NHS procurement body puts up to £50m in legal work up for grabs

The NHS Commercial Procurement Collaborative (NHS CPC) has fired the gun on the procurement exercise for a legal services framework agreement worth up to £50m over a four-year period.

The NHS CPC, which is hosted by Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said the framework would not be divided into lots but would cover areas including:

• NHS Governance & Public Law;
• Primary Care Services Law;
• Healthcare Law;
• Mental Health Law;
• Employment Law;
• Contract & Commercial Law;
• Property Law;
• Corporate Finance & PFI / PPP Projects;
• plus any other areas of law.

The framework will be made available to NHS CPC’s 40 member organisations, who are mostly based in the north of England.

It will also “be available to any additional new NHS CPC members for the duration of the contract, plus any other NHS organisations, or other public sector organisations, located across UK, subject to the approval of NHS CPC”.

The value of the legal work on offer is estimated to be between £5m and £50m.

The NHS CPC said it envisaged a maximum number of eight participants being appointed to the framework agreement. The arrangements will last for an initial two-year period, with options to extend by two further periods of 12 months.