Notice Information
Notice Title
Early Engagement: Department for Work and Pensions - Provision of Legal Services for the Child Maintenance Service in Scotland- Litigation and Debt Recovery
Notice Description
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), acting on behalf of the Child Maintenance Service who would be the principal user of the service, wishes to consult with interested suppliers on its outline plan to re-procure its legal service in Scotland. The service is principally required for the Child Maintenance Service but may include occasional ad hoc work for other parts of the DWP on debt recovery or more generic areas of legal advice. Our existing contract with a single supplier will be expiring in August 2025. DWP will be seeking a single supplier to cover the whole of Scotland to provide advice, court representation at Liability Order and Committal (Sanctions) stage together with a wide range of enforcement actions as needed. DWP wishes to consult on the approach to the re-procurement and is particularly interested in engaging with legal firms who are registered to operate in Scotland and have the skills and resource to deliver a large scale, end to end service in close collaboration with the Child Maintenance Service. In addition we will also be seeking to appoint a secondary supplier for a small number of cases that the main supplier is unable to handle eg conflict of interest. Current trends indicate that a supplier could expect to receive approximately 1,000 Liability Order stage referrals and 300 Committal (Sanctions) stage referrals per year. Many cases can be long term in nature before conclusion with some requiring long term monitoring and repeat interventions. The active caseload is currently around 1,500 cases across Scotland. Initial planning is based on a proposal to award a contract with a minimum initial term of 4 years plus further extension options of up to 24 months. It is anticipated that the opportunity will be tendered in March/April 2025. More information on the proposed route to market will be shared at the market engagement session. The early engagement session will enable suppliers to find out more about the service required and raise any questions around the proposed procurement process. Some areas identified for early consultation may include: - 1. The nature and extent of reporting and cost transparency required by the DWP 2. Proposed KPI's 3. The most appropriate approach to Social Value in Scotland 4. Pricing approach - including pricing linked to length of contract 5. Any Supplier issues arising from the route to market proposals There may also be other areas identified for inclusion at the market engagement session. Expressions of Interest in attending the online market engagement event of approximately two hours duration to be held on either: - Thursday 20th February 2025 AM or PM , and/or - Friday 21st February 2025 AM or PM should be emailed to cd.debtservices@dwp.gov.uk by close of business on Friday 14th February 2025 indicating your availability for one or both dates/times. Confirmation of events date and times will be provided by Monday 17th February 2025.
Lot Information
Lot 1
Delivery of Litigation and Debt Recovery activity plus all associated enforcement activity required in Scotland. The service will by its nature require management of an end to end supply chain including instruction of sheriff officers. Information around estimated quantities and nature/length of service interventions will be provided at the market engagement event. Additional information: The estimated value of the contract includes all legal fees and disbursements arising as a result of contract activity for the initial four year fixed term of the contract. If extended the value of the contract may be higher than the value quoted.
Notice Details
Publication & Lifecycle
- Open Contracting ID
- ocds-h6vhtk-04da6d
- Publication Source
- Find A Tender Service
- Latest Notice
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003222-2025
- Current Stage
- Planning
- All Stages
- Planning
Procurement Classification
- Notice Type
- Planning Notice
- Procurement Type
- Standard
- Procurement Category
- Services
- Procurement Method
- Not Specified
- Procurement Method Details
- Not specified
- Tender Suitability
- Not specified
- Awardee Scale
- Not specified
Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)
- CPV Divisions
79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security
-
- CPV Codes
79110000 - Legal advisory and representation services
Notice Value(s)
- Tender Value
- £5,000,000 £1M-£10M
- Lots Value
- Not specified
- Awards Value
- Not specified
- Contracts Value
- Not specified
Notice Dates
- Publication Date
- 31 Jan 20251 years ago
- Submission Deadline
- Not specified
- Future Notice Date
- 24 Mar 2025Expired
- Award Date
- Not specified
- Contract Period
- Not specified - Not specified
- Recurrence
- Not specified
Notice Status
- Tender Status
- Planned
- Lots Status
- Planned
- Awards Status
- Not Specified
- Contracts Status
- Not Specified
Buyer & Supplier
Contracting Authority (Buyer)
- Main Buyer
- DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS
- Contact Name
- Cathryn McCrink
- Contact Email
- cd.debtservices@dwp.gov.uk
- Contact Phone
- Not specified
Buyer Location
- Locality
- LEEDS
- Postcode
- LS2 7UA
- Post Town
- Leeds
- Country
- England
-
- Major Region (ITL 1)
- TLE Yorkshire and The Humber
- Basic Region (ITL 2)
- TLE4 West Yorkshire
- Small Region (ITL 3)
- TLE42 Leeds
- Delivery Location
- Not specified
-
- Local Authority
- Leeds
- Electoral Ward
- Little London & Woodhouse
- Westminster Constituency
- Leeds Central and Headingley
Further Information
Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)
View full OCDS Record for this contracting process
The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.
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