Planning

Provision of Defence Personal injury Services

EDUCATION AUTHORITY

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

03 Oct 2025 at 09:40

Summary of the contracting process

The Education Authority is currently in the planning stage of a procurement process titled "Provision of Defence Personal Injury Services," with the primary focus on legal services. This contract pertains to handling personal injury legal proceedings and potential appeals for various educational institutions in Northern Ireland. The procurement planning is set to culminate with a completed Market Engagement Process due by 10 October 2025, while further communication will be forthcoming by 29 October 2025. The procurement will adopt a light-touch regime without exceeding threshold values, offering a long-term contractual opportunity from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2030, set in the UK, particularly in the region of UKN.

This tender represents a significant opportunity for legal service providers, particularly those specialising in personal injury cases and legal representation. The contract is structured to award work to four different firms, allowing for a collaborative and rotational allocation of services, thus broadening access for suitable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Businesses with expertise in legal advisory and representation services are well-positioned to benefit from this procurement, offering a stable growth opportunity through collaboration with a central government public authority and contributing to the educational sector in Northern Ireland.

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Notice Title

Provision of Defence Personal injury Services

Notice Description

The Education Authority (EA) intends to invite tenders for the Provision of Defence Personal Injury Legal Services for a 4-year Contract Period. The service will involve defence of actual or anticipated High Court or County Court personal injury proceedings served upon the Education Authority, Libraries NI, a Board of Governors of a controlled school or a Board of Governors of an Irish Medium School or the Trustees / Board of Governors of a Catholic Maintained School - and if necessary the undertaking of a separate initial claims investigation function- as well as the defence or prosecution of an appeal from any court decision given in any such proceedings and/or the bringing of third party proceedings or associated contribution proceedings); the conduct of all such proceedings or investigative function to be carried out in accordance with the Contractual Arrangements. EA's intention is to award the Contract to four firms of solicitors with work allocated on a rotational basis.

Planning Information

Details of the PME Questionnaire can be found in the CfT for this exercise on eTendersNI - link here https://etendersni.gov.uk/ Interested participants should complete the questionnaire and upload by 3pm on 10 October 2025. Completed questionnaires must be returned via the eTendersNI Messaging function as an attachment. If you have any other questions that you would wish to raise EA are happy to consider these also, such queries should be submitted following the declaration on the questionnaire.

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-05a79c
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/062030-2025
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
SME
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

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


CPV Codes

79100000 - Legal services

79110000 - Legal advisory and representation services

79111000 - Legal advisory services

79112000 - Legal representation services

79140000 - Legal advisory and information services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
3 Oct 20254 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
29 Oct 2025Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
1 Mar 2026 - 28 Feb 2030 4-5 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Planning
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
EDUCATION AUTHORITY
Contact Name
Not specified
Contact Email
business.procure@eani.org.uk
Contact Phone
Not specified

Buyer Location

Locality
BELFAST
Postcode
BT1 2NQ
Post Town
Northern Ireland
Country
Northern Ireland

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLN Northern Ireland
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLN0 Northern Ireland
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLN06 Belfast
Delivery Location
TLN Northern Ireland

Local Authority
Belfast
Electoral Ward
Duncairn
Westminster Constituency
Belfast North

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

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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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