1. PPN 002: what changed and when
PPN 002, published 13 February 2025 and mandatory for in-scope procurements from 1 October 2025, sets the minimum social value weighting at 10%. It supersedes PPN 06/20 for new procurements from that date, simplifies the routing, and fixes the 10% floor for in-scope central government contracts.
Both share the same foundation: a Social Value Model with five themes and eight policy outcomes, scored using the National TOMs Framework. The difference is that PPN 002 makes the 10% a floor rather than a recommendation.
2. The 10% minimum
The 10% figure is the minimum weighting on social value within the overall award criteria. It is a floor, not a ceiling. Buying organisations frequently set higher weightings (15%, 20%, occasionally 25%) where the contract has a clear social-value angle. The Calculator checks your proposal against the 10% floor; it does not detect or flag a higher weighting set by the authority.
3. The TOMs Framework
TOMs (Themes, Outcomes, Measures) is the de-facto scoring rubric. The National TOMs Framework lists Measures grouped by Outcome and Theme. Each Measure carries a quantifiable indicator (e.g. "Number of FTE local employees hired") and a proxy value. This section is background on how social value is scored in UK procurement generally. This Calculator does not implement the TOMs measure set or its proxy values: it checks the weighting floor only. Monetising commitments against proxy values is done in CrowMark, aligned to National TOMs conventions rather than as a full National TOMs implementation.
4. What the Calculator computes
The whole method is two lines of arithmetic, and they are printed here because a page called "methodology" should show its working:
- The floor in points. Your total award weighting multiplied by 10%. On a 100-point award criteria set, the floor is 10 points.
- Your share. Your proposed social value weighting divided by the total, expressed as a percentage. That number is compared against 10.
If your share is below 10%, the shortfall is the difference in points. That is the entire calculation. It takes three inputs: the government mission, your total weighting, and your proposed social value weighting. It has one constant, the 10% floor. It produces percentages and points, and it does not certify compliance, because whether a bid meets PPN 002 is a judgement for the contracting authority, not for a calculator.
5. What the Calculator does not do
It does not write the bid narrative or track post-award delivery. Those capabilities live in CrowMark. The Calculator exists to answer one question fast: does this proposed weighting clear the 10% floor, and if not, by how many points does it fall short?
6. References
- Procurement Policy Note 002 (PPN 002), published 13 February 2025, mandatory from 1 October 2025.
- National TOMs Framework.