure were increasing
  2. creating greater financial flexibility and spending the right type of money
  3. reducing technical debt

The benefits of moving to pay as you use

DWP modelled their server and storage requirements, comparing the costs associated with a traditional capital expenditure (CAPEX) model or outright ownership to that of a consumption based ‘pay as you use’ model.

Over a 60 month period they identified potential savings of over £7 million or a total of over 40%.

They also found that a ‘pay as you use’ cloud model would:

  1. increase flexibility and capability to react quickly to business needs without needing to manage additional equipment or delay vital projects. By not owning physical infrastructure and avoiding paying upfront for capacity which may not be used, costs associated with over provisioning and maintaining hardware could be avoided.
  2. enable them to better manage their budgetary challenges by moving to OPEX spend which is more efficient as you only pay for what you consume.
  3. reduce technical debt which is particularly important where networking, cloud or IT infrastructure is owned outright and heavy costs are incurred in maintaining, updating software and overall life cycle management which can still result in project delays and capacity constraints. The benefits of reducing technical debt means the hardware is up to date, the latest services and software are available without delays and money is spent efficiently in delivering forward looking capability.

Bryan Nelson, Hybrid Hosting Transformation Lead, DWP Digital said:

Digital is really important to help reduce costs by introducing automation. Underlying hosting platforms like Greenlake are able to spin all of that up quickly and make it evergreen so you don’t end up with technical debt at the operating level, so we are always able to upgrade our software. That is one of the biggest things that this kind of model and technology helps.

A significant focus was around ensuring that services are cost effective. Whilst a service or a consumption model can’t remove everything it has the ability to significantly improve budget efficiency meaning more investment into the right areas to achieve DWP Digital’s core purpose.

A Greenlake type model avoids hardware sitting around, licences or hardware being underused and only what is used is paid for.

Other benefits of this model

In moving from CAPEX to OPEX purchases, VAT is recoverable under accounting guidelines ISFR 16 – an international Financial Reporting Standard for leasing. This offers a further 20% saving which would not be possible for purchases made outright and under capital expenditure.

This is because a cloud consumption service, like Greenlake, where the whole service from consumption, installation and break fix is also managed by HPE, is COS14 compliant meaning the VAT based on this guidance can be recovered. COS14 is an accounting guideline provided by HMRC, standing for Contracted Out Services, heading 14. For more information head to VAT Government and Public Bodies.

Long term benefits for the general public

The biggest single benefit DWP Digital described is reducing technical debt from both a user perspective and a citizen perspective. This allows them to do more with digital technology without the restrictions associated with traditional public cloud or traditional infrastructure deployment.

Bryan Nelson, Hybrid Hosting Transformation Lead, DWP Digital said:

For DWP Digital, this means when we need to do things digitally to help our citizens, we are not held back by technical debt, unplanned capital expenditure or capacity or capability constraints, meaning we can continue to help some of the most vulnerable people in society.

With the latest software development and applications they all use the latest technology and they offer many new business features. Some of those features are restricted or will not work if your underlying platform is not up to date.

The other benefit is capacity. DWP Digital is able to do things quicker, faster and at the right level because DWP Digital strategy is a consumption model. This will save the taxpayer money. DWP Digital only pays for what is used.

Support from HPE

HPE worked closely with DWP Digital to build up a deeper understanding of the requirements and the potential savings that could be attributed from moving from a traditional model to a consumption model.

Chris Burnett, Sales Leader for Central Government, Defence and National Security, HPE said:

HPE worked closely with the customer to understand how much of their existing environment was used so that we could “right size” a proposed Greenlake platform, ensuring the customer avoided procuring a solution that was over-provisioned. In addition, HPE worked with the customer to understand the forecasted future use of the environment so that DWP Digital has a minimal physical hardware footprint, and only pays for what they use.

HPE can support other public sector organisations in similar ways. HPE offers the Customer Asset Programme (CAP) which details all physical assets on an organisation’s network and includes all brands and technologies. This provides customers with accurate asset management and the ability to verify their own asset report, identify vulnerabilities from aged technology or unsupported hardware, right size enterprise agreements and identify items for circular economy processing.

Additionally, through the MoU HPE have offered a limited number of half day sustainability workshops which provides impartial advice on customer work loads, where over provisioning and other inefficiencies exist.

Tap into our expertise and support

If you are interested in finding out more about the HPE MoU and how you can benefit visit our web page. You can also read more about the MoU in our news area.

Got a question we can help you with?
Complete our online form
Call us on 0345 410 2222

How to achieve transparency in your procurement

NB: This article was originally published on 24 July 2023. All information was correct at the time of writing, but may not be fully applicable following the introduction of the Procurement Act 2023.

Why is transparency important in public sector procurement?

Scrutiny of information

The principle of transparency can be defined as ‘the access to clear, precise and accurate information that is understandable to all’. 

Within the public sector, transparency is vital to ensure the spending of taxpayers’ money can be properly scrutinised.

Transparency needs to be hardwired into procurement as a lack of it can result in diminished due diligence, rushed solutions and poor-quality tenders, and may lead to several problems downstream in implementation.

If carried out effectively, transparency enables processes and decisions to be monitored and reviewed, to help ensure that decision-makers can be held accountable. 

Encouraging competition

Transparency also helps open public procurement to more competition by increasing awareness of contracting opportunities. Suppliers are more likely to bid if they know the process is fair – with all applicants having the same access to information and being judged on the same criteria. Making it easy for would-be suppliers to access all relevant information will also reduce both the time and cost required to tender.

Not only does this give your team a wider talent pool from which to choose, it will also help successful bidders feel like a trusted and valued part of the supply chain right from the start.

Government guidance 

The Cabinet Office has produced guidance to assist departments in meeting the public sector procurement and contracting transparency requirements and ensure a consistent approach.

Transparency principles

The Transparency Principles were updated on 16 February 2017. The update requires the proactive release of information in line with the above commitments and during the life of the contract.

You should establish at the start of a contract what information can be published with exemptions following the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, for example on national security or commercial confidentiality grounds. Only genuinely commercially sensitive information should be withheld.

Contracts Finder

A redeveloped Contracts Finder website was launched in February 2015 alongside the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The Regulations require in-scope bodies to publish all advertised UK public sector procurement opportunities and contract awards above certain thresholds on Contracts Finder:

  • £12,000 for central government bodies
  • £30,000 for wider public sector bodies and the NHS

As the single publishing portal for all public sector procurement opportunities, Contracts Finder is a critical part of delivering the government’s commitments for transparency in procurement and for making it easier and more accessible for smaller businesses and voluntary or charitable organisations to do business with the public sector.

Contracts Finder allows users to view and search for early market engagement notices and future opportunities, buyers to engage with suppliers to check interest in and define future procurement needs, and opportunities that are currently open to tender and awarded contracts.

User guides for buyers on how to use Contracts Finder are available from our CCS service support team, send an email to –  ContractsFinder@crowncommercial.gov.uk 

Subcontracting

Building on the measures the government has already taken to open up its procurement frameworks to small and innovative businesses, it also extended Contracts Finder to the subcontracting market in 2016, offering wider access to procurement opportunities.

Contractors to the Public Sector can now register directly on Contracts Finder to advertise opportunities in their supply chains. 

Public Contract Regulations (PCR) and Transparency

Regulation 18 of the PCR sets out that procurement needs to be conducted in accordance with the principles of equality, non-discrimination, transparency, proportionality and competition.

Four ways you can achieve transparency in your procurement

You can embed transparency into your procurement process through the following steps.

Warm up the market through pre-market engagement

Actively offering ‘pre-market engagement’ means buyers should experience an improved process and outcome with greater competition.

Regulation 40 of the PCR 2015 enables buyers to prepare the procurement by informing operators (independent experts/other authorities/suppliers) of procurement plans and requirements and conducting market consultations. 

Information gathered during this engagement may be used in the planning and conduct of the procurement procedure providing it does not have the effect of distorting competition, and does not result in a violation of the principles of non-discrimination and transparency.

Produce clear procurement documentation

Make sure that your requirements are clearly defined right from the start. The procurement package for prospective bidders should be clear and to the point, including the timeline, setting out the end-to-end tender process in detail. Include clear specifications containing realistic asks, key performance indicators (KPIs), and service levels, all provided in formats that are accessible for all parties.

For qualitative elements, the package should explicitly say the capabilities that are required, how they are to be evidenced and, wherever possible, clearly established in the assessment process, including the relative weight attributed to each section or question so that bidders understand this when producing their response

Well defined evaluation criteria will enable suppliers to understand what they are being assessed on – but make sure that this links back to your specification/service asks.

Finally, consider how easy it will be for SMEs to respond to ensure a breadth of inclusive competition for all.

Good communication and status updates

Construct a realistic timeline that is advertised in your Prior Information Notice and maintained throughout the progression of the procurement. Publish procurement and contractual notices in line with required timings and complete with all required information. This will drive improved relationships with the market and create a ‘trusted partner’ relationship.

Carefully consider the use of your procurement communication tools. Ensuring that any emerging information that could be considered ‘new’ is shared with all participants in the process. Communication should be kept to a single official channel and recorded so that parties are clear on who has communicated what and to whom to avoid the need for later clarification.

Support for bidders should be channelled via a single point of contact in the procurement team, who can answer (or obtain answers to) any queries about the tender process, what is required, and progress.

Stay informed

Finally, always check that you are adhering to the latest guidance issued regarding thresholds for your organisation. The guidance can be found in the latest issued Procurement Policy Note (PPN).

The Transforming Public Procurement (TPP) programme puts transparency front and centre of a bold vision so that the spending of taxpayers’ money can be properly scrutinised. Find out further information on the upcoming TPP reforms.

Find out more

To learn more about contract finder and transparency: 

More information and guidance for public and third sector buyers, as well as full details of all of our commercial agreements, can be found in the latest CCS digital brochure.

More: You can now find all of our Procurement Essentials articles in one place on our website.

Crown Commercial Service announces the next iteration of a Memorandum of Understanding with IBM

This next iteration of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) builds and expands on the scope of the previous agreement signed in 2020, with additional discounts to cover IBM’s suite of cloud and software products.

It will allow UK public sector customers to access a competitive baseline of pricing by recognising our aggregated public sector spend, representing significant savings for CCS customers. 

Additionally, as part of the MoU, CCS customers can now benefit from discounted pricing for sustainability software to support their Carbon Net Zero plans as well as increased cyber security offerings and free training and secondment opportunities, to address technology skills gaps, aligned with the government agenda. Free innovation projects will also be made available, so that eligible bodies can test and learn how IBM products and services can be used to meet their requirements. 

Philip Orumwense CBE, Commercial Director and Chief Technology Procurement Officer at Crown Commercial Service (CCS) said: 

I am delighted that Crown Commercial Service and IBM have worked collaboratively on this MoU, which aims to drive innovation that will improve essential public services for UK citizens.

Establishing new routes to market and supporting the digital ambitions of organisations across the entire public sector has been a strategic deliverable for CCS and this MoU marks another great milestone in delivering value and operational choice.

MoUs are pricing agreements negotiated by ourselves at CCS on behalf of our customers and are available to all eligible public sector customers through any route to market used for technology procurement. Customers can access the IBM discounted pricing via any route to market, CCS recommend using a reseller on our Technology Products and Associated Services framework.

Let us bring power to your procurement 

Discover how your organisation can benefit from this new MoU. Register for our customer webinars on 8 August and 5 September.

You can also speak to one of our technology experts to find out how we can support your specific requirements. Please complete our online form quoting ‘IBM MoU’ and we will be in touch.