Procurement

With private and public sector budgets under increased scrutiny, value for money (VFM) has become the watchword for procurement.

The new Procurement Directives and their recent implementation into UK law has been trumpeted as bringing many advantages for authorities and bidders alike, but many of the changes have increased the administrative burden on authorities. Coupled with this, bidders are more willing than ever to challenge contract awards where there has been failure to comply with the strict requirements of the procurement rules, which means that for authorities, navigating their way through the regulations can be a minefield.

We understand procurement from all angles. The regulatory framework is a complex one, but we specialise in making it work for you.

• We understand the bidder perspective in dealing with the public sector, we can help clients spot when things are not being run appropriately or legally, and ensure they get treated properly;
• We understand EU funding implications and can ensure compliance from a general EU regulatory law perspective.

What we do

We offer a commercial, risk based approach to procurement, and our team is highly regarded for providing innovative solutions to a wide range of procurement problems, helping clients to purchase compliantly, promptly and effectively and to maximise opportunities to achieve value for money.

Our team has an in-depth understanding of the current public and utilities procurement legislation, the EU Directives that underpin them and the case law that impacts them. We have played an active role in the shaping of the new EU Directives since the early stages of the review process, going back to before the initial European Commission proposal for the new Directives was made in December 2011.

We also have detailed understanding of the issues faced by bidders in a procurement process, and our team has extensive experience of advising bidders on challenges under procurement legislation, and the EC Treaty and securing litigated and non-litigated settlements.

DAC Beachcroft's team is known for its "rigorous and thorough approach" and "first class support" to clients in a range of sectors including local government, education, energy, health, regeneration and transport.

What we are known for

We are known for our flexibility in the way we advise our clients. Our lawyers work with you as an extension of your team, we have a friendly can do approach, which involves us taking time to get to know your team and how you prefer your advice to be presented.

We can flex our approach to suit the team and the project. We are equally comfortable managing a procurement process from start to finish in real time, auditing a procurement based on a desktop document review exercise, drafting terms and conditions on a standard or bespoke basis or providing helpline approach, which allows for ad-hoc advice and involvement as and when needed. This means that we can adapt our input to suit your requirements as they arise, ultimately saving on fees, ensuring a consistent approach to procurement and assembly of a robust audit trail.

Our team has acted in some of the highest profile procurement challenges in recent years, and we have a unique team of contentious and non-contentious procurement lawyers to ensure whether you are bringing or defending a procurement claim, you are being advised by lawyers who have a thorough understanding of the rules whilst taking a practical and commercial approach to your case to ensure we achieve the right result for you.

Detailed elements of our services

• Training on procurement compliance for in-house teams;
• Land deals and developer procurement (and structuring off market deals);
• Advice on procurement strategy and process planning;
• Drafting procurement documents;
• Quick turnaround review service;
• Ad-hoc helpline advice;
• Structuring evaluation criteria and scoring methodology;
• Complex procurement and dialogue/negotiation;
• Standstill and debrief issues;
• Defending challenges and threatened challenges;
• Procurement compliance audits;
• Bringing challenges and process complaints on behalf of bidders;
• Advice on compliance with tender requirements.