With social value scores accounting for at least 10% (and sometimes as high as 30%) of the overall evaluation in public sector tenders, I spend a good chunk of my daily bid life focused on the subject. I’m also finding many private sector clients are mirroring this approach.

Writing a good social value response is not an exact science as each client and each opportunity is unique. Based on my experience of writing and improving social value bid responses over the past couple of years, I’ve identified 9 top tips to help create a strong response.

Take time to read and understand the question. What exactly is the client asking for? It can be easy to fall into the trap of listing all of your best social value activities, but this is unlikely to gain you points. It can be helpful to underline the key evaluation points in the question to keep your response on track.

Show your client you have taken the time to understand their key drivers for social value and align your response with their objectives.

Research areas may include:

• Website
• Policies – such as social value, environmental etc.
• Sustainability report
• News stories
• Supplier engagement events
• Raise a clarification or have a chat with your client

Remember social value is in addition to the contract you are delivering. For example, if you are contracted to deliver careers advice to school leavers, you cannot claim this alone as a social value action. However, you can count additional activities such as volunteering to carry out a mock-interview clinic or donating goods, such as stationery or laptops, to assist the students.

Offer social value you can genuinely deliver and is proportionate to the contract. Your proposal for social value often forms part of your contract, so failing to deliver could result in financial and reputational damage.

Consider:

• how much revenue the contract will generate for you
• how long the contract will last for
• how much it will cost you in time and money to deliver the social value activity

There is no hard and fast rule about how much social value you should provide but a common-sense approach will result in a much more credible offer.

For example, if you employ in-house experts - can their skills be used to train others or deliver school career talks? If you manufacture goods, can you donate these to a local charitable cause?

If you have previous experience in delivering your suggested social value activity, this will build the credibility of your offer.

• How many times have successfully delivered this activity in the past?
• Can you quote feedback from those who benefitted?
• Can you provide pictures to bring the activity to life?
• Can you report on the positive impact the activity has had?

This is key in presenting a realistic and strong proposal to your client. For each activity you commit to, ensure you provide detail under each of the SMART headings:

• Specific
  Who will do it?
  What exactly will you do?
  When will you do it?
  Where will the activity take place?
  How will you ensure it happens?
  Why will you do this – what is the benefit?
  
  
• Measurable
  How will you measure the impact? Your client may specify a measurement tool they use. However, if they don’t – explain how you will measure the impact.

  There are useful templates available online such as this Social Return on Investment (SROI) Value Map provided by Social Value UK.

• Achievable
  Is this something you can reasonably accomplish? Do you have a back-up plan if things change? For example, if you commit to a specific member of staff delivering a school talk – is there an alternative member of staff who can step-in if required?

• Relevant
  Does your activity align with your client’s objectives? Does it give them what they’ve asked for in the question?

• Time-based
  When will you start the activity? How long will the activity last? When will you complete it?