Previous Tenders: Legal Services Commission

Given that the LSC talks in terms of “parallel” rather than “joint” commissioning, it seems likely that it will have its own PQQ for specialist services.

A recent PQQ covers the following areas:

• Are there any mandatory grounds for rejection of the Applicant under regulation 23(1) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (Applicants or Key Personnel convicted of conspiracy, bribery, fraud, money laundering)?
• Requirement to have 1 year’s managerial experience and 3 years’ experience of delivering specialist legal advice
• Requirement to have a complaints process, and no history of complaints being upheld and sanctions applied by a regulatory/complaints body, or upheld professional negligence claims, in the last 3 years (in relation to publicly funded areas of law only)
• Requirement to have appropriate professional indemnity, public liability and employers’ liability insurance cover
• Requirement to comply with workplace legislation (data protection, equalities and health and safety at work) by having appropriate policies and procedures and an acceptable history of discrimination claims in the last 3 years
• An acceptable history of business conduct including interventions and adverse findings by regulatory bodies, bankruptcy/insolvency, terminations for fault of public sector contracts, criminal convictions and failures to repay money owing on public sector contracts
• Confirmation that the Applicant Organisation has met its tax, VAT and NI liabilities
• Confirmation that the Applicant Organisation will hold an appropriate quality standard (SQM or Lexcell)

Essential criteria within the ITT may cover issues like permanent presence in the area, supervisor standards and ratios, peer review standards and minimum staffing levels and service volumes.