Northern Ireland’s Social Value Unit has become the newest addition to ICLEI’s Procura+ Network. The Social Value Unit assists Northern Irelands Government Departments, their agencies and arm’s length bodies to maximise the delivery of social value through public contracts.

Since June 2022, in Northern Ireland all public tenders at or above the thresholds set out in the Public Contracts Regulations must allocate a minimum of 10% of the total award criteria to social value. Departments should score for social value using an outcomes-based framework which has four broad themes:

• increasing secure employment and skills
• building ethical and resilient supply chains
• delivering zero carbon
• promoting well-being

The Social Value Unit is responsible for developing guidance and training for the implementation of this mandate. It is also working on developing guidance on sustainable procurement more broadly beyond award criteria.

As part of the Procura+ Network, the Social Value Unit aims to network with other peer organisations to share and learn from best practices, obtain more knowledge on how public procurement can play a role in reaching net-zero objectives, and develop meaningful relationships with other relevant stakeholders.

For more information on Northern Ireland’s Social Value Unit, see their Procura+ page.