Manchester City Council kicks off £5.5m legal services procurement

Manchester City Council has kicked off the procurement of four legal services framework agreements worth up to an estimated £5.5m plus VAT over a four-year period.

The agreements are also being established on behalf of Salford City Council following the launch of a shared legal service between the two authorities this year.

The four agreements will cover:

• Child Care Legal Services: including child protection litigation, children’s legal services, representation of prospective adopters and special guardians and independent advice to independent reviewing officers.
• Regeneration Legal Services (Property): Commercial property including acquisitions and disposals (including relevant tax advice), landlord and tenant matters, site redevelopment/property development, and social housing, together with associated legal work and dispute resolution relating to matters within this lot. The lot may also include planning, highways and infrastructure projects including compulsory purchase.
• Regeneration Legal Services (Commercial): Commercial and procurement matters including public procurement, contracts, construction, joint ventures, grants and other funding agreements, loans, state aid, company and corporate work, together with associated legal work and dispute resolution relating to matters within this lot.
• Regeneration Legal Services (Major or Complex Matters): Major, significant, high value and/or complex matters either falling within or without the property and commercial lots. This lot will provide access to advice across a range of disciplines and may include mergers, acquisitions and group structures, corporate and commercial work, project finance, joint ventures, major infrastructure projects, or other matters of particular complexity or strategic importance, together with associated legal work and dispute resolution relating to matters within this lot. “The specialisms required will vary between projects and will be advised by the client at the point of procurement,” Manchester said.

The agreements will last for three years, with the option – exercisable at Manchester’s discretion – to extend for a further year. The maximum number of participants envisaged is ten.

Manchester also said it would make the four agreements open to a range of other local authorities as well as partner organisations such as Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire Authority, Manchester International Airport/Manchester Airports Group, “and any other public contracting authority, National Health Service (NHS) organisation or companies / partners owned by or partners of any contracting body within the Greater Manchester Region”.

Philip Hoult