Data For Social Procurement

Social value has become an increasingly  critical feature of public procurement. The $13tn of global public procurement expenditure provides opportunities to meld policy and delivery in a pragmatic way.

We have seen the Canadian government establish a preferential policy for minority owned businesses, something that has been a common feature of both US federal procurement and South African procurement for many years. The US government has made inroads on social value, as has the UK Government.

Social value covers a full spectrum of challenges, from prompt payment of suppliers, slavery and living wages in the supply chain, carbon emissions to payment of taxes and local employment. It is likely that buyers are going to want to know a great deal more about the businesses they buy from before they purchase.

This presents a challenge: how to differentiate between a company that meets the policy requirements and one that might be seeking to gerrymander their credentials. This is only the start, buyers also need to make sure that any changes in status and performance are recorded during the contract.

The need for better data could turn into a significant bureaucratic burden, unless governments are able to develop a plan for the data they intend to gather, how they plan to gather it and what they will do to keep it up to date. Understanding procurement and the procedures behind the data really matters, but it is impossible to implement a social value initiative without good data.

At Spend Network, we have government procurement data for more than 150 countries globally. We take the hard work out of collecting, organising and analysing procurement data at scale. Our analysis can predict poor performance, bad tendering and new savings opportunities. We can monitor market efficiency and look for new suppliers to increase competition. Modern statistical analysis techniques have transformed finance, sport and agriculture; it is time for procurement to catch up, to gather better data and use it to deliver better services and better value for its citizens.Get in touch to find our more about our data can help you find and leverage new export opportunities.