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Public Procurement - case studies

Working with a Central Government department

Bevan Brittan has been working with a Central Government department, the delivery vehicle for a major PPP since 2003, to help develop a template to enable this national programme to be delivered at a local level.

This required an intricate, detailed understanding of public procurement law and an imaginative application of the rules in order to maximise the opportunities of introducing a long term, strategic approach to the investment, without falling foul of the legislation. This was compounded by the introduction of the Competitive Dialogue regime last year, requiring a review of the procurement strategy and documents. Bevan Brittan not only advised on the legal position, we also advised on what would be a commercially pragmatic approach.

We also drafted a full suite of procurement documentation so that all participants in the programme have a recognisable starting point which can be readily adapted to suit specific circumstances.

With our client, we developed a PPP partnering model with sufficient flexibility in built to enable it to grow into a significant contributor to the wider local regeneration agenda, if that is desired locally. This model involves input from our corporate and finance team, with the establishment of a special purpose vehicle requiring advice on company law, formation of the joint venture, preparation of the memorandum and articles of association and linked corporate governance issues.

Our appointment involved an extensive consultation exercise around development of standard legal contracts. We engaged with representatives of all the major stakeholder groups in the programme. Subsequently, we drafted a suite of contracts which have remained substantively intact through the first wave of the PPP’s projects. These have and will contribute significantly to the procurement efficiencies that are one of the objectives of this PPP.

The development of these contracts has required top end legal expertise in a wide range of areas: project finance, IT, property and construction, employment and pensions, regulatory, administrative and public law to name only a few. It has been particularly important for us to ensure that this advice has not been delivered in a vacuum. We have ensured that the team has always been cognisant of the client’s objectives and the overall aims of the programme and provided advice in that context, and in an integrated manner, rather than merely from the technical perspective. Equally, our extensive commercial experience has meant this advice has not created something undeliverable when exposed to the rigours of the market place.

Like our clients, operating in a high profile arena where policy changes rapidly, we have had to be adaptable in delivery of legal services. We have, of course, needed to provide advice which is both robust and accurate. We have equally understood that advice in isolation is not enough and so we have worked hard with our clients to ensure it contributes to the success of their project.

Working with Bevan Brittan