NW housing group to set up legal services panel worth £1m to £1.6m

Torus has divided the framework into the following lots:

1. Property – Conveyancing (worth an estimated £160,000).
2. Property – Compliance and Enforcement (£160,000).
3. Property – Commercial and Advice (£80,000).
4. Development – Conveyancing (£240,000).
5. Development – General (£240,000).
6. Finance (£120,000).
7. Funding and Charging (£120,000).
8. Corporate Governance (£80,000).
9. Housing Management (£80,000).
10. General Commercial (£240,000).
11. Employment (£40,000).
12. Health and Safety (£40,000).

Headquartered in St Helens, Torus has 22,000 homes and an annual turnover of £102m.

The anticipated start date for the contract is 1 August 2017. It is expected to last four years.

Torus said: “Following the formation of the Authority in 2015, the in-house Legal Team has undertaken and managed legal services for the entire Group since April 2016. Due to in-house resource limitations there has been a continued reliance on external providers who were appointed through a procurement exercise in 2012.

“Therefore, external legal expertise and flexible resource is required to provide a range of legal services. The Authority are seeking to appoint on a multiple supply basis qualified service providers who can deliver a series of legal services and as such, wish to form a Legal Services Framework Agreement which will operate across the North West of England.

“The Tenderer shall support the Authority by providing resource to address gaps in existing in-house legal expertise, periods of absence, lack of internal capacity and/or peaks in demand at short notice. A flexible responsive approach is therefore essential.”

Torus’ Group Head of Legal and Governance will provide strategic management and monitor performance with the commissioning of work carried out both directly with the instructing department and via the in-house legal team dependent on the service required.

The current service outsources work to external legal advisers to a value of approximately £275,000 across the range of services identified. The anticipated value of the services is a range of £250,000 to £400,000 per annum, making a total contract value range of £1m to £1.6m.