MEAT v MAT- A New Social Value Era

The Government’s annual spend on procurement makes it the single largest purchaser across many industries in the UK - more than £506 billion of requirements have been advertised either via contract notices or contract awards so far in 2024. 

On average the UK Government spends £306 billion a year, more than a third of all public spending, on procuring goods, works, and services from external suppliers. 

With a target to award 33% of all public contracts to SMEs, which make up 99% of all UK businesses - this is an ideal market for SMEs. 

Over 50,000 contracts are published each year by the UK public sector, of these opportunities, over 70% are low-value tenders, meaning the market is very accessible for SME’s.

Major changes to Public Procurement are due to come into force at the end of the year. With the UK leaving the EU, government has taken the opportunity to develop its own rule for tendering. The Procurement Bill is expected to go live on 28th October 2024, which will mark the biggest change in a generation to the way they work within the £300 billion public sector marketplace. 

The changes that are coming will impact not only the processes that organisations must abide by, but also the commercial skills, behaviours and culture of procurement functions and other stakeholders. 
Social Value & Sustainability is one of the most important aspects of the new Procurement Act, with the methods designed to unlock Social Value across the supply chain.

There are three specific and significant Social Value highlights from the Bill:

• Introduction, Section 12: outlining a requirement for contracting authorities to have regard for ‘maximising public benefit’, which some ministers have claimed is equivalent to enshrining social value into law.
  
  
• Chapter 2, Section 19: A shift from ‘most economically advantageous tender’ (MEAT) to ‘most advantageous tender’ (MAT) governing the award criteria, further aligning with a procurement approach which does not solely consider price.
  
  
• Chapter 5, Section 52: a new requirement for authorities to publish annual key performance indicator statistics for all suppliers on contracts with a total value exceeding £5 million. As social value commitments often form a contractual KPI, supplier performance for social value will have greater monitoring and oversight.

Since 2019, Social Value has been increasingly factored into contract awards, but with the transition from the 'MEAT' to 'MAT' contract award principle makes Social Value more important than ever.

Highlighting Social Value initiatives, such as addressing economic inequality, combating climate change, promoting equal opportunities, and benefiting communities in various ways, can greatly enhance SMEs' likelihood of success. Demonstrating how your business positively impacts the communities it operates in is crucial for boosting your competitive edge in the procurement process.

But how do you gain this competitive edge, when time and resources are limited?

This is where we at transformacy can help. As Corporate Sustainability Consultants and Social Value specialists, we give our clients a competitive edge by ensuring they achieve the highest possible Social Value evaluation scores.

We build tailored, actionable Social Value strategies designed specifically for bidding into the UK Government and regularly write our clients’ winning social value responses.

If you would like to learn more about how transformacy can help you with your Social Value Strategy or your next Public Sector bid, do please schedule a call using the button below.