Contract notice
Section I: Contracting
authority
I.1) Name and addresses
THE ASSOCIATION OF NORTH EAST COUNCILS LIMITED
Northern Design Centre, Abbots Hill, Baltic Business Quarter
Gateshead
NE8 3DF
UK
Contact person: Carl Telford
Telephone: +44 1916380040
E-mail: professional.services@nepo.org
NUTS: UKC
Internet address(es)
Main address: www.nepo.org
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:
www.open-uk.org
Additional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent electronically to:
www.open-uk.org
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Regional or local agency/office
I.5) Main activity
General public services
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
Legal Services
Reference number: NEPO513
II.1.2) Main CPV code
79100000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
The Association of North East Councils Trading as the North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO) is seeking to establish a multi-supplier Framework Agreement for the provision of legal services for use by contracting authorities throughout the United Kingdom
The opportunity can be accessed via the Open eTendering system. Suppliers wishing to be considered for this Framework Agreement must register their expression of interest and submit a tender through the Open eTendering System. If not already registered, candidates should register on the Open eTendering system at https://www.open-uk.org/
Tenders must be submitted using the link above. Tenders submitted via post or email methods will not be accepted.
If you need technical assistance from the Open Support team, this can be requested via open.support@nepo.org
PLEASE NOTE: Open is accessible 24/7 however, technical support is available Monday - Thursday 8:30 - 5pm and Friday 8.30 - 4.30pm
For guidance on how to submit your response through Open, please visit https://www.open-hub.org/training to access the available Training Guides.
NEPO does not give any guarantee and/or warrant the actual value of orders (if any) that will be placed with the successful suppliers by any Contracting Authority using the Framework Agreement pursuant to this process and accepts no liability thereof.
II.1.5) Estimated total value
Value excluding VAT:
100 000 000.00
GBP
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
79100000
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UK
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
NEPO are using an open procedure for the procurement of this Framework Agreement for the provision of Legal Services.
NEPO intends to select only the top 30 (thirty) ranked (i.e. highest scoring) Tenderers as Providers. However, NEPO reserves the right to appoint additional Providers to the Framework where the overall difference in scores between the thirtieth-ranked Tenderer and following ranked Tenderer(s) is 5% or less.
II.2.5) Award criteria
Price is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents
II.2.6) Estimated value
Value excluding VAT:
100 000 000.00
GBP
II.2.7) Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing system
Duration in months: 48
This contract is subject to renewal: Yes
Description of renewals:
This Framework Agreement will be a direct replacement for the current NEPO513 Framework Agreement for Legal Services. It is anticipated that this Framework Agreement will be subject to future renewals
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.1.2) Economic and financial standing
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
III.1.3) Technical and professional ability
Selection criteria as stated in the procurement documents
III.2) Conditions related to 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.2.2) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
Date:
11/03/2024
Local time: 12:00
IV.2.4) Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted
EN
IV.2.6) Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
Duration in months: 4 (from the date stated for receipt of tender)
IV.2.7) Conditions for opening of tenders
Date:
11/03/2024
Local time: 12:01
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement:
Yes
Estimated timing for further notices to be published:
12 months prior to the published expiry date
VI.3) Additional information
NEPO is a Central Purchasing Body as defined in the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR15). This means that NEPO may provide central purchasing activity on behalf of Contracting Authorities.
The agreement will be available for use by all NEPO Members within the North East region. A list of member organisations is available in the About section of the NEPO website at: www.nepo.org
This agreement will also be made available to all current and future NEPO Associate Members throughout the North East region. Current Associate Members are listed in the Associate Member section of the NEPO website at: www.nepo.org/associate-membership/list
NEPO intends to make the resulting agreement available for use by all Contracting Authorities throughout the North East region (as defined by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015) including but not limited to Government Departments and their Agencies, Non-Departmental Public Bodies, Central Government, NHS Bodies, Local Authorities, Emergency Services, Coastguard Emergency Services, Educational Establishments, Registered Social Landlords and Registered Charities who have a need to purchase the above services.
Please see the following websites for further details:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/Localcouncils/index.htm
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education
https://www.gov.uk/check-a-university-is-officially-recognised/recognised-bodies
http://www.schoolswebdirectory.co.uk/localauthorities.php
http://www.ukschoolsdirectory.net
https://www.gov.uk/find-school-in-england
http://apps.education-ni.gov.uk/appinstitutes/default.aspx
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-academies-and-academy-projects-in-development
http://unistats.direct.gov.uk/institutions/
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/workprovide/unicoll/heis/
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/workprovide/unicoll/fecs/
http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/AcuteTrustListing.aspx
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/A-ZOfCentralGovernment/index.htm
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations
https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/contact
https://www.ons.gov.uk/
http://www.police.uk/forces.htm
http://www.police-information.co.uk/index.html
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/maritime-and-coastguard-agency http://www.fireservice.co.uk/information/ukfrs
http://www.fire.org.uk/fire-brigades.html
http://www.oscr.org.uk/
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/current-registered-providers-of-social-housing
http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/registerhomepage.aspx
http://www.communities.gov.uk/newsroom/factsandfigures/housingplanning1/facts/socialhousing/?id=1822644
A complete list of permissible users is shown on the NEPO website below:
https://www.nepo.org/associate-membership/permissible-users
Organisations wishing to access the NEPO agreement will be required to register as a NEPO Associate Member in the first instance.
Further information can be found at: www.nepo.org
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
NEPO
Northern Design Centre, Abbots Hill, Baltic Business Quarter
Gateshead
NE8 3DF
UK
E-mail: hello@nepo.org
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
05/02/2024