Improving Social Value in Technology Procurement

In FY21/22, Government procured over £80 billion of good and services, with a large proportion of this spending focused on technology solutions. Concerned at the way central government was applying social value requirements within technology procurements, we were commissioned by techUK to craft recommendations around how social value requirements could be improved, presenting techUK members’ first hand experiences within a well-evidenced policy report.

Developing this report, we collated both quantitative and qualitative insights to shape the recommendations put to government. Our quantitative work focused on the development of a survey shared with techUK’s members that collated ranked responses on several social value statements. For example, 65.5% of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that government feedback on social value requirements was robust and constructive for unsuccessful bidders. Supporting this quantitative evidence base, we progressed several research activities that sought to build an impactful qualitative evidence base. This included one-to-one interviews with both SME and multinational technology firms, and a focus group with a broad section of techUK’s membership exploring what more government could do to better monitor and evaluate social value committments.

The robust evidence base collated allowed us to develop clear and beneficial policy recommendations, including the central recommendation that the Public Accounts Committee and National Audit Office should undertake a full evaluation of how the social value model is performing against its objectives and providing value for money. Other recommendations presented included the need to develop a joint government and industry ‘social value playbook’, removing COVID-19 as a key theme in social value considerations, and requiring all government bodies and departments to provide an annual statement of social value achievements. The report’s publication has resulted in techUK strengthening its relationship with the Cabinet Office, with both organisations now working to implement some of the recommendations outlined in the report.