For a Few Matter Starts More?

We have received our first, and hopefully our last, 2013 Bid Failure. It is more involved than I am going to outline here (for reasons of confidentiality) however superficially it is as a result of a single “fail” answer.

Obviously this is a mistake – who would go to the time and trouble of completing a PQQ, a Tender Information and Supervisor form to then intentionally answer “No” to one of the 3 pointless questions? That’s right nobody. Such an answer is also internally incoherent with the remainder, however the LSC insist on judging a bid in its worst possible light.

As I have indicated there is more to it than this, but is this alone not stupid enough?

Surely clarification could have been sought and, at worst, the sanction of a License Only contract applied. Yes firms should get it right (and I am not implying that this firm did not) and that is very frustrating to someone offering a cheep checking service. However these mistakes are so few and far between as to represent no significant drain on the LSC’s resources. By way of contrast it is not difficult to see how they could save significantly more time and effort by doing the award and verification process properly.

The cold, bureaucratic rationale aside, “if we didn’t have rules…”, one can anticipate a justification based upon an appeal to the unfairness this would represent to other successful bidders. Are there really firms out there who would welcome a fellow supplier going out of business as a result of a mistake, and for a handful of new matter starts?

Remember their New Year message?

An important part of this work is to continue to strengthen our relationship with you.

Our approach is to improve the way we work so that we offer better customer service.

Here is a real chance to do just that.

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2 comments on “For a Few Matter Starts More?

  • we have so far received no notification from lsc as to whether we have granted a new contact, but somewhat surprisingly we received confirmation that we had been given a contract from 1st feb 2013 to 31st march 2013- 20 matter starts. Strange does this mean we will get no contract. Another concern is that in Sept 2012 and out of the blue we received a letter from LSC stating as provisions in legal aid sentencing and punishment of offenders act 2012 come into force 1st april 2013 they were informing us that the were informing us that our family contract was being terminated on 31st march 2013. I SPOKE TO OUR CONTACT MANAGER WHO SAID THIS WAS A GENERIC/STANDARD LETTER BEING SENT TO ALL FIRMS AS CURRENT CONTRACTS EXPIRE ON THAT DATE AND THIS WILL BE REPLACED BY NEW CONTRACTS. is this correct or do I smell something utoward

  • Notifications going out until the 11th Jan. Remainder noting unusual either.

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