---
title: "HSF Engagement Letter for Provision of Legal Services In Relation to the Remediation Unit"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-04fb10"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04fb10"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04fb10.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04fb10.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "POST OFFICE LIMITED"
published: "2025-04-01"
---

# HSF Engagement Letter for Provision of Legal Services In Relation to the Remediation Unit

Buyer: POST OFFICE LIMITED  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-04fb10

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## Summary

Post Office Limited has completed the procurement process for the provision of legal services to support the administration of the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS). The awarded contract, titled "HSF Engagement Letter for Provision of Legal Services In Relation to the Remediation Unit," falls under the industry category of legal services (CPV code 79100000) and is geographically located in the London region (UKI). This procurement process was conducted without prior publication of a call for competition due to the technical necessity of appointing Herbert Smith Freehills LLP (HSF). The contract with a total value of £15,000,000 was signed on 3rd March 2025 and marks the transition phase from HSF to a new service provider, ensuring the seamless continuation of services related to the Horizon IT scandal remediation efforts.

This tender presents significant opportunities for legal firms experienced in handling complex legal matters, particularly those involving historical claim assessments and ongoing legal advisory in transitional service phases. Legal firms with robust expertise in remediation schemes and close collaboration with public bodies would be well-suited to compete for such contracts. The engagement with Post Office Limited, a public entity dealing with crucial legal transitions, allows businesses to enhance their portfolio by participating in high-value and high-impact public sector projects. The intricate nature of the legal services required offers a growth avenue for firms specialising in highly specialised and challenging legal fields.

## Notice

Manage claims in relations to the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (formerly the Historical Shortfall Scheme) ("HSS"), and various related ongoing workstreams ("Small Projects") (together, referred to for ease as, the "Remediation Workstreams"), as well as Post Office's separate requests for HSF to provide Post Office with certain documents and information in connection with the work carried out on the Remediation Workstreams (collectively referred to as the "POL Remediation Document and Information Requests").

### Lot Information

Lot 1

This service is for the provision of legal service in relation HSS. This service is a transitional service to facilitate handover to a new service provider and provide services on complex matters during the transition period. The service will also cover the provision on document and advice on historical matters as they arise. This services was procured under the Light Touch Regime.

### Procurement Information

In 2020, Post Office Limited ("POL") established the Historical Shortfall Scheme, later renamed the Horizon Shortfall Scheme ("HSS"), for those who experienced shortfalls relating to previous versions of Horizon. In 2021, the Overturned Conviction Scheme ("OC" and together with HSS the "Schemes") was established for those whose Horizon-related convictions have been overturned by the Courts. Given that Herbert Smith Freehills LLP ("HSF") were appointed to represent POL in the group litigation raised by Sir Alan Bates & Others and that they advised POL in the mediated settlement, which gave rise to the HSS, POL appointed the same firm to provide legal services and support the administration of the Schemes, including the conduct of claim assessments, provision of legal advice in relation to scheme criteria, the establishment and operation of the independent HSS panel and various other matters. HSF has continued to support the Schemes since then. In October 2024, POL ran a competition under the Crown Commercial Service ("CCS") Legal Services Panel (RM6179) to appoint an alternative legal adviser to support the Schemes. Following that competition, POL awarded a contract to Pinsent Masons LLP ("PM") to replace HSF. However, in order to effect an orderly transition of the services from HSF to PM and to ensure that the ongoing administration of the Schemes is disrupted as little as possible in this time, POL requires a new contract with HSF (the "Transitional Contract"). POL has awarded the Transitional Contract to HSF under the light touch regime of the Public Contracts Regulations ("PCR") in accordance with the provisions of regulation 75(2) and 32(2)(b)(ii) because HSF is the only supplier that can provide the transitional services thereunder. HSF is the only contractor that is capable of providing the transitional services because only it has the knowledge of the Schemes to be able to transfer to PM. HSF was closely involved in the design and initial operation of the Schemes, it has assessed thousands of HSS cases, it holds the contracts with the independent HSS panel and holds data and documentation that POL requires, will continue to require, and will need to be transferred to POL and PM. Competition would be absent if POL was to attempt to take the Transitional Contract to market. HSF is the only organisation that is technically capable to transfer the knowledge, data and documentation that it holds to POL and to PM. It would not be technically possible to appoint another firm to provide the transitional services on HSF's behalf. There is no reasonable alternative to awarding the Transitional Contract to HSF. It would not be feasible for POL to sever its relationship with HSF without services, documentation, data and knowledge having transferred to PM. If POL was to allow its relationship with HSF to lapse without a contract for the transitional services, this would have caused significant disruption to the Schemes and would almost certainly cause substantial delay in the provision of redress to postmasters. There is no alternative to the transitional services and only HSF is capable of providing those services. This will ensure that reasonable steps are taken to see that there are no delays in redress being paid to victims of the Horizon IT scandal that are attributable to the transition of services to PM from HSF. The absence of competition is not caused by any artificial narrowing of the parameters of the procurement. POL has opened the provision of legal services to support the Schemes to competition by conducting a further competition under RM6179. This has led to the appointment of PM. It is necessary to award the Transitional Contract to HSF to facilitate the transfer of services and only HSF can do that.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/012153-2025 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 1 Apr 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 3 Mar 2025 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £15,000,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Cancelled |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | POST OFFICE LIMITED |
| Locality | LONDON |
| Post town | Central London |
| Postcode | EC2V 7ER |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West |
| ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London |
| Local authority | City of London |
| Electoral ward | Bassishaw |
| Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster |
| Delivery location | TLI London |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

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

### Codes

- 79100000 - Legal services

## Release History

- 1 Apr 2025 at 09:05 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/012153-2025

## Notice URLs

- https://www.postoffice.co.uk

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04fb10. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04fb10.json.