Procurement body to set up £3.4m legal services framework for FE/HE sector in Scotland

Stirling-headquartered APUC said the framework would be available for the further and higher education sector in Scotland.

It is “seeking to obtain, through this tendering process, price normalisation for all institutions regardless of size and demand”.

A maximum of seven contractors will be appointed to the framework contract, which will cover the following specialisms:

• Commercial-Business
• Property and estates
• People/HR matters
• Charity
• Charity corporate governance

APUC said: "Institutions shall be entitled to appoint a single firm to advise and/or represent on all matters of law, which may include some or all of the specialist areas in technical expertise described —above. This may involve the provision of a full legal advice service to an Institution or may involve working in partnership with an in-house legal resource, providing supplementary legal resource or expertise from time to time as caseload requires across more than one of the specialisms.

"Contractors must be able to provide a service which encompasses all of the above specialisms as a minimum."

The contract, which is expected to last 24 months, will be awarded on the basis of quality (weighting: 70) and price (weighting: 30). The right to extend for a period of up to 24 months is reserved.