Legal Services Framework Agreement

Please note all documentation is available as an attachment on the whg PQQ Public Contract Regulations 2015 evaluation questionaire.

Background.

Due to significant changes in the Public Contract Regulations 2015 it was determined that The Partners (whg and Midland Heart) would go to market with a joint procurement exercise forming a framework agreement for Legal Services (“The Framework Agreement”). This is a direct result following a number of discussions between several organisations that form part of the Midlands Value for Money group, comprising a number of housing providers.
The aim of this joint tender is not only to ensure value for money is gained for The Partners via the framework, but also that any profits that are generated from other users of the framework are channelled into social value for The Partners respective local communities.
In the July budget statement, announcements were made which have a significant adverse affect on the Housing sector. For example, Housing Associations are required to reduce rent by 1% for each of the next 4 years which will have a major impact on our finances.

Although we don't yet know all the details of the expected right to buy scheme, we do know that it will mean a significant increase in volumes of RTB conveyancing and of course RTB could have a significant adverse affect on our finances. Coupled with the government’s decision to move to a Living Wage and drive up staffing costs at a time when income from local authority contracts is reducing it's clear that the changes will have a fundamental impact on our business.

With these challenges in mind we have started a Group wide review of our operations to see where savings can be delivered. We are also looking to our supliers to support us in relation to identifying innovative solutions and best value.

Buy for Good, a Community Interest Company (CIC) and a subsidiary of whg will manage all administrative responsibility for other users of the framework. The Partners will manage the operational and strategic elements of the framework jointly, and each Partner will manage their own instructions at an operational and strategic level.
The successful Bidders will be required to deliver services in accordance with the attached documents and the Framework Agreement.

Objectives.

The purpose of this legal services tender process is to select a panel (the Panel) of preferred Bidders for legal services who together with the Partners’ inhouse legal teams can provide all the legal services needs of the Partners and their legal entities/subsidiaries.
The Framework Agreement will be for an initial two year period with the option to extend annually for 2 further years.

The Framework Agreement arising from this tender process may also be made available to and used by other housing associations and local authorities which as public bodies identified in Schedule 1 Specification.

The Partners intend to establish strong relationships with Panel firms built on a culture of proximity working, constructive challenge and continuous improvement. By doing this the Partners expect to optimise the process by which they procure legal services thus reducing costs while improving service quality. The Partners expect the Panel to demonstrate an excellent knowledge of – and commitment to – the social housing sector.

This legal tender process has executive visibility and backing from both Partner organisations and provides the Bidder with an excellent opportunity to demonstrate its overall capabilities to the Partners, and develop long-term relationships with the two successful and growing Partner organisations and other similar organisations in a challenging sector.

The Partners are seeking legal advisers for the full range of legal services described in the Lots below. Bidders will need to be able to deal with our day to day legal services and advice needs, work with our in-house legal teams and support our growth plans through commercially astute advice and by helping us to make the necessary connections to succeed in our chosen markets.

Bidders will need to bring a commercial, proactive and innovative approach combined with a wide range of skills. The Partners do not expect the Panel to simply provide technically accurate legal advice but also to understand the Partners’ businesses including their growth strategies and the market within which they operate. This will enable the Panel to provide commercially valuable advice which is in line with the Partners’ risk appetites and growth strategies.

Similarly the Panel should identify and communicate to the Partners any opportunities for new business which the Panel firms may become aware of in the course of working in the housing or related sectors or for other clients and which is not in breach of Panel firms’ confidentiality obligations.

Lots.

Each bidder will need to complete separate qualitative questionnaires for each separate lot that they wish to bid for. Only one submission of the quantitative questionnaire is required, completing the general pricing and any lot specific pricing you are bidding for. So if you are bidding for multiple lots you must submit separate qualitative submissions for each lot. Failure to do this would mean that one or more of your lot submissions will not be marked.

The lots for this ITT are listed below:

Lot 1 - Governance, Corporate, Regulatory and Statutory
Lot 2 - Treasury and Finance
Lot 3 - Securitisation
Lot 4 - Homelessness, Housing Management, Home Ownership, Asset Management
Lot 5 - Property, Development, Construction
Lot 6 - Employment, TUPE and Pensions
Lot 7 - Contracts, Commercial, Procurement, Health & Safety