Most small and medium enterprises in the technology sector are having difficulties in meeting the social value commitments involved in bidding for government business, according to a new report.
IT industry association techUK has highlighted issues facing SMES in public sector procurement processes in Navigating Social Vale, which is based on the findings of its survey of over 100 smaller companies working in the govtech market.
It says that government has made strides in embedding social value into procurement processes, most notably through the 2020 Procurement Note 06/20 which mandated a 10% minimum weighting for social value in central government bides.
But many SMEs still face systematic barriers. 73% reported difficulties in formulating social value commitments in central government tenders; 72% have felt there is a lack of meaningful engagement in shaving relevant and measurable social value criteria; and 54% said they are unable to effectively showcase their capabilities within the current framework.
Other findings include that: only 67% believed the Government is even slightly committed to delivering genuine social value; 76% have found that addressing social value is an administrative burden; and the hardest themes to deliver are wellbeing (43%) and tacking economic inequality (21%).
Further barriers
The report identifies a number of other barriers facing SMEs, including: having to bid against larger firms with more resources to meet the commitments; limitations of scale leading to unfair comparisons in tender assessments; lack of insight and previous experience, which makes compliance and innovation difficult; and ambiguity and consistency in how social value is scored across departments.
In response, techUK makes four recommendations, the first being the establishment of a clear, centralised set of guidelines for how social value should be integrated and evaluated in procurement.
Second is to improve the engagement between government, SMEs and larger suppliers, and third to monitor the impact of the mission led approach to social value from SMEs, using qualitative data.
Fourthly, departments should publish annual reports on social value performance to provide transparency and roadmaps for continuous improvement.
Structural disadvantage
Heather Cover-Kus, head of central government at techUK, said: “SMEs are confident in their ability to deliver high quality services, but current social value requirements risk putting them at a structural disadvantage.
“With the right frameworks and support, SMEs can be empowered to drive meaningful outcomes for communities and public services alike, ensuring this policy works for all players in the digital economy.”
