In March 2026, the Cabinet Office published the Contract Management Playbook, a document that, at first sight, might seem to belong purely in the world of procurement professionals and commercial teams; however, for anyone working in or around social value, there is a great deal worth paying attention to.
For the first time, the UK Government has set out formal guidance on what happens to a contract after it’s been won. Until now, the focus of the public procurement shift has largely centred on the tender stage – how contracts are designed, advertised, and won. The Playbook shifts that focus and asks a more important question: what happens next?
Closing the Accountability Gap
The Procurement Act 2023 introduced mandatory published KPIs for above-threshold contracts. PPN 002 set out a new Social Value Model and Standard Reporting Metrics. The National Procurement Policy Statement outlined the government’s strategic priorities. Each of these measures is meaningful in its own right, but they share a common limitation – they are focused on the point of procurement rather than the point of delivery.
The Playbook sits alongside existing government guidance covering sourcing, construction, digital, and consultancy and requires central government departments to demonstrate compliance or justify any deviation. This means there is now government guidance covering the full social value lifecycle, from bid commitment through to contract delivery and exit.
Social Value Is Now a Contract Management Responsibility
One of the key shifts in the Playbook is the explicit recognition that social value KPIs may form part of the three mandatory performance indicators required for contracts valued above £5 million. It references PPN 002 as a policy obligation that contract managers must actively track throughout delivery and encourages social value KPIs to be communicated in terms of Standard Reporting Metrics.
This takes social value out of the procurement stage and strongly embeds it in the delivery stage. Commitments made at the bid stage are no longer just part of a winning submission. They become contractual obligations that are monitored, measured, and reported. Consistent underperformance can lead to formal Contract Performance Notices and can have consequences for future procurement activities.
What Changes in Practice
For contracting authorities, the Playbook provides something that social value teams have often been missing: a formal policy mandate. That mandate supports the need for dedicated infrastructure, structured data collection, and consistent measurement frameworks. It also raises expectations – published KPI reports will face greater scrutiny, and weak or inconsistent data will be harder to evidence.
For suppliers, the message is equally clear. Social value is no longer something you win contracts with; it’s something you keep contracts with. Organisations that have built consistent, standard-aligned data collection into their delivery processes will find themselves in a much stronger position. On the other hand, those that have treated social value primarily as a bid-writing exercise will find the new transparency more challenging.
Where Compliance Chain Fits In
At Compliance Chain, our Social Value Management solution is built around exactly this kind of structured accountability. Tracking commitments from award to delivery, maintaining data quality, and supporting reporting against Standard Reporting Metrics have always been part of our approach.
The Contract Management Playbook represents a significant step forward for social value accountability across public procurement. If you’re ready to explore how our Social Value Management solution can help you stay ahead of these changes, book your free demo today here.
