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Birmingham City Council Legal Services Framework

Birmingham City Council Legal Services Framework. 3rd June 2010 John Wynn – Assistant Director Public Law and Property . Format of Session Introduction Procurement Process Alternative to Framework Scope of Framework Summary of Award Joining Instructions. Introduction

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Birmingham City Council Legal Services Framework

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  1. Birmingham City CouncilLegal Services Framework 3rd June 2010 John Wynn – Assistant Director Public Law and Property

  2. Format of Session • Introduction • Procurement Process • Alternative to Framework • Scope of Framework • Summary of Award • Joining Instructions

  3. Introduction …..to respond to the need for collaboration with other local authorities and as part of the continuing strategy of legal services to satisfy the need for advice in areas of expertise not currently present we have now moved from a position of procuring for Birmingham City Council only, to working with ‘Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands’ to procure on behalf of a authorities throughout England and Wales….

  4. Procurement Process • The procurement route followed for this exercise was the restricted procedure with an 80/20 quality/price split. • The contract was publicly advertised, on 8th January 2009, in the Official Journal of the European Union, The Law Society Gazette and on the Council's Website of which these commercial costs were paid for by Improvement and Efficiency West Midland. • In response to the advertisements, 106 firms expressed an interest in the opportunity resulting in 71 firms submitting completed questionnaires. • At the PQQ stage firms were evaluated on: Information about the Applicant, Financial Status, Equal Opportunities, Health & Safety, Environmental, Case Studies and Technical Capability. • An important element for Birmingham surrounded firms holding or securing Investors in People or equivalent quality certification and Lexcel Practice Management Standards or equivalent quality certification no later than 2 years from the commencement date. • A minimum score of 50% was a mandatory requirement for firms to proceed to the tender stage of this procurement. Thirty-four firms were duly invited to tender.

  5. Procurement Process At Invitation to tender stage firms were evaluated on: • Agreement to the Council’s Terms and Conditions – Weighted Pass/Fail • Core Considerations - Weighting Pass / Fail • Audited Quality systems – Not Scored • References – Weighting 15% • Resources – Weighting 30% • Partnering Ethos – Weighting 15% • Conflict of Interests – Weighting 15% • Risk Management – Weighting 10% • Added Value / Innovation – Weighting 15% • In response to the invitations to tender, 29 firms submitted completed documents

  6. Procurement Process Pricing Element • Firms were required to submit bids in accordance to Birmingham’s ‘Lowest Price Principle’ mechanism. • Bidders were required to price hourly rates for 7 grades of fee earners for each panel they were invited to tender for. They could therefore propose a different set of rates for each panel. The difference for the routine property panel was that they had to price both a fixed rate for 4 different types of work plus and hourly rate for any other work within the scope of the panel but outside the scope of those 4 work types. • The hourly rates and fixed fee rates tendered, as adjusted by the Lowest Price Principle as appropriate remain fixed for the 4 year term of the contract unless there is any change agreed by the Corporate Director of Governance. • The likelihood of price rises are remote in the current financial climate.

  7. Alternative to Framework • For Legal Services to manage the demand for legal services by substantially increasing the in-house resource in order to anticipated peaks in workload and to have a full range of expertise to satisfy the full range of possible legal specialisms. • Whilst the Legal Services seeks to ensure that it has the core expertise and an effective capacity having regard to meet clients' programmes of work, if there is a reduction in demand there is likely to be an excess of staff, therefore a demonstration of best value for money is to have the flexibility to engage external solicitors under a framework agreement on an ‘as and when’ required basis.

  8. Scope of Framework • Panel 1: Housing, Education, Economic Development, Leisure, Public Law • Panel 2: Routine Property • Panel 3: Major Property • Panel 4: PFI / PPP • Panel 5: Planning • Panel 6: Highways • Panel 7: Licensing • Panel 8: Litigation - Employment • Panel 9: Litigation - Criminal • Panel 10: Litigation - Civil • Panel 11: Litigation – Housing • Please note the Children’s and Adult panels are being separately procured and will be open to authorities throughout England and Wales.

  9. Advantages of Framework Agreement • Added Value; and • Fee Structure

  10. Added Value • The Council sought free ‘additional services’ from Tenderers to ensure it was obtaining not only a service focused on quality legal advice but also to benefit from the Tenderers key business services that would otherwise carry an additional cost for usage. • The areas the Council sought ‘added value’ or ‘innovation’ from including and not limited to: • Use of Extranet; • Publications and Guidance Documents; • Benchmarking Groups; • Performance Measures; • Case Plans; • Online Access to Files; • Workshop and Training Events etc.

  11. Added Value • Tenderers offered a variety of services as ‘standard’ e.g. use of their Extranet; publications & guidance; online access to files etc • A number of ‘innovative’ services are: • Delivering a dedicated West Midlands series of training sessions on topics agreed with the Council; • 24 hour accessibility in response to urgent advice requirement • Access to tenderers personnel, for example, Information Service research Professionals where a need arises; • Access to tenderers collection of hard copy materials such as books/journals covering all areas of law, and to include bespoke e-mail updates on emerging legal issues.

  12. Added Value • Use of ‘after the event’ Insurance in highly contentious instructions to protect the Council from adverse Costs Orders; • Availability of a ‘hot-line’ for initial discussion of 10-15 minutes where guidance and sounding board may seem beneficial at no extra cost on a particular issue; • Surgeries - regularly at Firms Office or Council premises relating to ad hoc queries or cases in general; • Legal Practice Development – benefit from the sharing of best practice in individual and wider legal matters; • Performance measures/Case Plans – use of systems which allow clients to plan and control legal spend; and • Use of premises for facilitation of Council meetings, training events etc.

  13. Fee Structure • The Framework Contract incorporates a flexible fee structure benefiting the Council during usage because it has been based on a “Lowest Price Principle”. • The Council benefits from: • Panels 5;6;7;8;9 & 11 will operate on the same rates following operation of lowest price principle. • Panels 1;3;4; will operate on differential panel rates. • Panel 10 will operate on a two differential panel rates. • Panel 2, which relates to Routine Property matters has the same unit rates for routine transactions and the hourly rates for other routine property work.

  14. Fee Structure • The Council also benefits from ‘Volume Discounts’. • Tenderers have identified thresholds whereupon a percentage discount is applied if this threshold is exceeded in a year. • For example, if £500,000 is spent in year one any excess spend will receive a 5% reduction on the bill. • It is anticipated the Council will make £20,000 plus savings under this arrangement, which is a good result.

  15. FEE RATES • Panel 1- Housing, Education, Economic Development, Leisure, Public Law Fees range from £70 - £220 per hour • Panel 2 – Routine Property Fees range from £70 - £138 per hour Unit rates from £275 - £500 • Panel 3 – Major Property Fees range from £70 - £225 per hour • Panel 4 – PFI/PPP Fees range from £70 - £225 per hour • Panel 5 – Planning Fees range from £82 - £138 per hour

  16. FEE RATES • Panel 6 – Highways Fees range from £65 - £138 per hour • Panel 7 – Licensing Fees range from £90 - £170 per hour • Panel 8 – Employment Litigation Fees range from £65 - £170 per hour • Panel 9 – Criminal Litigation Fees range from £70 - £138 per hour • Panel 10 – Civil Litigation Fees range from £70 - £175 per hour • Panel 11 – Housing Litigation Fees range from £70- £135 per hour

  17. Contract Benefits • These proposed framework contracts do not commit the City Council to any particular level of spend until work is actually commissioned. The associated costs will be discussed with the relevant client at the point of deciding whether to commission work through the arrangements as the cost of will be met from individual Directorates budgets • Development of robust partnership arrangements with firms of solicitors who are market leaders in their service areas will enable there to be a two way process of sharing excellence in know how and business management in order to optimise the results for the Council and success for both the Council and the firms appointed as well as for other local authorities who order legal services under this framework agreement.

  18. Contract Benefits • These framework agreements are non-exclusive. Therefore the Council may determine for a particular item of work to seek tenders from other firms, for example using a mini-tender for a particular complex project for a PPP/PFI project. Where the Council orders work from firms on one of the panels it will apply the taxi rank basis to allocate work. • This procurement has resulted in an estimated saving of £21,300 per annum (rounded up to the nearest 100), compared against the City Council’s current framework arrangements. These savings arise purely on using the current average hourly rate multiplied by the current hourly usage and the new proposed average hourly rate multiplied by the current hourly usage to give an estimated savings figure. These savings will only be realised if the usage continues at the same level.

  19. Joining Contact Details If you are interested in joining these arrangements please contact me on the link below: John Wynn – Assistant Director Public Law and Property john.wynn@birmingham.gov.uk 0121 303 2036

  20. Questions and Feedback

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