Burke, C K A (2015) Generating social value through public sector construction procurement: A study of local authorities and SMEs. In: Raiden, A and Aboagye-Nimo, E (eds.) Proceedings of 31st Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2015, Lincoln, UK.
Abstract
Difficult economic conditions exert additional pressure on government organisations to achieve more with less. The UK Government has redefined value for money, calling for Public Sector Organisations (PSOs) to practice the principles of sustainable procurement; whereby economic, environmental and social considerations form the selection criteria on tenders for public sector contracts. Support for this new approach has been reinforced by placing a duty of Best Value on Public Procurement Officers (PPOs) and more recently, the introduction of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 (the Act). The research adopts a Grounded Theory (GT) approach, with nine unstructured and semi-structured interviews conducted with four local authorities, three construction Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and two social value practitioners. The findings suggest there is a lack of adoption among procurers of public sector construction contracts, with up to 75% of local authorities not including reference to the Act or social value in their corporate procurement strategies. The SMEs involved in this study are at varied stages of development, with one organisation arguably demonstrating a sophisticated approach to social value. Importantly, the findings suggest that there is a lack of guidance and lack of prominence given to social value in tenders. This paper advances current knowledge in the field by providing a foundation for further research in a new area of study.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | social value; public procurement; SME |
| Index terms: | public sector organization, local authority, construction contract, selection criteria, practitioner, public sector, duty, best value, public services, grounded theory, procurement strategy, interview, social value, placing, economic condition, value-for-money, construction procurement |
| Subjects: | economic analysis, concrete and cementitious materials, contractual arrangements, contract type, data collection methods, practitioner, bidding, sociology, tendering, contractual role, administrative law, theoretical framing, evaluation |
| Topics: | Procurement, Value Management, Legal Issues, Business Strategy, Contract Administration, Urban Studies, Roles and Professions, Construction Materials, Research Practice, Stakeholder Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here