Education bodies join forces to launch £100m legal services procurement

Organisations in the further and higher education sectors have launched a procurement exercise for a legal services framework potentially worth £100m.

Universities in Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews and Aberdeen are among the bodies taking part in the procurement, which is being run by APUC (Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges).

Institutions and organisations in England, Scotland and Wales that are members of the consortia within the UK Universities Purchasing Consortia group (UKUPC) will be able to access the geographically relevant lots on the Framework Agreement, APUC said.

Members of the following UKUPC consortia will have immediate access: APUC; North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium; North Western Universities Purchasing Consortium; Higher Education Purchasing Consortium Wales; and Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium. Members of the London Universities Purchasing Consortium may join the framework agreement at a later date.

APUC said the procurement was intended to “consolidate legal services spend to achieve increased service standards, greater consistency and better commercial terms for their member institutions”.

There are 20 lots defined by geographical and technical requirement. They are:

  1. Scotland – General Commercial
  2. Scotland - Property
  3. Scotland – People Matters
  4. Scotland – Charity
  5. Scotland – One-stop-shop
  6. Northern England and North Wales– General Commercial
  7. Northern England and North Wales - Property
  8. Northern England and North Wales – People Matters
  9. Northern England and North Wales – Charity
  10. Northern England and North Wales – One-stop-shop
  11. Central and Eastern England – General Commercial
  12. Central and Eastern England - Property
  13. Central and Eastern England – People Matters
  14. Central and Eastern England – Charity
  15. Central and Eastern England – One-stop-shop
  16. South West England and South Wales - General Commercial
  17. South West England and South Wales - Property
  18. South West England and South Wales – People Matters
  19. South West England and South Wales – Charity
  20. South West England and South Wales – One-stop-shop

“Firms will be selected on their capability to provide first class professional legal advice and services to the Higher and Further Education Sectors in the relevant region at the best possible price,” APUC said.

The framework agreements will last for an initial 36 months. There will then be the option, at APUC’s discretion, to extend for a further 12 months.

It is envisaged that the maximum number of participants will be 100.