Reasons why to partner with NOW Group on Social Value

Boost Social Impact

Collaborate to enhance ethical supply chains and foster community benefits through job creation and skills development.

Ensure Compliance

Easily meet Northern Ireland’s procurement requirements, allocating at least 10% of award criteria to social value for large contracts.

Elevate Performance

Integrate social value into evaluations and establish KPIs, improving contract management and delivery outcomes.

What do our partners say about social value?

‘Partnering with NOW Group has been crucial to our Social Value success. Their team provided step-by-step support at every stage”

Yvonne Conway, Social Value manager, Woodvale Construction, winner of CEF Social Value Project of the Year, 2025

Woodvale Construction

‘Sisk has really bought into what the NOW Group do. We signed up to the Buy Social Corporate Challenge and working with Loaf Catering has enabled us to achieve our goals’

Anthony Burrowes, Social Value Manager, Sisk, NOW Group Social Value Partner of the Year, Dublin

Sisk Construction

‘Social impact is at the heart of what Deloitte is about and our strategic partnership with NOW Group has been really important and brought such positive feedback. Over the years we’ve been able to develop so many win-win scenarios for both of us’

Marie Doyle, senior partner, Deloitte, NOW Group Social Value Partner of the Year, Belfast

Deloitte

‘Our partnership with the NOW Group is crucial to Translink in terms of social value and achieving ESG goals. It is also very much part of our strategic approach to creating that greater diversity and inclusion in our workforce’

Jacqui Kennedy, chief people and corporate services officer, Translink

Translink

Partership case studies

Key points about partnering with a social enterprise and social value, pre-tender, embedding social value in tenders, and subcontracting

A) Partnering on Social Value?

Social value refers to the wider financial and non-financial impacts an organisation delivers for individuals, communities, and the environment—beyond the value captured in market transactions. It includes ethical and sustainable supply chains, community benefits, job and skills creation, inclusion, and climate action.

In Northern Ireland, while there is no standalone Social Value Act, the concept is embedded through policy. The Directorate of Finance’s Procurement Policy Note (PPN 01/21) requires that:

For services contracts above £500,000 and works contracts above the UK threshold, at least 10% of the award criteria must be allocated to social value;
Social value must be considered as part of cost, quality, and performance evaluations;
Contracts must include KPIs for delivery and management during contract performance.

This ensures businesses bidding for government contracts embed social, environmental, and community outcomes in their service delivery.

B) Partnering with Social Enterprises Pre-Tender

Engaging with social enterprise partners before submitting a tender is essential for credible, deliverable social value commitments:

Early collaboration allows businesses to develop proposals grounded in real capability: contract design, resource deployment, and access to participant groups.
Authentic value: Co-developing social initiatives ensures tender responses reflect real impact rather than token gestures.
Market insight: Social enterprises provide community-level insight for outcomes-based tender responses aligned with NI’s scoring framework

By engaging early, businesses ensure that social value commitments are feasible, measurable, and genuinely beneficial to local communities and NI Executive priorities.

C) Embedding Social Value in Tenders via Partnerships

Businesses can strengthen tenders by structuring collaborations with social enterprises in one of two ways:

1. Joint Tendering

Co-bid model: The social enterprise becomes a named partner, participating in design, delivery, and evaluation.
Shared ownership: Both organisations assume responsibility for achieving social KPIs, supported by shared risk and rewards.

2. Subcontracting

Subcontractor role: The social enterprise delivers defined social value elements of the contract—e.g., skills training, job placement, community engagement—while the business retains responsibility for the core contract.
Scalable delivery: They provide specialist support that would otherwise be difficult to deliver in-house.

Both approaches demonstrate to commissioners that social outcomes are integrated into delivery plans and supported by credible partners, aligning with PPN 01/21 requirements and enhancing competitive tender scores.