Public procurement lawyers
Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, has one of
the largest and longest-established public procurement teams in
private practice in the UK.
Our 18-strong EU and Competition Group includes nine
highly-regarded specialists with particular expertise in this area,
including partner Kate Rees (rated by Chambers Guide as “a national
leader” for public procurement advice) and Brussels-based Barbara
Linehan (rated by the Legal 500 directory as “recommended” for
procurement work).
We have a wealth of experience from working with a wide variety
of clients, both in relation to one-off major projects and
day-to-day procurement issues. This, together with our
knowledge of all aspects of the procurement rules, including the
relevant EU directives and the large body of UK and EU court
decisions, allows us to devise creative commercial
solutions to clients’ problems, from advice on structuring
transactions in a way that avoids or minimises application of the
rules, through running competitions for projects caught by the
rules, to bringing/ defending challenges.
Moreover our excellent links with relevant OGC and European
Commission personnel help keep us abreast of the authorities’
policies and enforcement priorities and enable us to give clients
realistic risk assessments in circumstances where breaches cannot
be avoided.
We have a strong track record of advising on many new areas of
law as well as those areas which are increasingly moving up the
enforcement agenda, such as:
- evaluation and debriefing strategies
- the growing trend for procurement challenges
- using frameworks legally
- how to get the most out of the Competitive Dialogue
procedure
- the procurement aspects of shared services
- regeneration projects involving mixed land sale/development
agreements
Our clients include:
- Central Government departments
- Police and Fire Authorities
- NHS Trusts
- Local Authorities
- Universities
- Major utilities
- Regional Development Agencies
- Registered Social Landlords
- Private contractors
What others say about us
- “First class public procurement specialist”, Chambers Guide,
2004 edition
- “…a leading public procurement practice”, Legal 500, 2003
edition
- “…a vibrant public procurement practice capable of
securing the largest mandates …”, Chambers Guide, 2003 edition
- “Unrivalled non-City public procurement ability”, Chambers
Guide, 2000 edition
Examples of our recent work
- Advising the Department for Communities and Local Government on
its concurrent procurements to establish and operate two Tenancy
Deposit Schemes
- Advice to a District Council and a Regional Agency on the
public procurement and State aid aspects of the redevelopment of a
town centre, under which the developer was to finance the scheme
and take ownership of the development
- Acting for a leading waste management provider during the
procurement of a £600 million waste management contract involving
three local authorities
- Advising the Department of Public Enterprise (Ireland) on all
procurement, competition and State aid issues arising on award of
the operating concession for the Dublin Light Rail System
- Advising a major water/sewage utility on the £3 billion
outsourcing of the design and implementation of engineering
projects and repair and maintenance services
- Advising a large energy utility extensively on day-to-day
procurement problems and application of the utilities directive to
its various businesses
- Advising English Partnerships, South East England Development
Agency, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and many others on the
procurement aspects of a variety of regeneration initiatives
- Advising Registered Social Landlords on the ramifications of
RSLs’ status as contracting authorities and devising strategies to
minimise impact of the Rules
- Advising the Clyde Solway consortium of local authorities (an
unsuccessful tenderer in a major roads maintenance procurement) on
its options for challenge and eventually lodging a (successful)
complaint with the European Commission
- Applying for an English High Court injunction on behalf of
DeVilbiss Medequip Limited to restrain the Department of Health
from concluding contracts allegedly awarded in breach of the
Rules
- Applying under the procurement rules for an English High Court
injunction on behalf of BFS to restrain the Ministry of Defence
from awarding a food service contract to another
supplier
- Advising a Central Government Department on successfully
resolving a mid-tender process complaint raised by a disgruntled
tenderer without resorting to litigation
- Advising various local authorities on structuring tender
processes for various major town centre regeneration projects
Contact
Find out more about our public
procurement lawyers or contact:
