Published 9 September 2019

Last updated 30 May 2022


Social value is any additional environmental, economic or social benefit provided by a supplier that is relevant to the subject matter of a contract. It is being increasingly recognised as a vital way to add value in public procurement.

In light of this, our new Public Sector Vehicle Hire Solutions (PSVHS) framework is a flagship for including social value in a centralised procurement. The framework provides clarity for suppliers and customers, while giving you the flexibility and freedom to decide how best to implement social value within your own supply chains.

What has changed at framework level?

CCS conducted our pilot procurement using a new approach which ensured only suppliers with a responsible attitude to key social value priority areas were awarded places on the PSVHS framework.

As part of the framework specification, CCS and our stakeholders developed a social value priority statement (‘the Statement’), which outlines a range of critical governmental targets that we require suppliers to support the public sector in working towards, in the following areas:

  • supply chain diversity
  • fair and ethical employment
  • environmental sustainability
  • modern slavery
  • community benefits

For this framework procurement, social value questions on the first three areas listed above accounted for 10% to 20% of the total available marks, with suppliers evaluated and scored against their current business processes and plans for improvement.

The invitation to tender also required suppliers to disclose their awareness of modern slavery in their supply chain. This is an important area for this framework to address because instances of modern slavery have been reported in the wider car wash market and suppliers need to valet cars regularly to ensure they are clean for the next customer. CCS will work with suppliers to address any labour risks identified in their supply chains throughout the life of the agreement.

How are customer call-offs different?

We have given you choice and flexibility at the call-off stage to choose which elements of social value to focus on to best meet your organisation’s priorities by opting for one of the three approaches below:

  1. Supplier proposal – you ask suppliers to outline what they can deliver to support the Public Sector in meeting the Statement’s priority areas in general, including a commitment to self-proposed targets.
  2. Customer led – you pick specific targets from the five policy areas in the Statement for suppliers to focus on. Selection questions ask suppliers how they will meet the specific targets.
  3. Customer plus – you evaluate suppliers on different social value deliverables which are based on your specific organisation’s priorities.

What’s happening with supplier management?

At CCS, we appreciate that commitments made in a tender are only part of the jigsaw and that performance must be monitored in order to deliver real benefits.

At the call-off level, KPIs are in place requiring suppliers to provide you with an annual delivery statement detailing how they are meeting the agreed social value commitments.

Suppliers must also submit an annual report to CCS outlining their social value delivery across all call-offs.

During this framework, we aim to learn from what our suppliers do well and use our market position and expertise to establish best practices which will help all CCS suppliers to improve social value delivery in the future.

If you’d like to get in touch with us about social value or vehicle hire please email the team or call 0345 410 2222.