I had the “joy” of assisting with the completion of an ITT yesterday.
“What”, I hear you exclaim, “have I missed an LAA bid round?”
I can assure you, you have not. No it was another public sector body seeking to purchase legal services.
In truth this was a significantly more demanding exercise than those we have been through in recent years. Furthermore it did include a competitive price element, something we have so far avoided.
All in all this felt a much more appropriate approach in this context; the need for a single provider of a very specific service and for which there are genuine potential cost savings.
No recent LAA procurement, which follows this public sector model, has any of those justifications.
Another key factor is that detailed responses were required which will require, and hopefully receive, detailed consideration and marking. One imagines that whatever we get for Duty Contracts, if we ever do, it will not replicate this at all.
