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Legal Panel 2026

Pension Protection Fund

This public procurement record has 3 releases in its history.

Award

14 Oct 2026 at 11:13

UK7 - Contract Details Notice
Award

06 Jan 2026 at 16:28

UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Tender

02 Sep 2025 at 14:11

UK4 - Tender Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) appointed an external legal services panel to advise its Board. The four service areas are legal advice to the Board, asset management, real estate, and advice for pension schemes in assessment. The work supports the PPF’s responsibilities for protecting members of eligible defined benefit pension schemes when their employer becomes insolvent. The PPF is based in Croydon, and services are delivered for the organisation in the UK. This is a multi-supplier panel: firms may be appointed to one or more specialisms, so legal practices need relevant expertise in the particular area they intend to serve. Asset management and real estate lots concern legal advice in those domains, rather than the provision of investment management or property services themselves.

The open procedure is complete, and contracts have been signed. The award was made on 6 January 2026; contracts were signed on 26 January 2026. The initial contract period runs from 1 February 2026 to 31 January 2028, with two optional 12-month extensions, giving a possible end date of 31 January 2030. Lot 1, Board legal advice, is valued at £3 million and was awarded to Mills & Reeve, Burges Salmon, Osborne Clarke and Bird & Bird. Lot 2, asset management, is valued at £8 million and was awarded to Addleshaw Goddard, CMS, Eversheds Sutherland, Pinsent Masons, Osborne Clarke and Herbert Smith Freehills. Lot 3, real estate, is valued at £2 million and was awarded to Mills & Reeve, Burges Salmon and Osborne Clarke. Lot 4, schemes in assessment, is valued at £3 million and was awarded to Gowling WLG, CMS and Osborne Clarke. Quality accounted for all of the stated evaluation weighting; lots 1 and 2 used submitted rate cards assessed by price per quality point, while lots 3 and 4 used fixed rate cards.

This panel shows continuing demand from the PPF for specialist legal advice across pension scheme assessment, asset management, real estate and Board-level matters. Credible competitors will need established legal practices able to demonstrate strong technical quality in their chosen specialism, with sufficient capacity to support a multi-supplier panel and respond to individual instructions or further competitions. The buyer’s selection of firms across several areas indicates that relevant domain expertise matters; broad legal capability alone may not be enough. For Board advice and asset management, suppliers should be prepared to price through a completed rate card, with price considered against quality. Real estate and schemes-in-assessment providers need to work within standardised, non-negotiable rates. Small and medium-sized firms were expressly considered suitable, and SME bidders participated, though competition included many established firms.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

Legal Panel 2026

Notice Description

We are seeking proposals from external, third-party suppliers in relation to the establishment of a panel to provide legal services to the Board of the Pension Protection Fund. Bidders will have the opportunity to bid on any of the four lots: Lot 1 Services (Legal Advisory Services) - maximum 4 bidders will be appointed to this lot. Lot 2 Services (Asset Management) - maximum 6 bidders will be appointed to this lot. Lot 3 Services (Real Estate) - maximum 3 bidders will be appointed to this lot. Lot 4 Services (Schemes in Assessment) - maximum 3 bidders will be appointed to this lot. The new panel will be live from Monday 2nd February 2026 and successfully appointed Bidders must be capable of commencing services from this date. The contract term will be for an initial term of 24-months with two optional extension periods of 12-months each to take the maximum possible term to 48 months (2+1+1). This notice is linked to a UK2 - Early Market Engagement Notice, with the below reference numbers. There appears to be a validation bug where we're unable to link the UK2 notice with this UK4 - Tender Opportunity notice, which we are raising with BravoSolutions. Notice number: 2025/S 000-011208 Procedure ID: ocds-h6vhtk-04f8a3 Notice reference 2025-041381

Lot Information

Legal Advisory Services to the Board

Renewal: Initial term of 2-years with the option to extend for a further 2-periods of 12-months each, totalling a maximum term of 4-years.

Asset Management Services

Renewal: Initial term of 2-years with the option to extend for a further 2-periods of 12-months each, totalling a maximum term of 4-years.

Real Estate

Renewal: Initial term of 2-years with the option to extend for a further 2-periods of 12-months each, totalling a maximum term of 4-years.

Schemes in Assessment

Renewal: Initial term of 2-years with the option to extend for a further 2-periods of 12-months each, totalling a maximum term of 4-years.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-059242
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/096887-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Tender, Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK7 - Contract Details Notice
Procurement Type
Framework
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Open
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure
Tender Suitability
SME
Awardee Scale
Large

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

CPV Codes

79100000 - Legal services

79111000 - Legal advisory services

79140000 - Legal advisory and information services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£16,000,000 £10M-£100M
Lots Value
£16,000,000 £10M-£100M
Awards Value
£13,000,000 £10M-£100M
Contracts Value
£13,000,000 £10M-£100M

Notice Dates

Publication Date
14 Oct 20261 weeks ago
Submission Deadline
30 Sep 2025Expired
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
6 Jan 20269 months ago
Contract Period
1 Feb 2026 - 31 Jan 2028 1-2 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Active

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Pension Protection Fund
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
CROYDON
Postcode
CR0 2NA
Postcode Area
Croydon
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLI London
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLI6 Outer London - South
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLI62 Croydon
Delivery Location
TLI62 Croydon
Local Authority
Croydon
Electoral Ward
Fairfield
Westminster Constituency
Croydon West

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
10
Supplier Names

Mills & Reeve LLP

Burges Salmon LLP

Osborne Clarke LLP

Bird & Bird LLP

Addleshaw Goddard LLP

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP

Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP

Pinsent Masons LLP

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP

Gowling WLG (UK) LLP

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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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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