Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) Scoring & Rising Social Value Weightings: What Providers Must Do Before 2026

The Procurement Act 2023 is now live — and as we move through late 2025 into early 2026, commissioners are shifting fully to Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) scoring. Social value weightings are rising, quality criteria are expanding, and providers must show clearer evidence of impact, outcomes and community benefit to stay competitive.

📘 Most Advantageous Tender (MAT): What It Really Means in 2025–2026

The old “MEAT” model (Most Economically Advantageous Tender) placed heavy emphasis on price. MAT changes the game. It puts outcomes, safety, impact, and social value at the centre of tender scoring — and commissioners are rapidly updating evaluation models to reflect this.

For NHS and local authority providers, this means tender success will increasingly depend on how well you can:

• Evidence measurable improvements for people
• Show clear governance and risk assurance
• Demonstrate financial sustainability and proportionality
• Showcase real social value impact — not generic promises
• Prove delivery confidence through data, case studies and performance trends

The shift has already started. Some councils have raised social value to 20–30% of the score. Others now assess “organisation-wide social value maturity” rather than individual project commitments.

This creates huge opportunities for prepared providers — and huge risks for those who treat social value as an afterthought.

🎯 What MAT Means for Social Care and NHS-Commissioned Providers

Under MAT, commissioners prioritise tenders that demonstrate:

• Safety — escalation, supervision, training, audits, learning cycles
• Outcomes — measurable improvement against KPIs or personal goals
• Experience — co-production, lived experience, communication
• Social Value — community benefit, skills, jobs, inclusion, sustainability
• Risk Management — continuity, governance, mitigations
• Value — not “cheapest”, but best results for public money

Winning bids will be those that combine strong narrative, clear evidence, and confident governance. This is why many providers are now refreshing their:

• Tender libraries
• Outcomes evidence and reporting
• Bid triage processes
• Retainer support to stay prepared month-to-month

💬 Why Social Value Weightings Are Increasing

Councils and ICBs are legally required to consider broader social value under MAT. This strengthens expectations around:

• Local recruitment and skills pathways
• Fair work and workforce wellbeing
• Community participation and inclusion
• Environmental commitments (travel, waste, energy)
• Reducing inequalities and improving access

Social value is no longer a “nice to have”. It’s a scoring gateway.

Strong providers are now building organisation-wide evidence packs and local social value dashboards in preparation for 2026 frameworks and call-offs. If you need structured support, the Outcomes Evidence Packages can accelerate this significantly.

📊 MAT Scoring: How Commissioners Now Mark Tenders

MAT encourages commissioners to judge the real-world impact of your service delivery. Scoring now focuses on:

• Clarity — Is the answer structured, relevant and easy to score?
• Evidence — Are claims supported by measurable proof?
• Outcomes — Do you show the change achieved?
• Governance — Is the service safe and well-led?
• Social value / community impact
• Deliverability — Workforce, mobilisation, sustainability
• Localisation — Are local priorities clearly referenced?

The best providers now follow a structured model for every answer:

Commitment → Approach → Evidence → Outcome → Social Value Link → Risk Control

This aligns perfectly with MAT markers and makes scoring easier — often the difference between 4/5 and 5/5.

If you want support tightening answers, your Bid Proofreading & Compliance Checks service is an ideal fit for this stage.

🧠 The Six Things Providers Must Do Between Now and 2026

1️⃣ Refresh your tender library (MAT-aligned)

Old tender libraries written for pre-MAT scoring will start to fall short. Answers now require:

• clearer outcome evidence
• better governance detail
• tighter structures
• stronger social value integration

Your Tender Library Refresh Packages are a perfect fit here, giving providers a complete, MAT-ready overhaul.

2️⃣ Build or improve your triage process

MAT rewards selective bidding. Scattergun approaches waste capacity and lower score averages.

A structured triage system helps ensure you only bid when:

• the strategic fit is right
• evidence is strong
• resource is available
• the chances of winning are high

Your two triage pages fit perfectly here:

• Bid Triage Overview
• Bid Triage Packages

3️⃣ Strengthen outcomes evidence

Commissioners want to see the numbers. Providers now need:

• KPI trends
• audit cycles
• case studies with hard metrics
• learning loops
• social value tracking

Your Contract Continuity & Evidence Support and Evidence Packages should be linked naturally here.

4️⃣ Build organisation-wide social value maturity

Younger providers often treat social value as copy on a page. MAT expects it to be:

• embedded
• tracked
• reported
• linked to local priorities

Strong providers now hold:

• local employment data
• volunteering evidence
• training logs
• community initiatives
• inclusion metrics

5️⃣ Establish a bid-ready performance dashboard

Dashboards are no longer a nice-to-have — they’re often requested directly in tenders.

They should include:

• Safety KPIs
• Outcomes KPIs
• Experience KPIs
• Equity/inclusion
• Social value metrics

6️⃣ Maintain readiness with predictable capacity

Because procurement cycles remain uncertain until mid-2026, many providers are investing in predictable monthly support through:

Monthly Bid Support Retainers

These help organisations stay MAT-ready, respond quickly to opportunities, and keep libraries updated.

✔️ What Strong Providers Will Already Be Doing

The most competitive providers are already:

• aligning their entire library to MAT principles
• tracking outcomes and social value quarterly
• running triage models before committing to bids
• building data dashboards for commissioning reviews
• preparing for renewals far earlier than before

If you want a deeper, organisation-wide reset before 2026 frameworks, your Strategic Reviews can be positioned here.

⚡ Quick Wins You Can Implement This Month

• Update your case studies with measurable outcomes
• Refresh safeguarding, PBS, workforce and governance statements
• Create a simple MAT answer structure to use across all bids
• Draft a localised social value commitment template
• Consolidate your KPIs into one dashboard
• Run your next opportunity through a triage checklist

🚀 Final Thoughts: MAT Rewards Prepared Providers

The bedding-in period for the Procurement Act and MAT is well underway — and by early 2026, evaluation models will be fully transitioned. Providers who modernise their evidence early will:

• win more call-offs
• retain more contracts
• score more consistently
• reduce wasted bid effort
• outperform competitors still using pre-2025 content

If you want calm pipelines, clearer evidence and stronger bids heading into 2026, the links above give you a straightforward path.

💼 Rapid Support Products (fast turnaround options)

• ⚡ 48-Hour Tender Triage
• 🆘 Bid Rescue Session – 60 minutes
• ✍️ Score Booster – Tender Answer Rewrite
• 🧩 Tender Answer Blueprint
• 📝 Tender Proofreading & Light Editing
• 🔍 Pre-Tender Readiness Audit
• 📁 Tender Document Review

🔁 Prefer Flexible Monthly Support?

If you regularly handle tenders, frameworks or call-offs, a Monthly Bid Support Retainer may be a better fit.

• Guaranteed hours each month (1, 2, 4 or 8 days)
• Discounted day rates vs ad-hoc consultancy
• Use time flexibly across bids, triage, library updates, renewals
• One-month rollover (fair-use rules applied)
• Cancel anytime before next billing date

Explore Monthly Retainers →

🚀 Ready to Win Your Next Bid?

Chat on WhatsApp or email Mike.Harrison@impact-guru.co.uk

Updated for Procurement Act 2023 • CQC-aligned • BASE-aligned (where relevant)