Understanding Social Value in Public Procurement
Social value measures impact beyond financial lens, assessing how decisions affect people’s lives and wellbeing. By measuring social value, organisations can better understand what matters most to people, make informed trade-offs, reduce harm, and enhance positive outcomes through meaningful engagement, robust data, and accountability.
Specifically, in the sphere of construction, social value refers to the broader positive impacts a project can create for people, communities, and the environment, beyond the delivery of the physical asset itself. As an example, in the context of building a new housing development, social value extends beyond simply providing homes. If done intentionally, outcomes could include creating meaningful local employment and skills development opportunities throughout the construction and operational phases, creating indoor and outdoor community spaces, as well as minimising construction waste through efficient resource use and circular economy practices. Collectively, these potential benefits contribute to improved social capital, community engagement, and a reduced environmental footprint - ensuring that the project delivers long-term value for society as a whole.
Social value operates across four interconnected dimensions:
Environmental sustainability focuses on reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste, and protecting natural resources throughout the project lifecycle.
Economic benefits include job creation, skills development, and supporting local supply chains to strengthen regional economies.
Social impact addresses community needs through improved facilities, enhanced accessibility, and targeted training programs that respond to local requirements.
Ethical governance ensures safe, fair workplace practices while tackling diversity challenges and maintaining operational transparency, including proper staff remuneration and robust anti-slavery and environmental policies.
The Shift from MEAT to MAT
The 2024 Procurement Act marked a fundamental shift in public sector tendering, moving from 'Most Economically Advantageous Tender' (MEAT) to 'Most Advantageous Tender' (MAT). While cost competitiveness remains important, this transition encourages procurers to evaluate tenders across a broader spectrum of criteria reflecting a contract's potential societal benefit.
With social value elements now accounting for 10-35% of tender scores, this change creates significant opportunities for SMEs. Smaller companies that may lack the scale to compete purely on price can now leverage their closer community connections and deeper understanding of local challenges. Importantly, governmental bodies can now set their own evaluation criteria within defined parameters, with scoring frameworks that assess both the range and quality of social value initiatives rather than simply size or scale.
Localising Your Approach
Effective social value delivery is about understanding the specific needs of communities of where the projects are being delivered. Localisation begins with early stakeholder engagement, community consultations, and developing partnerships with local organisations and the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VSCE) sector. These relationships strengthen supply chain links while deepening your understanding of local challenges, enabling your organisation to develop genuinely effective proposals rather than generic commitments that do not meet the needs of stakeholders or achieve long-term positive impact.
Integrating Social Value into Operations
Integrating social value into a businesses operational practices can include embedding it into supply chains, implementing social value criteria and collaborating with suppliers on shared procurement initiatives and processes.
Social Value integration means embedding and delivering social value as an organisation and across development and construction projects. This can include: volunteering schemes, apprenticeships, training opportunities, job creation, and establishing local supplier relationships. Collectively, these all contribute to a robust social value profile that becomes embedded into organisational strategy rather than an add-on or after thought.
Measuring and Communicating Impact
Across social value measurement, there are several frameworks that exist to record and quantify impacts and outcomes. Frameworks include: the national Themes, Outcomes, Measures (TOMS) framework or National Social Value Standard to develop structured measurement approaches. Examining these frameworks can reveal key information areas and approaches that inform the methodology and approach towards construction or the company as a whole.
For organisations pursuing public sector growth, investing in social value expertise can unlock new opportunities for impact as well as for business growth and development. Depending on company size, this might mean creating dedicated teams, training key individuals, or developing system-led approaches that make recording social value elements integral to everyone's role. The objective is enabling tender and social value teams to assemble compelling, evidence-based submissions efficiently.
If you are an organisation that needs support in bid-writing or are seeking to establish and improve social value across the company or projects - our consultants at Enable Green can support in this process - get in touch with us.
Beyond the Bottom Line
The MEAT to MAT transition represents more than technical procurement adjustment - it signalled renewed focus on the wider impact construction projects can have on the communities they serve. For forward-thinking businesses wishing to take advantage of public procurement tenders and contracts, this has created opportunities to distinguish themselves not just on price and technical capability, but also on broader societal contributions. The most successful contractors will be those who recognise that delivering social value transcends tender success - it's about building sustainable businesses that create meaningful impact beyond the bottom line.
