Strengthening a Social Value Response to Secure a Critical NHS Contract

The logo of SB Healthcare & Estates Consultancy features the letters S and B intertwined, with a medical cross and a cityscape of buildings beneath. The company name is displayed below, with a line separating 'SB Healthcare' and 'Estates Consultancy'.

Client Background

We met Sarah at a networking event in Bromley. Sarah is the owner of a specialist management consultancy with over 20 years’ experience delivering advisory services to the National Health Service.

Her business operates as a micro consultancy, supported by a network of associates, with an annual turnover below £200,000. A significant proportion (approximately 75%) of her revenue was derived from a single contract via Community Health Partnerships Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), delivering services to Birmingham Integrated Care System.

The Challenge

Sarah was notified that her existing contract would be re-procured and opened to competition. This presented a material commercial risk:

  • 75% revenue dependency on a single contract

  • Increased competition through an open procurement process

  • Evaluation criteria including 10% weighting on Social Value

While Sarah had strong confidence in her technical delivery and sector expertise, she faced difficulty articulating a compelling Social Value proposition—a critical and often differentiating component in public sector tenders.

Our Intervention

Sarah engaged our independent tender evaluation and review service prior to submission.

Our approach included:

  • Full qualitative scoring simulation across all responses

  • Benchmarking against typical NHS procurement evaluation frameworks

  • Detailed feedback aligned to likely evaluator expectations

Findings:

  • Technical responses: Strong, credible, and well-evidenced

  • Social Value response: Significantly underdeveloped and non-competitive

Solution: Reframing Social Value

We worked intensively with Sarah to reposition her Social Value response from generic statements to a distinctive, evidence-led narrative.

Key enhancements included:

  • Micro-business positioning

    • Emphasising local economic contribution

    • Highlighting agility, accessibility, and community integration

  • Authentic community impact

    • Showcasing her personal commitment to narrating audiobooks for a local children’s charity

    • Translating this into measurable social outcomes (accessibility, literacy support, community wellbeing)

  • Alignment to procurement priorities

    • Mapping responses explicitly to Social Value Model themes (e.g., community wellbeing, equal opportunity, local impact)

  • Clear metrics and deliverables

    • Moving from anecdotal to quantifiable commitments

Turnaround time:

  • Full review completed within 24 hours

  • Revised Social Value response drafted in under one day

Outcome

  • Social Value score: Full marks achieved

  • Tender result: Successful

  • Winning margin: 1.34%

Impact

The intervention had a direct and material business impact:

  • Secured a contract representing over 75% of company revenue

  • Prevented a significant loss of income and operational risk

  • Demonstrated the decisive role of Social Value scoring in public sector procurement

Without independent evaluation and targeted improvement, Sarah’s bid would likely have been unsuccessful.

Ongoing Partnership

Following the successful tender outcome, Sarah and her associate network chose to continue working with Matka, reflecting confidence in our ability to deliver under time-critical, high-stakes conditions.

This has evolved into ongoing support across bid strategy and broader go-to-market planning, helping to strengthen pipeline visibility and reduce reliance on a single contract within Birmingham Integrated Care System.