Bradford Council Social Value policy explained
Social, economic and environmental impacts - the term social value covers a much broader definition that includes not just social impacts but economic and environmental impacts too. So, supporting our local businesses and VCSE sector and putting in place interventions that help meet our sustainability and climate change obligations is key.
A local approach - at the heart of social value in Bradford is our local approach.
- We want to support our local SME and VCSE organisations through not only who we spend our money with, but also through added social value inputs.
- We want the people of the Bradford District to be the recipients of social value delivery from our local spend.
- We also wish to work with our local services and organisations to support the delivery of social value – these are the organisations and people who know our place the best and are likely to be employing a high percentage of local people.
Collaboration – it is key that social value in our contracts enhances local relationships. Those between the buyer (Bradford Council) and its suppliers; but also between our suppliers and our communities. We want our suppliers to invest time energy and resources in establishing strong relationships, to ensure we can collectively make a bigger impact on our place. As such and depending on the scale and nature of a particular contract, Bradford Council and our social
value delivery partners should engage with suppliers on social value at the market engagement phase of their tendering exercises and continue to collaborate throughout the length of the contract delivery.
Aligning social value with partners – Bradford Council’s ambition is to work with our local and regional partners to align the social value impacts we are each realising, so that we can achieve greater impacts on our communities.
Bradford Council’s Social Value policy Headline Guidance
Mandatory social value
| Policy criteria (as included in the approved policy) |
Criteria guidance / detail See evaluation process for methodology |
|---|---|
| Social value will be mandatory in all contracts over £100,000. |
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| For those under £100,000 social value will be recommended but optional All contracts over £100,000 are required to include at least one ‘Employment and Skills’ (apprenticeships, work placements and work experience) related measure. Should this not prove viable for a particular contract,approval from Council leadership will be required for it to be disregarded. |
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Social value measures
| Policy criteria (as included in the approved policy) |
Criteria guidance / detail See evaluation process for methodology |
|---|---|
| From the Bradford District choice of measures, commissioners and procurers will provide bidders with a shortlist for the suppliers to respond to in their tenders. These should be chosen as those most relevant to the nature of the contract. |
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Social value weightings
| Policy criteria (as included in the approved policy) |
Criteria guidance / detail See evaluation process for methodology |
|---|---|
| Social value will make up a minimum 10% of the overall contract evaluation weighting, as part of the quality. | This is a minimum weighting. |
| This weighting of 10% may be reduced in certain circumstances with the approval of Council leadership. | If the 10% weighting absolutely needs reducing, permission in writing needs to be sought from the Head of Procurement. |
| Where appropriate to the contract a higher weighting could be applied. | Some industries are much more mature in their provision and capabilities around social value (e.g. the construction industry). In these circumstances a weighting of up to 20% can be considered. |
| Social value commitments will be assessed from both a quantitative (financial value) and qualitative (delivery) perspective. |
It is recommended that of the percentage evaluation weighting, 60% is in relation to the qualitative approach and 40% is in relation to the quantitative approach. The quantitative score will be determined through financial proxys aligned to each measure. The qualitative score will be more subjective and determined through professional judgement and based on alignments to criteria provided (directly benefits Bradford; use of local delivery partners; provides a legacy; robust delivery plan). See evaluation documentation for more information. |
Reporting and monitoring
| Policy Criteria (as included in the approved policy) |
Criteria guidance / detail See evaluation process for methodology |
|---|---|
| Reporting and monitoring will be supported by a digital online system – all relevant stakeholders will receive training and support on the adopted system. |
The intention is to buy in a digital system to support the monitoring, measuring and reporting on social value. Until such time as the Council is able to procure a system an in-house process is being developed. More detail on this separately. |
Approach to frameworks
| Policy criteria (as included in the approved policy) |
Criteria guidance / detail See evaluation process for methodology |
|---|---|
| Frameworks will require commissioners and procurers to identify suitable social value criteria, taking account of framework value and duration, and set these out in tender documents. However, in each circumstance it will be necessary to consider whether it is more suitable to seek proposals from bidders when advertising the framework opportunity (for example a large single supplier framework for goods), or at call-off stage. |
Further guidance on applying social value to frameworks is in development. However, until this is published, please apply the above the policy criteria to all tenders/bids/contracts at the appropriate time. |
Contract requirements
| Policy criteria (as included in the approved policy) |
Criteria guidance / detail See evaluation process for methodology |
|---|---|
| Social value will dovetail with the requirements set out through our procurement processes, which set clear expectations to suppliers on the need for compliance with all relevant legislation and good business practice. This would cover modern slavery, equality and diversity, health and safety and fair working practices including paying the Living Wage. Meeting these requirements is a fundamental pre-requisite for suppliers and are as such additional to any social value requirements. | As per existing procurement requirements |
