What is Social Value In Tenders?

Have you ever wondered about how tenders can support social value for consumers?

Social value in tenders is often not a well-understood topic since this is often highly focused on the financial side of things, with little consideration given to the potential social benefits (or ramifications) of the tendering process. However, as a business owner or contractor, understanding the ever-growing role of social value in tenders is critical.

Luckily, our experts are on hand today to help you learn more about social value in tenders, so you can understand what this might mean for your own social value goals.

What is Social Value in Tenders?

What is social value? Many people are not aware of what social value is and why it’s important, even though the ruling requiring businesses to focus on social value came out over a decade ago. At its simplest, social value is the level of value a business can bring to its local communities from a social perspective – in other words, in terms of happiness, sustainability, and the like.

Social value goals differ from firm to firm, of course, but it remains important for all businesses to try and promote social value within their operations, rather than attempting to greenwash customers – knowingly or on purpose – into thinking the business is more sustainable than it is.

Is Social Value Important?

Many business owners consider social value regulations to be another limitation on their freedom to operate their business. However, embracing social value in tenders in your firm can support both the business and the local community, making it a win-win situation.

By ensuring your business activities provide ample social value, your business will immediately gain an additional competitive edge over your competitors. Customers are rapidly becoming more involved with the concept of social value and will often choose to support local businesses that make a difference much more readily. As such, engaging with social value is an excellent way to keep your business operating smoothly and profitably.

How Does Social Value in Tenders Work?

At this point, we’ve outlined some of the main things you should know about social value – but how does social value in tenders work?

During the tendering process, it’s vital to keep a close focus on social value, both from the contractor/supplier’s perspective and the business’s. From the business’s perspective, when tendering, it’s vital to only partner with contractors who can deliver social value in their work and who share similar goals to your business. Meanwhile, for contractors, demonstrating an ability to provide social value through the partnership can be a good way to strengthen your application and increase the chances of the tendering process going ahead between you and the business.

It only takes a few simple questions to assess social value in tenders, such as how the contractor will help support the local economy. However, this can go a long way, so it is well worth considering as part of your decisions.

Final Thoughts

If you’re a business looking to hire new contractors or take on new suppliers, the importance of considering social value cannot be stressed highly enough.

Indeed, in many cases, businesses claim to act ethically and with sustainability and social responsibility in mind. However, this progress can easily be overshadowed by working with suppliers and contractors who do not share the same goals and dedication to social value.

As such, it has now become more vital than ever for individuals to consider how they could promote social value in their own business by ensuring they derive social value in tenders. It’s a simple change that can go a long way towards bolstering your business’s activities overall.