Achieving best value in social housing procurement

This research into the effectiveness of 'best value' procurement in the social housing sector analyses and critiques current procurement methods and assesses the potential ramifications of legal challenges to the strategic management of the best value process. The overarching aim of the research is to produce a contractor selection method that is; mathematically robust, transparent, open to audit and assists the user in the selection procedure. To date, the research indicates that the inherent problem with best value selection is that the measurement of quality is a subjective process and can therefore be defined and interpreted in numerous ways. In order to formalise a more appropriate measurement system, two case studies were carried out, to assess the pragmatic difficulties being encountered by stakeholders within the social housing sector. The conclusions of this research has laid the foundations to further ongoing research into the formation of an innovative best value contractor selection process based on the mathematical representation of rational preference, with the decision maker's attitude to the uncertainty factor in the selection process being represented by a utility function. When refined, it is anticipated that the model will be generic enough to add value to any construction procurement process within the social housing sector.