Eunomia was commissioned by SUEZ recycling and recovery UK to produce a guide for local authorities on how they can maximise social value through the procurement and delivery of their environmental services contracts at a time when they are looking to support a green recovery from Covid-19 and tackle climate change.
By incorporating social value into their environmental services contracts, local authorities can deliver additional social, economic and environmental benefits to the communities they work in. Social value has increased in importance in recent times, with the government updating the Social Value Act 2012 to mandate the use of social value in all contracts for central government agencies.
The guide aims to help local authorities procuring and managing their environmental services contracts to:
- Understand what social value is;
- Appreciate how they can effectively deliver social value through the procurement, delivery and monitoring of their services; and
- Learn from other local authorities that have already successfully embedded social value into each of these stages.
The guide makes a series of recommendations for local authorities on how social value can be incorporated at three distinct phases of a contract’s lifetime:
- Planning and preparation
- Tender and procurement
- Delivery
