提升技术采购的社会价值

Foreword From running digital skills and digital inclusion initiatives across the country to supplying computer devices forstudents andteachers during the pandemic, tech companies have long been committed to making positivecontributions to society.techUK and our members are unequivocal in supporting the government’s socialvalue policy in procurement purpose. However, the current system is imperfect and has proven challenging for procurers and suppliers alike. Thisreport highlights suppliers’ perspectives and the experiences of techUK’s members as they respond to socialvalue in tech procurements.It explores the challenges and opportunities of the current policy and offersproposals to improve how social value gets delivered via central government technology procurements. Theprize for getting this right is twofold; 1) greater positive impact across the Government’s social value prioritiesbecause of a more cohesive approach and 2) the lowering of social value as a barrier to greater SMEinvolvement in public procurements. techUK's Public Services Board, consisting of senior executives from a diverse range of tech suppliers,commissioned Henham Strategy to undertake both quantitative and qualitative analysis of over 100 techUKmembers active in the public sector market. As this report shows, suppliers consider there is little consistencyacross central government departments in their approach to social value and there is inadequate feedback forunsuccessful bidders. Of particular note, SMEs struggle with responding to socialvalue requirements, withonly 45% of SME survey respondents reporting high confidence in addressing social value in bids. This contrastswith 80% for larger companies. To address the sector’s concerns and make tangible improvements to the way the policy gets implemented, arepresentative group of techUK members and relevant Cabinet Office colleagues has recently formed a SocialValue Committee.This working group has begun to address the most persistent deficiencies in the wayprocuring authorities specify, evaluate and monitor delivery of social value in tech procurements andcontracts.Our joint work has begun to address some of the recommendations in this report. techUK hascontributed to the Cabinet Office’s review and update to the guidance for departmental commercial teams onsocial value in tech procurement. We are hopeful that a new social value matrixwill be widely adopted andused by tech procuring officials. This matrix has been developed by our members and helps identifyappropriate social value award criteria to be used when procuring specific categories of tech goods or services(e.g.software, hardware, telco, digital specialists) as it indicates the relevance of the supplier’s ability to deliversocial value. While progress with Cabinet Office is encouraging, there remains significant scope and opportunity to securebetter social value outcomes from tech procurements and contracts let by the breadth of the civil service.This report adds to the nascent body of evidence on the impact of the social value policy on technology focusedprocurement. techUK members want to see this policy succeed and want to ensure that social value outcomesare maximised. As such, I look forwardto carrying forward the recommendations of the report and will workwith Cabinet Office and central government contracting authorities to carry them out. Sincerely, Matthew Evans,Director, MarketstechUK Introduction Governmentprocured over £80bn of goods and servicesinFY21/22. Social value has been a requirement inpublic sector procurement since 2013, and a determinant of public procurement outcomes since 2020.However, techUKmembers have strong concerns about howthepolicy is operating within central governmenttechnology procurement. This report aims to articulate those concerns and to suggest constructive andpractical recommendations of how the policy’s implementation can be improved.Thispaperisaimedatpoliticalstakeholders,andCommercialandDigitalDataandTechnologysenior officials withinWhitehall. AsoutlinedinprevioustechUKreports–including‘GettingITDone:PublicSectorSuppliers’Perspectives’and‘UKtechplan:HowthenextgovernmentcanusetechnologytobuildabetterBritain’–thetechnologyindustryis supportive of central government’s focus on social value and wants to play a full role in outlining howtechnology solutions deliver broader social value, alongside value formoney.Progress has been made bycentralgovernmentinitsunderstandingofhowbesttoprocuredataandtechnologysolutions.In2022,8outof10techUKmembersprovidedapositiveresponsewhenaskedwhetherthelevelofcommercialknowledgeandunderstanding of data and tech had improved within central government, with respondents noting thestrong functional leadership demonstrated by the Crown Commercial Service(CCS)1. However,much more needs to be done. As central government’s procurement methods have evolved toconsiderthelatestdataandtechdevelopments,socialvaluehasnotkeptpace.ThetechindustryandtechUKmemb