Scottish council appoints law firm to £2.4m deal over five years

The Scottish local authority had divided the tender into two lots, namely:

• Lot 1: Litigation work. Worth £1.1m, this covered work arising out of the council's statutory obligations in relation to social work, housing, anti social behaviour, environmental matters together with debt recovery.
• Lot 2: General legal work (with the exception of insurance related litigation that is dealt with through loss adjusters). Worth £1.3m this category ranged from project work, through employment law, construction, procurement and planning law matters, to property disputes.

Six offers were received for Lot 1 and five for Lot 2, but Anderson Strathern was appointed on an exclusive basis to both.

The contract was awarded on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender in terms of quality (weighting 60) and price (weighting 40).

Midlothian said: “It is the intention that the arrangements should be to the mutual benefit of the council and the firm(s) and the employees of each.”