Contract notice
Section I: Contracting
authority
I.1) Name and addresses
The Wheatley Housing Group Limited
25 Cochrane Street
Glasgow
G1 1HL
UK
Contact person: Julieth Ani
Telephone: +44 7770566894
E-mail: procurement@wheatley-group.com
NUTS: UKM
Internet address(es)
Main address: http://www.wheatley-group.com
Address of the buyer profile: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA10306
I.2) Joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body
I.3) Communication
The procurement documents are available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge at:
https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
Additional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent electronically to:
https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
I.5) Main activity
Housing and community amenities
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Wheatley Group Legal & Associated Services Framework LE0003
Reference number: LE0003
II.1.2) Main CPV code
79100000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
The Wheatley Group intends to establish a multi-lot Framework Agreement for the provision of Legal & Associated Services to replace the current framework. This new Framework will be divided into 7 lots covering Lot 1 Commercial Contracts Lot 2 Legal Governance & Charities Lot 3 Legal Employment & General Civil Litigation Lot 4 Financing Lot 5a – Sheriff Officer Services (Central Scotland Region) Lot 5b - Sheriff Officer Services (Dumfries and Galloway Region) Lot 6 Property Searching & Reporting Services. The Framework will be for a period of 36 months with the option to extend for a further 12 months at the sole discretion of the Wheatley Group.
Lot 1 – Commercial Contracts – including as a minimum procurement, construction, construction litigation, development, real estate, intellectual property, information technology and associated legal advice.
Lot 2 – Legal Governance & Legal Charities – including as a minimum governance and business structures, data protection, charities advice including business structures and corporate matters and associated legal advice.
Lot 3 - Legal Employment & General Civil Litigation – including as a minimum employment law, pensions advice and general civil litigation services.
Lot 4 – Financing– including as a minimum capital markets and bank funding in relation to new and existing funding and relating to both Scottish and English law
Lot 5a – Sheriff Officer Services (Central Scotland Region).
Lot 5b – Sheriff Officer Services (Dumfries and Galloway Region).
Lot 6 – Property Searching & Reporting Services.
II.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT:
6 000 000.00
GBP
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
Yes
Tenders may be submitted for all lots
II.2) Description
Lot No: 1
II.2.1) Title
Lot 1 Commercial Contracts
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
79100000
79110000
79111000
79112000
79130000
79140000
75231100
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKM
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Lot 1 Commercial Contracts covers the following areas as a minimum: procurement, construction, development, real estate, intellectual property, information technology, environmental and planning law, litigation support and associated legal advice.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Criteria below:
Quality criterion: Quality
/ Weighting: 70
Price
/ Weighting:
30
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 36
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
Option to extend by a further period of 12 months at the sole discretion of the Wheatley Group
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Lot No: 2
II.2.1) Title
Lot 2 Legal Governance & Charities
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
79100000
79110000
79111000
79112000
79130000
79140000
75231100
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKM
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Lot 2 Legal Governance & Legal Charities including as a minimum governance and business structures, data protection, charities advice including legal structural business and corporate matters and associated legal advice.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Criteria below:
Quality criterion: Quality
/ Weighting: 70
Price
/ Weighting:
30
II.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT:
95 000.00
GBP
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 36
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
Option to extend by a further period of 12 months at the sole discretion of the Wheatley Group.
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Lot No: 3
II.2.1) Title
Lot 3 Legal Employment & General Civil Litigation
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
79100000
79110000
79111000
79112000
79130000
79140000
75231100
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKM
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Lot 3 Legal Employment & General Civil Litigation to cover as a minimum: employment law, pensions and court litigation services. Employment law advice to the Group’s Human Resource (HR) department both on a rolling ad hoc basis and in relation to any specific projects affecting the employment status of the employees within the Group companies, keeping our HR department up to date on relevant changes in employment law, advice on compromise agreements, employment tribunal representation where required, TUPE and advice to the in-house legal team in relation to TUPE or other employment issues that may arise in relation to individual projects or third party contracts. Pension’s advice is also included.
Litigation primarily in relation to Court of Session cases, including Judicial Review. Advice and support may be required with housing related litigation including Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and actions for eviction, defence of reparation actions, and actions for Reduction, Suspension and Interdict, although this type of work is generally handled in-house.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Criteria below:
Quality criterion: Quality
/ Weighting: 70
Price
/ Weighting:
30
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 36
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
Option to extend for a further 12 months at the sole discretion of the Wheatley Group.
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Lot No: 4
II.2.1) Title
Lot 4 Financing
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
79100000
79110000
79111000
79112000
79130000
79140000
75231100
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKM
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Lot 4 providing legal services associated with the area of Financing as follows?
Treasury (debt finance, listed securities, bonds);
Banking and finance including the raising of new, and management of existing bank and capital markets funding;
Issuance and hedging arrangements;
Charging and security work;
FCA and financial regulatory support;
Mergers & acquisitions;
Acquisitions and disposals;
Joint ventures;
Corporate finance;
Financial services regulation;
Corporate insolvency law;
Constitutional issues;
Corporate governance;
New business opportunities;
Amalgamations and restructuring;
Stock transfers;
Taxation advice;
Co-operative & Community Benefit societies law;
Grant applications e.g. Big Lottery funding.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Criteria below:
Quality criterion: Quality
/ Weighting: 70
Price
/ Weighting:
30
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 36
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
Option to extend by a further period of 12 months at the sole discretion of the Wheatley Group.
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Lot No: 5
II.2.1) Title
Lot 5a Sheriff Officer Services - Central Scotland Region
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
79940000
79100000
79110000
79111000
79112000
79130000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKM
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Sheriff Officer services which will be required to cover the Central Scotland Region in relation to this lot arise from litigation in relation to rent arrears recovery, general debt recovery for former tenant arrears, litigation to recover factoring debt, anti-social evictions and anti-social behaviour orders. The Sheriff Officers must have experience in providing a wide range of Sheriff Officer services and dealing with a high volume of work. The Sheriff Officers must employ appropriate numbers of suitably qualified staff with a sufficiently broad range of expertise to meet our requirements.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Criteria below:
Quality criterion: Quality
/ Weighting: 100
Price
/ Weighting:
0
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 36
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
Option to extend by a further period of 12 months at the sole discretion of the Wheatley Group.
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Lot No: 6
II.2.1) Title
Lot 5b Sheriff Officer Services - Dumfries and Galloway Region
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
79940000
79100000
79110000
79111000
79112000
79130000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKM
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Sheriff Officer services which will be required to cover the Dumfries and Galloway Region in relation to this lot arise from litigation in relation to rent arrears recovery, general debt recovery for former tenant arrears, litigation to recover factoring debt, anti-social evictions and anti-social behaviour orders. The Sheriff Officers must have experience in providing a wide range of Sheriff Officer services and dealing with a high volume of work. The Sheriff Officers must employ appropriate numbers of suitably qualified staff with a sufficiently broad range of expertise to meet our requirements.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Criteria below:
Quality criterion: Quality
/ Weighting: 100
Price
/ Weighting:
0
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 36
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
Option to extend by a further period of 12 months at the sole discretion of the Wheatley Group.
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Lot No: 7
II.2.1) Title
Lot 6 Property Searching & Reporting
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
70331000
70332200
79100000
79111000
79130000
79140000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKM
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
The Wheatley Group expects successful Service Providers for this Lot to provide services related to property transactions where Wheatley Housing Group entities are the sellers of, or granters of subordinate rights in, the land, including, but not limited to:
Legal Reports
Plans Reports
Companies/Mutual Societies searches
Register of Community Interests in Land searches
Property Enquiry Certificates
Coal Mining Reports
Extracts/copies of title deeds
Ownership searches, particularly Register of Sasines
Ownership plans (site assembly)
II.2.5) Award criteria
Criteria below:
Quality criterion: Quality
/ Weighting: 70
Price
/ Weighting:
30
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 36
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
Option to extend for a further 12 months at the sole discretion of the Wheatley Group.
II.2.9) Information about the limits on the number of candidates to be invited
II.2.10) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted:
No
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1) Conditions for participation
III.1.1) Suitability to pursue the professional activity, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
List and brief description of conditions:
SPD Part IV. Question 4A.1: Trade Register
It is a requirement of this tender that if the tenderer is UK-based, they must hold a valid registration with Companies House. Where the tenderer is UK based but not registered at Companies House, they must be able to verify to WHG’s satisfaction that they are trading from the address provided in the tender and under the company name given.
Tenderers within the UK must confirm if they are registered under Companies House within this question. If the tenderer is based out-with the UK they must be enrolled in the relevant professional or trade register appropriate to their country as described in Schedule 5 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
SPD Question 4A.2 Authorisation or membership (Pass or fail)
Bidders must be a member of the following in respect of Lots 1,2,3,4:-
Member of the Law Society of Scotland
Bidders must be a member of the following in respect of Lot 5a and Lot 5b:-
Member of the Society of Messengers-at-Arms & Sheriff Officers
It is a mandatory requirement for bidders to hold the above memberships.
This requirement does not apply to Lot 6 - Property Searching and Reporting
More information - Appendix 1 - Instructions to Tenderers document (Section 14)
III.1.2) Economic and financial standing
List and brief description of selection criteria:
SPD Question 4.B.1 Turnover (For information only)
Bidders will be required to provide the "general" annual turnover for the previous three (3) years or for how long the organisation has been in operation if this is less than 3 years.
SPD Question 4.B.5 - Insurance (Pass/Fail)
Bidders are required to hold the following levels of Insurance:
Lot 1, Lot 4 & Lot 6-
Employer's Liability insurance to the value of at least FIVE MILLION (GBP 5,000,000) POUNDS STERLING
Public Liability insurance to the value of at least FIVE MILLION (GBP 5,000,000) POUNDS STERLING
Professional Indemnity insurance to the value of at least TEN MILLION (GBP 10,000,000) POUNDS STERLING
Lot 2 & 3 -
Employer's Liability insurance to the value of at least FIVE MILLION (GBP 5,000,000) POUNDS STERLING
Public Liability insurance to the value of at least FIVE MILLION (GBP 5,000,000) POUNDS STERLING
Professional Indemnity insurance to the value of at least FIVE MILLION (GBP 5,000,000) POUNDS STERLING
Lot 5a and 5b -
Employer's Liability insurance to the value of at least FIVE MILLION (GBP 5,000,000) POUNDS STERLING
Public Liability insurance to the value of at least FIVE MILLION (GBP 5,000,000) POUNDS STERLING
Professional Indemnity insurance to the value of at least TWO MILLION (GBP 2,000,000) POUNDS STERLING
The above insurances shall be with an insurance company registered with Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, or equivalent body for other EU member states.
Should the Bidder not have the specified insurances at the time of tendering then, the Bidder must certify in their response to the SPD that the specified insurance will be obtained.
SPD Question 4.B.6- Credit Rating (Pass/Fail)
Tenderers should hold a current Equifax (or equivalent) credit rating score of D+ or better. It is recommended that tenderers review their own Equifax Score (or equivalent) in advance of their Tender submission. While Equifax is preferred, details of any equivalent and recognised rating system used by the bidder should be used to respond to SPD questions 4B.6 If, following this review, tenderers consider that their credit rating does not reflect their current financial status, the tenderer should attach a documentation to their tender submission, clearly referenced, giving a detailed explanation, together with any relevant supporting independent evidence. WHG will review any such information as part of the evaluation of tenderers financial status. Where the tenderer is exempt from publishing a full set of accounts on Companies House, they must provide their audited accounts for the previous 2 years as part of their Tender Submission in order that WHG may assess these to determine the suitability of the tenderer. WHG will utilise Equifax to assist in its determination of all bidders’ financial status and risk.
Where a consortium bid is received, the Equifax Score of each consortium member shall be assessed. Where the tenderer is a subsidiary of a group but is applying as a separate legal entity and fails to meet the minimum financial turnover requirements or minimum Equifax (or equivalent) as a company, in order to be considered for evaluation, they must provide as part of their tender submission, written confirmation from an authorised signatory of the parent company, that a parent company guarantee will be provided within 2 weeks of request. The parent company must meet the minimum financial requirements as assessed by WHG.
Suppliers must note that if an organisation is successful in the award of this Framework and its Equifax rating falls below D, then WHG reserves the right to remove the organisation from the Framework. It is the supplier’s responsibility to ensure that the information submitted to Companies House is accurate and up to date, as this is used by Equifax to generate the credit score. For the avoidance of doubt, WHG will request a report from Equifax following the closing date for the receipt of the Tenders to ensure that the most up to date information is used.
Minimum level(s) of standards required:
All bidders must pass the minimum requirements as detailed in this contract notice and bidder's documentation.
Where a Bidder does not hold or commit to obtaining the types and levels of insurance indicated, the Wheatley Group will exclude the Bidder from the competition.
More information - Appendix 1 Instructions to Tenderers document (Section 14)
III.1.3) Technical and professional ability
List and brief description of selection criteria:
1) Applicable Scored Quality questions.
2)Interview/Presentation
3) Added Values
4) Community Benefits
The above questions are scored and instructions can be found in section 15 of Appendix 1 - ITT document.
Responses to these questions should be presented in Appendix 3 - Quality Questions document
Minimum level(s) of standards required:
All bidders must pass the minimum requirements as detailed in this contract notice and Appendix 1 - Invitation to Tender document.
III.2) Conditions related to the contract
III.2.1) Information about a particular profession
Participation is reserved to a particular profession: Yes
Reference to the relevant law, regulation or administrative provision:
Bidders must be a member of the following in respect of Lots 1,2,3,4
Member of the Law Society of Scotland
Bidders must be a member of the following in respect of Lot 5a & Lot 5b:-
Member of the Society of Messengers-at-Arms & Sheriff Officers
This requirement does not apply to Lot 6 - Property Searching and Reporting
III.2.2) Contract performance conditions
Following successful appointment to the Framework, Service Providers must monitor the volume of spend which has been awarded to their organisation and commit to undertaking at least one of the Community Benefits or Knowledge Transfer benefits listed in Appendix 7 - Terms and Conditions domument, for each accumulative total of GBP 50,000 spend with their organisations (i.e. GBP 150,000 total commission will see a requirement of 3 community benefits to be undertaken).
The successful service provider will ensure they meet the service level agreement on the Appendix 7 - Terms and Conditions domument as a minimum and also monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) using the provided template (Appendix 6 - KPIs)
Additional Services – the service providers appointed to the Framework will provide access to a number of additional added value services including Know-How, Training, initial consultation.
See Section Appendix 7 - Terms and Conditions domument
III.2.3) Information about staff responsible for the performance of the contract
Obligation to indicate the names and professional qualifications of the staff assigned to performing the contract
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Open procedure
IV.1.3) Information about a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system
The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement with several operators.
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number in the OJ S:
2026/S 000-015034
IV.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date:
15/05/2026
Local time: 17:00
IV.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
EN
IV.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date:
15/05/2026
Local time: 17:00
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement:
No
VI.2) Information about electronic workflows
Electronic ordering will be used
Electronic invoicing will be accepted
Electronic payment will be used
VI.3) Additional information
Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
Bidders responses to the SPD 3A – 4B questions will be assessed on the basis of Pass/Faill, while others will be on for information only (See SPD Portal).
Budders Responses to Quality Questions will be assessed on scored basis - See Appendix 3 - Quality Questions
More information in Appendix 1 Invitation to Tender document
Requests for clarification received through any other channel including by email will not be answered.
Resave submission documents with file names that dont exceed 40 characters and files should not be zipped.
NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Public Contracts Scotland Web Site at https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=824146.
The buyer has indicated that it will accept electronic responses to this notice via the Postbox facility. A user guide is available at https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/sitehelp/help_guides.aspx.
Suppliers are advised to allow adequate time for uploading documents and to dispatch the electronic response well in advance of the closing time to avoid any last minute problems.
A sub-contract clause has been included in this contract. For more information see: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre.aspx?ID=2363
Community benefits are included in this requirement. For more information see: https://www.gov.scot/policies/public-sector-procurement/community-benefits-in-procurement/
A summary of the expected community benefits has been provided as follows:
Following successful appointment to the Framework, Service Providers must monitor the volume of spend which has been awarded to their organisation and commit to undertaking at least one of the Community Benefits or Knowledge Transfer benefits including donation to Wheatley Group Foundation as listed in Appendix 7 - Terms and Conditions domument. For each accumulative total of GBP 50,000 spend with their organisations (i.e. GBP 150,000 total commission will see a requirement of 3 community benefits to be undertaken).
(SC Ref:824146)
Download the ESPD document here: https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/ESPD/ESPD_Download.aspx?id=824146
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Glasgow Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court
1 Calton Place
Glasgow
G5 9DA
UK
Internet address(es)
URL: http://www.wheatley-group.com
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
08/04/2026