The National Social Value Taskforce has produced guidance that aims to help voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) organisations overcome “structural disadvantage” to win more public contracts.
Published this week, the guidance addresses the roles sector organisations can play as direct suppliers, subcontractors and social value partners.
Developed by the National Social Value Taskforce VCFSE working group, it considers the challenges that restrict VCFSEs’ participation and makes recommendations to improve collaboration, inclusion and accountability in procurement.
It urges contracting authorities to “shift from designing procurements for large commercial suppliers and expecting VCFSEs to fit in to designing with the sector in mind from the outset”.
The guidance recommends suppliers move from treating VCFSEs “as a route to bid points to treating them as genuine supply chain partners”.
It advises VCFSEs to prepare to become bid-ready, build data to evidence impact and form partnerships before tenders land.
Barriers ‘won’t disappear overnight’
The guidance says that while the VCFSE sector “is a cornerstone of UK civic life”, it remains systematically disadvantaged by how public procurement is designed and run.
Some of the key challenges faced by VCFSEs and highlighted in the guidance include the “principle of additionality”, VCFSE readiness and delivery and accountability.
On additionality, the guidance says the Social Value Act and frameworks built around it “define social value as value that’s additional to what’s being procured – over and above the contract’s core requirements”.
“Many VCFSEs experience this requirement as a structural disadvantage: a system that treats their core work as the baseline rather than as a contribution, and asks them to generate extra value on top,” it says.
“The result is a sense that mission-led delivery goes unrecognised unless organisations manufacture external ‘add-ons’ that sit outside their primary purpose, often diverting resource away from their cause to do so.
“That frustration is widely felt and deserves to be examined seriously.”
It says that while the barriers “won’t disappear overnight”, with “a more flexible and legal framework in place and years of experience to draw on, the direction of travel is visible”.
Preparing to win more work
The guidance says VCFSEs need to “prepare, with the right documentation, capability, and relationships in place”.
For instance, VCFSEs could decide early whether they will manage procurement processes in-house or work with an external partner or freelance bid writer.
“This should include a clear cost-benefit analysis based on internal skills, capacity, time, and the scale or complexity of the opportunity,” the guidance says.
“Trustees and senior leaders should be supported to understand how procurement fits into your business model, so that they can help drive the development of internal capability and maintain oversight of bids and contracts.”
It also advises VCFSEs to build their “theory of change” and start measuring their outcomes and impact.
“Both public and private sector buyers need to understand the impact you’re having, and whether you’re bidding directly or supporting a [lead bidder], you’ll need to be able to report social value in a form that can be used within a bid.
“Start by identifying the frameworks your prospective buyers are using and the types of data each requires. Then work backwards to build a timeline for gathering the data in advance.”
