Notice Information
Notice Title
Online Legal Research Subscription / Online Legal Library for Local Authority Legal Services
Notice Description
Carmarthenshire County Council wishes to undertake preliminary market engagement in relation to the provision of an online legal research and legal library subscription service for its in-house Legal Services team. The Council invites interested organisations to register their interest and request further information in relation to the provision of this service. This invitation is issued for information-gathering and early market engagement purposes only and does not constitute a commitment to proceed with any future procurement process. The Council is exploring the market for a secure, cloud-based online legal research platform capable of providing comprehensive access to UK legislation, retained EU law, case law, legal commentary, practical guidance, precedents, legal encyclopaedias, reference works, training and support. The requirement is primarily to support in-house local authority lawyers delivering legal advice and services across a wide range of Council functions. The Council requires market insight on whether suitable providers can offer a comprehensive legal research service covering primary and secondary legislation from the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly and Welsh Senedd; retained EU law applicable in the UK; reported and relevant unreported UK cases and tribunal decisions; practical guidance; authoritative commentary; legal reference books; legal encyclopaedias; and editable/downloadable precedents. A critical requirement is the ability to reflect the latest legal position in Wales in devolved areas of law, rather than providing English-centric content with only limited Welsh coverage. The Council is particularly interested in understanding the availability of one-stop-shop or integrated legal research platforms, including solutions that incorporate reliable AI-assisted legal search, natural language searching, document analysis, alerts, saved searches, usage analytics, remote access, single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, onboarding, training and ongoing account management.
Planning Information
The Council seeks market feedback on supplier capability, available platforms, Wales-specific content coverage, AI-assisted legal research functionality, access and security arrangements, licensing models, service levels, training and implementation support, pricing structures, framework or consortium availability, and any alternative approaches that could meet the Council’s requirement. • Whether suppliers can provide comprehensive coverage of UK legislation, retained EU law, case law, tribunal decisions, legal commentary, practical guidance, precedents, legal encyclopaedias and specialist reference works. • How suppliers distinguish between English and Welsh law in devolved areas, including education, housing, social care, local government, environmental law, animal health and regulatory enforcement. • Whether suppliers can provide substantive Wales-specific commentary, guidance and precedents, rather than limited recognition that the law differs in Wales. • The extent of coverage across local government, planning and building control, highways and public rights of way, contracts and procurement, subsidy control, property, civil and criminal litigation, employment, data protection, freedom of information, safeguarding, education, housing, insolvency, company law, construction and public law. • The availability, reliability and limitations of AI-assisted search, natural language search, document analysis, saved searches, alerts and research workflow tools. • Available licence models, including named users, concurrent users, module-based access and recommendations for local authority legal teams. • Technical requirements including cloud access, remote access, single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, usage analytics, reporting, data protection, security and support arrangements. • Indicative pricing, contract length, renewal arrangements, implementation timescales, training, account management and service level commitments. • Availability through public sector purchasing arrangements. • Any aspects of the Council’s emerging requirement that may restrict competition, be disproportionate, or could be delivered through a different structure. Response format: Online sessions will commence early September 2026. Interested parties should contact Hayley Davies via email at haldavies@carmarthenshire.gov.uk to register interest and schedule a Teams call in September. Confidentiality: Responses will be treated as commercially confidential where appropriate. Suppliers should clearly identify any information they consider commercially sensitive. Aggregated and anonymised feedback may be used to inform the Council’s procurement strategy, specification, route to market and any future tender documentation. No commitment: This notice does not constitute an invitation to tender. The Council is not obliged to proceed with procurement or award a contract.
Notice Details
Publication & Lifecycle
- Open Contracting ID
- ocds-h6vhtk-06d55f
- Publication Source
- Find A Tender Service
- Latest Notice
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/071269-2026
- 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
48 - Software package and information systems
79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security
-
- CPV Codes
48160000 - Library software package
48300000 - Document creation, drawing, imaging, scheduling and productivity software package
79130000 - Legal documentation and certification services
79980000 - Subscription services
Notice Value(s)
- Tender Value
- £155,000 £100K-£500K
- Lots Value
- Not specified
- Awards Value
- Not specified
- Contracts Value
- Not specified
Notice Dates
- Publication Date
- 28 Jul 20261 weeks ago
- Submission Deadline
- Not specified
- Future Notice Date
- 16 Nov 20264 months to go
- Award Date
- Not specified
- Contract Period
- 18 Jan 2027 - 17 Jan 2030 3-4 years
- Recurrence
- Not specified
Notice Status
- Tender Status
- Planning
- Lots Status
- Planning
- Awards Status
- Not Specified
- Contracts Status
- Not Specified
Buyer & Supplier
Contracting Authority (Buyer)
- Main Buyer
- CARMARTHENSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
- Contact Name
- Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
- Contact Email
- Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
- Contact Phone
- Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Buyer Location
- Locality
- CARMARTHEN
- Postcode
- SA31 1JP
- Post Town
- Swansea
- Country
- Wales
-
- Major Region (ITL 1)
- TLL Wales
- Basic Region (ITL 2)
- TLL4 Mid and South West Wales
- Small Region (ITL 3)
- TLL42 South West Wales
- Delivery Location
- TLL14 South West Wales
-
- Local Authority
- Carmarthenshire
- Electoral Ward
- Carmarthen Town North and South
- Westminster Constituency
- Caerfyrddin
Further Information
Notice Documents
-
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/071269-2026
28th July 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)
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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