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Commissioning and procurement with social value

The Transition Institute supports the emergence of public sector staff setting up and then spinning out independent organisations to deliver public services. Often staff spin out their services not simply to reduce costs but also to protect the rich history of impact they have delivered for local communities and to build upon it.

Both spin-out organisations and commissioners are now at the crossroads where they are trying to understand how to demonstrate and how to measure value respectively. The vision is in place to deliver the shift towards social value commissioning, but we are still at early stages of development in terms of effective implementation.

This publication focuses on the main issues that relate to the introduction of social value within commissioning and public procurement. In line with the Transition Institute mission and values, we place a special emphasis on the current state of social value commissioning and how it should evolve to keep consistency with government’s commitment to opening up public services to a network of diverse and innovative providers that blend the best of the public, private and social economy.

Note: This is a revised, further developed version of the draft paper circulated and discussed at our first spin out camp event, which took place in Manchester on the 29th March. You can download a PDF of the draft paper here. You can also read the event press release here.

Invitation to contribute to this paper and the debate on commissioning and procurement with social value.