Certainly. A SIB is preferably understood as a partnership between commissioner, social provider and funder, working in an innovative way, to achieve a common public benefit purpose. A SIB may be initiated by any of the three core partners.

If initiated by a commissioner it is a more complicated commissioning exercise than procuring a service contract. That might mean adopting the Innovation Partnership procedure, as provided for in the Public Procurement Regulations directly, or as a flexible Light Touch Regime, following the Innovation Partnership approach.

If initiated by the provider, or the funder, it might lead to a joint venture innovation partnership, outside procurement regulation; or facilitated through recognition of uniqueness, utilising Negotiated Procedure principles and possibly precautionary market-testing procedures (VEET or PIN); or through a commissioner taking the general idea and initiating an Innovation Partnership, or LTR Innovation Partnership process.