The clock is ticking. It’s time to put the finishing touches on your procurement strategies to optimise the changes in the Procurement Act 2023, scheduled to go live on 24 February 2025. The Act extricates public sector procurement from EU directives, making the processes simpler and encouraging greater participation in the market, especially for SMEs.
Social value, first regulated in the Social Value Act 2012, plays an important role in public procurement. The Act encourages delivering social value by incorporating community benefits into procurement criteria, making social value initiatives now mandatory with a weighting of at least 10% in the bid evaluation process.
The emphasis on social value is one way in which the Act hopes to increase the number of suppliers in the market. In fact, it enables SMEs to compete (more or less) equally against larger business enterprises.
Delta eSourcing is one of the most reputable eSourcing platforms that facilitates and supports government buyers and suppliers. It complies with the new Regulations, so you needn’t worry about falling foul of the rules when you use the platform to publish or find contracts.
The Procurement Act 2023: Key Changes for 2025
The new regulations have a significant impact on procurement processes, cutting red tape and making them more straightforward. Buyers must publish more procurement notices, which makes the process more transparent.
Transparency in procurement ensures accountability and because all stakeholders have access to the same information, it promotes fair competition. All actions and interactions on the platform are logged, so there is also a clear audit trail – essential in case of disputes.
Another big change is the introduction of the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS).
What is the NPPS?
The NPPS encourages councils to integrate social value considerations into their procurement strategies. It enables the government to create wider policy objectives, for example, increasing skills training or employment in a specific area or industry. All stakeholders in public procurement are expected to toe the line and help the government reach specific objectives, including net zero.
This is the second NPPS. The first was PPN 06/21. Under PPN 06/21, contracting authorities weren’t bound by the notice. The new NPPS changes that. According to the statement, buyers are “under a statutory duty to have regard to the NPPS.”
The statement’s limitations
The NPPS isn’t all-powerful. Contracting authorities don’t actually have to abide by the requirements, especially if set priorities are irrelevant to a specific contract.
Moreover
According to section 13(10) of the new Act, the NPPS has restrictions. For instance, it doesn’t apply to:
- Private utilities
- Framework contracts
- Dynamic market contracts
There are also restrictions for devolved nations, for instance, NPPS doesn’t apply to “procurements under devolved Welsh or transferred Northern Irish procurement arrangements.”
Section 14 of the Act provides the Welsh government power to issue a WPPS (Welsh Procurement Policy Statement).
Social Value in Public Procurement
The government has emphasised social value in at least three ways.
- Social Value Act 2012
- Policy Procurement Note 06/20
- Procurement Act 2023
It’s safe to say that stakeholders in public procurement can’t cobble together a token initiative and expect to get away with it.
Instead, you must give it the attention and respect it deserves as a core requirement in public contracts.
Why is it a core requirement?
Social value is now a core requirement because it helps the UK government reach objectives related to employment, sustainability, national and local economy, and community upliftment. Sustainability also drives the country towards its net zero goal.
Social value enables SMEs to compete equally in the public sector market, which helps the government reach its goal of spending 33% of the public procurement budget on SMEs. More SMEs are encouraged to enter the market and a cycle is born.
Social Value Objectives in Public Sector Organisations
Public sector organisations are increasingly recognising the importance of social value in their procurement processes. By incorporating social value objectives in their bid proposals, contracting authorities can make a positive difference in their local communities and help the government achieve its national strategic priorities. This approach enhances the quality of public services and drives positive social change.
Social Value Scoring and Assessment
Contracting authorities tend to have their own assessment process, but there are a few elements that all buyers share:
Provide sufficient details for the social value initiative. Clear social value criteria help suppliers understand the priorities and deliver relevant projects.
Ensure evaluation criteria are clear. Suppliers must know your priorities, so they can deliver relevant projects. They must also know how much weight you assign to the priorities so they know where they should focus more attention.
Choose quality over quantity. Suppliers that deliver highly targeted, innovative, and impactful projects should be favoured over suppliers that deliver broad, staid, and impotent projects.
Set KPIs and milestones to monitor performance. Suppliers must have some sort of timeline or schedule to keep them on track. They must also have achievable ‘mini-goals’ to keep them motivated.
How Suppliers Can Align with Social Value Strategy and Priorities
The first step suppliers can take to create social value projects that reflect the contracting authorities’ objectives is to understand the requirements. This means reading the tender documents very carefully and then asking the contracting authorities clarification questions.
The second step is to research the contracting authority and the local council where they operate. Knowledge of past projects and the local environment, including the population, helps tailor social value initiatives to meet local needs and align with community well-being goals.
Early engagement is a great way for suppliers to get to know contracting authorities. Good relationships foster mutual understanding and facilitate communication, all of which provide insight into what makes contracting authorities tick.
Delta eSourcing is particularly useful because its range of tools ensures suppliers are notified as soon as relevant tenders come up. They can set up notifications based on industry, location, budget, and social value filters. Tenders that trigger social value details save a lot of time and energy because suppliers’ and buyers’ priorities coincide.
How Delta eSourcing Supports Public Sector Organisations with Social Value Implementation
Delta eSourcing is a trusted name in public sector procurement. Our eSourcing and procurement platform quickly and accurately matches buyers to suppliers that meet their contracts’ requirements. But we provide a far more comprehensive service that goes well beyond contract alerts.
We’ve been very busy with our preparations for the new procurement reforms and have developed resources that help buyers remain compliant with all the regulatory changes. We even have an automated social value tracking system to streamline buyers’ procurement processes.
Here’s what one of our happy clients had to say.
University of Leicester
The university was ready to take its procurement strategy to the next level and realised that Delta eSourcing would make the transition from its old eTendering system to Delta’s platform seamless. As James Trotter, Director of Procurement, said, “Transitioning from our previous eTendering system to Delta was quick and painless.”
The Last Step in Preparation for the Procurement Reform in 2025
There are only two short weeks before the new Act goes live. You’re almost certainly well prepared and raring to go, but there is one final step to ensure you are absolutely ready:
Book a free demo to see how we can bolster your preparations or pop over to our website and explore our resources on the new Procurement Act 2023, and public sector procurement in general.
