b'opportunities, and on the basis that a social Given the increased emphasisvalue proposal is often the deciding factor in a tender exercise, contracting authorities must on delivering social valuenow hold contractors to account to ensure the through public sectoreffective delivery of bid proposals, and should robustly manage the contract in accordance opportunities, and on the basiswith its terms (including, where necessary, by that a social value proposal isrelying on termination provisions for non-often the deciding factor in aperformance).tender exercise, contractingNotwithstanding the above, it is often the case authorities must now holdthat an ability to terminate does not extend to the failure to provide social value outcomes contractors to account to(on the basis that the failure to deliver social ensure the effective delivery ofvalue commitments is not considered a serious failure to deliver the main subject bid proposals, and shouldmatter of the contract)robustly manage the contractCertainly, given the implied termination right in accordance with its terms,that we have noted above, it seems that now, including, where necessary, bymore than ever, councils should ensure that their terms and conditions include an ability to relying on termination.terminate or shorten the contract or exclude works/services in the event that social value the award of contracts by central governmentcommitments are not delivered.departments, executive agencies and non- Rebecca Rees is a partner at Trowers & departmental public bodies). Hamlins Whilst the PPN is not mandatory for councils to follow, allocating social value with a minimum of a 10% weighting is often adopted in practice across local government. Clearly, where social value is afforded such emphasis within the evaluation of bids received, there is the possibility that social value becomes the determinative factor in a procurement exercise (with a bidders social value proposals often being the difference between winning or losing a public sector opportunity).With that being the case, effective contract management practices must be implemented across the public sector to ensure that social value commitments are:a) embedded into ensuing contracts as legally binding obligations, not mere promises; andb) delivered by contractors in accordance with their tender proposals.Historically, social value has often been overlooked during contract management and the commercial lifecycle, and there are many examples of public contracts where the social value proposals have not been delivered. However, given the increased emphasis on delivering social value through public sector 14'