Social Value In Tender Responses

_{Meet Jo Bull, Senior Consultant}

As a senior consultant with WeBid Consult I am passionate about how we support our clients with their social value (SV) responses and proud of the fact that 95% of our SV responses have scored 100%, fulfilling all aspects of the evaluation criteria. SV commitments are quite rightly nearly always contractual, from tender submission and responses to these questions are so often the winning differentiator on contracts.

_{My Background in Education}

Before my life as a bid writer, I worked for 38 years in education, my final few years as headteacher in a large West Midlands secondary school in an area of high deprivation. Throughout my career it became more and more evident that there was a lack of genuine coherency and collaboration between the education and business sector to improve the lives and opportunities of young people but also the potential future business growth of local companies. There was lots of talk of skills gaps and workforce shortages, but no real joined up work on how to change this.

_{Leveraging Educational Experience for Social Value}

It is this experience that supports WeBid Consult in the development of our highly successful tender support for SV delivery. We support our clients by ‘Getting under the skin’ of the demographic area of the tender: e.g. local priority needs and analysis to ensure commitments are both relevant and they target enhanced impact. For this we will research council development plans, local educational establishments performance, recent demographic changes as a starting point to support decision making on tender specific SV commitments.

_{Framework for Social Value Strategy}

We also develop a framework / project specific SV strategy with clear identification of who else we will work with to enhance the impact of the commitments. Being able to show a tender evaluator the effort we have gone into prioritising our commitments receives very positive feedback. This will include (as examples) local:

This ensures, once our role as bid support has finished, we have left our client with a defined structure for SV delivery, allowing them to hit the ground running upon tender award.

All SV commitments we include in submissions are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time scaled, (SMART) providing the end-client with the assurance there is a fully resourced SV delivery plan in place for each commitment.

WeBid would be delighted to support any new clients with SV responses, including training of your own procurement teams.

_{Social Value Benefits}

As a result of our comprehensive approach to social value, our clients not only achieve high evaluation scores but also experience a range of additional benefits. Here are some of the key advantages:

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_{Community Relationships}

Building strong community relationships can help to gain trust and local support for your company and your local supply chain.

_{Attract and Retain Talent}

Working for a company that contributes positively to society can help to attract employees whose values align with their own. It can also boost employee morale and satisfaction and give a sense of workplace pride. This is particularly true when attracting younger colleagues who place societal contributions high on their agenda.

_{Innovation and Collaboration}

Engaging in social value activities can foster innovation and collaboration, which can lead to improved services and/or products, and enhanced stakeholder relationships.

_{Competitive Advantage}

Demonstrating a commitment to social value can differentiate your company from your competitors. It can be a key factor in winning bids and securing contracts.

_{Enhanced Reputation}

Companies that prioritise social value often have a stronger reputation within their industry and it can increase customer loyalty.

_{Long-Term Sustainability}

Investing in social value initiatives can contribute to the sustainability of a company and its supply chain, as well as create new business opportunities and lower risk and costs.

_{Get in Touch}

WeBid Consult is dedicated to helping clients achieve outstanding results in their social value responses. If you're interested in enhancing your tender submissions, developing a robust social value strategy, or receiving training for your procurement teams, we would be delighted to assist you. Contact us here.