Northern Ireland publishes new social value driven public procurement policy
The devolved administration of Northern Ireland has published its new government procurement policy that emphasises the importance of social value “to create a fair and cohesive society”.
Under the new policy on scoring for social value, announced by finance minister Conor Murphy, NI government tenders must allocate at least 10% of total award criteria to social value.
Definitions of this will vary depending on the subject matter of the contract, but social value indicators often include creating jobs in deprived areas, providing environmental benefits, or safeguarding workers’ mental health.
The minimum weighting for social value within tenders – which may be increased to 20% from 2023 – will apply to service contracts of over £123,000 and construction contracts over £4.7m.
Contracts will also be required to pay the Living Wage, as calculated by the Living Wage Foundation.
The Living Wage currently stands at £9.50 per hour, and is higher than the legal minimum National Living Wage, which is £8.91 per hour for over-23s.
In a statement Murphy said:
“This new policy represents a significant step-change for both government and tendering organisations. It sees social value placed at the very heart of public procurement, setting new standards that rewards companies for doing the right thing while ensuring the Executive uses its spending power for the common good.”
The NI government spends around £3bn per year procuring goods, services, and construction from the private and third sectors, which makes up a quarter of the NI Executive's budget.
The policy will not come into force until June 2022, to give time to train procurement officials and small organisations bidding for contracts, and for government departments to factor in additional costs in their planning.
The UK central government, Wales and Scotland have each announced, or implemented, similar social value requirements in their public procurement policies.
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