Tender

Provision of Defence Personal Injury Legal Services

EDUCATION AUTHORITY

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Tender

24 Feb 2026 at 16:23

Planning

03 Oct 2025 at 09:40

Summary of the contracting process

The Education Authority in Northern Ireland has initiated a tender process for the provision of Defence Personal Injury Legal Services. The contract, titled "Provision of Defence Personal Injury Legal Services," seeks to establish agreements with up to four firms to manage personal injury proceedings involving the Education Authority and associated educational bodies. This procurement process falls under the services category, specifically legal services. The tender is being conducted using an open procedure, allowing for wide participation. Key dates include the tender period ending on 27 March 2026, with the contract period commencing on 1 July 2026 and running until 30 June 2030. The tender is above the GPA threshold and includes special regimes such as light-touch rules. This initiative is actively in the tender stage, following a preliminary planning phase in late 2025.

This tender offers strategic growth opportunities for businesses specialising in legal services, particularly those capable of handling complex personal injury cases. It is well-suited for legal firms with experience in high-level court proceedings and claims investigations, as well as appeals and associated legal actions. The contract affords flexibility in workload allocation and promises no exclusivity, ensuring diverse opportunities for participating firms. Given the open procedure and the scale of the contract valued at £2,640,000 gross, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are encouraged to compete, making this a substantial potential venture for qualified legal advisory and representation services providers operating within the United Kingdom.

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How relevant is this notice?

Notice Title

Provision of Defence Personal Injury Legal Services

Notice Description

The Education Authority would therefore seek to establish a Contract with up to 4 firms of solicitors for the Provision of Defence Personal Injury Legal Services (i.e. 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. This contract will be used on an as-and-when-required basis. EA does not make any commitment regarding the frequency or value of work to be allocated. Contractors shall understand that the workload is indeterminate. Accordingly, no form of exclusivity is conferred, nor is any volume guarantee granted by EA in relation to the provision of work to the Contractors. Although the majority of work will be allocated on a rotational basis, EA reserves the right at its absolute discretion to allocate all or any work under this contract to the Education Authority Solicitors or another legal services provider instead of allocating the work to either of the Contractors.

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/016632-2026
Current Stage
Tender
All Stages
Planning, Tender

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK4 - Tender Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Open
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure
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

79000000 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

79100000 - Legal services

79110000 - Legal advisory and representation services

79111000 - Legal advisory services

79112000 - Legal representation services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£2,200,000 £1M-£10M
Lots Value
£2,200,000 £1M-£10M
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
24 Feb 20261 months ago
Submission Deadline
27 Mar 2026Expired
Future Notice Date
29 Oct 2025Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
30 Jun 2026 - 30 Jun 2030 4-5 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Active
Lots Status
Active
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
EDUCATION AUTHORITY
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

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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