Flintshire County Council streamlines its procurement and social value measurement with Impact

Background

The council was seeking an intelligent piece of technology to more easily incorporate social value into the procurement process. They aimed to track and measure social value commitments throughout the life of a project and its supply chain to benefit community members, improve service quality and ensure better use of public funds. After reviewing options on the market, Impact won a tender to support Flintshire County Council in the delivery, management, and reporting of social value outcomes in their supply chain, procurement, and project management processes.

The challenge

Before implementing Impact, Flintshire officers and supply-chain contractors monitored and recorded social value benefits using spreadsheets and narrative reports. This process was time-consuming and inconsistent, leading to varied reporting standards. The social value element of the procurement process consisted of open questions included in Proactis, lacking a prescriptive way for suppliers to present their commitments, making scoring responses challenging.

Once a tender was awarded, the social value commitments of the successful bidder were not visible to the project team, making it difficult to track progress against set targets.

Deployment of Impact

Impact allowed Flintshire to adopt a ‘social value first’ approach to procurement and council-wide activities. This approach integrated social, economic, and environmental sustainability into the commissioning cycle and procurement process, maximising additional value in Flintshire’s contracts.

Impact provides a single portal for capturing quantitative and qualitative social value data from procurement through to delivery and project management. With user-defined access, council officers, third-sector organisations, contractors, and suppliers can enter social value commitments, log activity data, and access real-time dashboards and reports.

The user-friendly interface of Impact has encouraged bids from a more diverse range of organisations. By providing a clear list of social impacts that are important to the tender, it levels the playing field, enabling all organisations, including VCSEs, to compete effectively.

Post-Deployment

Flintshire now has a more accurate and transparent mechanism for measuring and maximising social value outcomes throughout its supply chain and procurement processes. This has driven efficiency and eliminated the administrative burden and costs associated with manual tasks.

Outcomes

Using Impact to operationalise Flintshire County Council’s Social Value Strategy has supported several legislative frameworks, including:

• The Social Value Act 2012
• The Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015
• The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014
• The Local Government Act 1999
• Wales Procurement Policy Statement
• Flintshire County Council Procurement Strategy 2016-2021
• Flintshire County Council, Council Plan

Key achievements:

Flintshire County Council has been able to:

• Achieve better value for public money by generating and demonstrating increased social return.
• Increase social commitment across a wider range of suppliers, encouraging long-term behaviour shifts and the development of social partnerships between companies and the local community.
• Deliver wider impacts from service delivery by considering how benefits can accrue to the broader public sector.

Conclusion

Flintshire County Council’s partnership with Impact has revolutionised its approach to social value measurement, resulting in significant improvements in efficiency, transparency, and community benefits. By leveraging Impact’s digital platform, the Council has effectively operationalised their Social Value Strategy, ensuring sustainable and impactful outcomes for the local community.