Expert advice from our recent live debate on how social enterprises can make use of the act.
Gayle Monk - solicitor, Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP
Is the Social Value Act "the biggest opportunity in decades for social enterprise"? Where Chris White is right is that it's the social enterprises that are most geared up for achieving these social goals - there's no automatic rights or special treatment, but social enterprises are in a perfect position to bid for, and win, public contracts.
Influence commissioners: Social enterprises are dependent on commissioners doing their jobs correctly, and considering social value pre-procurement. By the time the contract is advertised, it's too late to influence this social value. Social enterprises need to get to their commissioners as early as possible, and ideally help them understand the social value that their contracts could create, and help to mould the contracts that are advertised.
Preparation is key to winning contracts: Especially with any type of spin out, consortia, or informal consortia looking to bid collaboratively for public services - these are really only successful when they have time and opportunity to develop in advance of bidding for a contract, and aren't pulled together reactively.
The act presents opportunities across the board: My hope is that the act can be used as a trigger for a change in thinking, and across the board - not just below threshold services contracts, but supplies and works contracts as well.
Impact must be monitored: I'd hesitate to suggest who would be best placed to undertake this monitoring. Perhaps we actually need a number of bodies - given that the approach to the social enterprise will be different for different types of public sector procurer, the monitoring will need to be different.
Social enterprises need to be proactive: There is no longer room to rest on laurels and expect to win contracts or funding (or anything else) simply because of what they know and believe to be the good work that they do. Most public commissioners, I am sure, would much rather their budgets weren't being cut, but can only do what they can with what they have before them.
Allison Ogden Newton - chair, Transition Institute
Survey to monitor commissioning difficulty: There should be a formal process to monitor the impact of the legislation and support the development of a social value commissioning framework. I am interested in any social enterprises who are delivering public sector contracts to fill in our survey which will help us determine how difficult commissioning is becoming.
Jennifer Inglis - managing director, VIE
Invest in the best evidence you can afford to show value: How much it is worth investing depends on, first, how different the service is from what the competition offers and, second, how different the most significant outcomes are from what is usually bought. You are investing in evidence that shows the social value you want to get on the table is actually valuable.
Being armed with a story and evidence is not enough: It will also be important to build relationships, identify future contract opportunities to stand a chance at influencing what is considered valuable in those cases. However, even if you'd done this the outcome depends on commissioners doing their jobs well.
Understand potential clients: There is no excuse for laziness and there should be no expectation that having a report is enough. The strength of social enterprises (should be but of course isn't always) is not just to understand their potential client (public sector) but communities and end users, and to start from this point.
Hannah Kubie - associate solicitor, Stone King LLP
Is the act "the biggest opportunity in decades"?: Chris White MP may be slightly overstating the impact for social enterprises. I think the act cannot immediately create opportunities. However, public sector practice and culture changes over time and this act, along with the growing body of law and guidance in this area, is likely to influence the way contracting authorities tender for services over time.
Increased recognition rather than opportunities will win contracts: Many organisations are generally interested in increasing opportunities from the act at this stage and I was thinking more about charities/social enterprises getting increased recognition among commissioners. However, the sector has got to be more proactive and organisations cannot just rely on being for good causes, and this may cost money in the short term.
Encourage smaller suppliers to work together: We are seeing more smaller community organisations teaming up already (unrelated to the act) and this can be done quite cost-efficiently.
Social enterprises should not lose sight of objectives: Public contracts are a means to an end, not the end in themselves. Further, financial risks are obviously very important. Although there are limitations to the extent to which organisations can enter into negotiations once a formal procurement process has started, organisations must ensure that they are not blindly signing up to terms without (a) understanding them or (b) being able to work within them.
Sam Dowling - communications director, Employee Ownership Association
The act provides a fantastic opportunity for businesses under employee ownership and with alternate business models to be recognised for the added value that they bring to the products and services they deliver, and to be credited for that, rather than penalised for the absence of a traditional management structure, or a perceived lack of experience. Known benefits of employee ownership range from increased staff empowerment, engagement, and retention through to increased innovation.
The SVA will improve commissioning: It is encouraging that the legislation is being viewed as an opportunity to improve commissioning across the piece, rather than exclusively working to support spun-out services. On this latter point, the experiences of some of our own members on the challenges faced by ex-public sector business units which mutualise is that if the commissioning function doesn't adapt accordingly, there is a real threat to the success of the public sector mutuals programme.
Mark Upton, consultant, Public Policy Strategies
Deficiency in the act: The biggest one is omitting contracts for works, which has sent out mixed messages when the government is meant to be encouraging the development of apprenticeships and using infrastructure spend to boost the economy.
On Chris White MP's statement: He is not right. Though he might have said when introducing the bill, when it looked very different. Even, so he would have still been wrong. There have been much bigger developments in public services (ie in social housing) and of course social enterprise goes wider than public services.
A story and a social value ratio will not win contracts: My fear is that charities will just believe they need to tell their story and crunch a social value ratio. They need to really understand their potential clients, not just the service being commissioned, but also what is going on in their organisation (ie to offer solutions which join up different agendas).
To remain competitive social enterprises should invest in good business development and relationship management with existing and prospective clients. Understand them, the issues they face and their communities which feed back into service development.
John Taylor - director, the TAS Partnership Ltd
Social enterprises will have to make the running and take the case to the commissioners in very tangible forms. This is the moment for intermediate agencies to offer to rewrite commissioning bodies' PQQs and 'conditions of contract, and to shift them towards competitive dialogue and away from large-scale frameworks.
The act will not reverse market culture: What it does is inch forward by requiring commissioners to 'consider' social value when planning procurement. But this is still set within wider competition legislation. I do not see this as reversing the market culture - simply modifying its impact.
Olof Jonsdottir - policy and public affairs manager, Social Enterprise UK
The SVA will trigger a change in commissioning: We see the act as a starting point and an opportunity to give commissioners and procurement officers the confidence to know they can factor in social value where they've previously not felt sure whether this was in breach of procurement rules and guidelines. As you say, the potential lies in the act being a trigger for changing the thinking behind and culture of how we spend public money.
Impact measurement and communication will prove important: Successfully communicating what difference being a social enterprise can make will be vital. So will helping commissioners to think about the possibilities in relation to what social value can look like in their local area. Meanwhile, debates like this, E-zines like the one you're launching, the conferences and other support packages and the sectors' supporters and champions all have an important role to play in raising awareness, sharing best practice and building capacity.
Kevin Maton - consultancy director, Social Enterprise West Midlands
The act and its requirements are a two way process: As well as commissioners having to consider value, social enterprises have to ensure that they engage with procurement teams and commissioners to influence the 'added value' criteria that contracts will consider. They also have to be geared up to being able to measure the added value that they bring, quantifying it with evidence.
Scheme to show the benefits of the act: We are encouraging local authorities in the west Midlands to sign up to become social value champions - Staffordshire is one of the first - so we have an ongoing dialogue with them to maximise the benefits to communities and local authorities. We are doing the same with housing associations.
Working with non-social enterprises can be beneficial: We have some traditional businesses (often described as family-run) that state they are not about maximising private profit and that are looking to encourage social enterprises to be part of their supply chain. We are looking closely at this because the opportunity for furthering the ethos of 'doing business differently' and using supply chains to assist social enterprise business development has considerable potential.
Keep the government away from monitoring: There needs to be local and regional accountability. I'd never trust central government, out of touch on so many things to be able to do this. Identify an alternative and appropriate body with the credibility and resources to do it.
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