---
title: "Provision of Defence Personal Injury Legal Services"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-05a79c"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05a79c"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05a79c.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05a79c.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "THE EDUCATION AUTHORITY"
published: "2026-06-18"
---

# Provision of Defence Personal Injury Legal Services

Buyer: THE EDUCATION AUTHORITY  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-05a79c

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## Summary

The Education Authority has completed the contracting process for the "Provision of Defence Personal Injury Legal Services," under procurement ID BSP 25 013. This procurement falls under the services category, specifically legal services, and is located in Belfast, United Kingdom. This contract was processed using an open procedure and carries a "light touch" regime status. The award was made to multiple suppliers, including NAPIER & SONS SOLICITORS LTD, DAC BEACHCROFT (N.IRELAND) LLP, KEOGHS NORTHERN IRELAND LLP, and TUGHANS LLP, with a total gross value of £2,640,000. The contract period will run from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2030, ensuring legal defence services on an as-and-when-required basis for the Education Authority and various educational institutions within Northern Ireland.

This tender represents a significant opportunity for solicitors and legal firms focusing on personal injury legal services to engage with public sector work without the constraint of an exclusivity or volume guarantee. With an open procedure, the tender was accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which were the only bidders in the final stage, highlighting the inclusivity and opportunity for diversified legal practices to expand their portfolio through public sector engagement. This tender suits firms experienced in legal advisory and representation services, especially those prepared to manage indeterminate workloads while maintaining a flexible, rotational service allocation approach.

## Notice

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.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/057737-2026 |
| Notice type | UK6 - Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | SME |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Planning, Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 18 Jun 2026 |
| Submission deadline | 27 Mar 2026 |
| Future notice date | 29 Oct 2025 |
| Award date | 15 Jun 2026 |
| Contract period | 30 Jun 2026 - 30 Jun 2030 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £2,200,000 |
| Lots value | £2,200,000 |
| Awards value | £2,200,000 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Pending |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | THE EDUCATION AUTHORITY |
| Additional buyers | EDUCATION AUTHORITY |
| Locality | BELFAST |
| Post town | Northern Ireland |
| Postcode | BT1 2NQ |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| ITL 1 | TLN Northern Ireland |
| ITL 2 | TLN0 Northern Ireland |
| ITL 3 | TLN06 Belfast |
| Local authority | Belfast |
| Electoral ward | Duncairn |
| Westminster constituency | Belfast North |
| Delivery location | TLN Northern Ireland |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 4 |
| Supplier names | DAC BEACHCROFT (N.IRELAND; KEOGHS NORTHERN IRELAND; NAPIER & SONS SOLICITORS; TUGHANS |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

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

### 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

## Release History

- 18 Jun 2026 at 15:18 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/057737-2026
- 24 Feb 2026 at 16:23 - Tender - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/016632-2026
- 3 Oct 2025 at 09:40 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/062030-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/057737-2026
  18th June 2026 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/016632-2026
  24th February 2026 - Tender notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/062030-2025
  3rd October 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- http://www.tughans.com
- https://etendersni.gov.uk
- https://etendersni.gov.uk/
- https://keoghs.co.uk/northern-ireland
- https://www.dacbeachcroft.com/en/
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## 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-05a79c. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05a79c.json.