2324-02-SRD-LJ Legal Services

Description

Sheffield Hallam University has entered into contracts with four appropriately experienced commercial legal advisors to provide high quality support to the University and its in-house legal team in all aspects of their work. The University's requirements are divided in to five Lots. Each Lot represents a contract with one advisor appointed per Lot. 
The scope of the legal services required for each Lot was set out in the Legal Services Specification included within the procurement documents, which in summary is to cover legal services in the following areas: 
Lot 1 - Corporate, Commercial and Regulatory (Non-contentious). 
Lot 2 - Disputes and litigation; and Student matters (Non-contentious and contentious). 
Lot 3 - HR and Employment law (Non-contentious and contentious). 
Lot 4 - Real Estate, Property and Construction (Non-contentious and contentious). 
Lot 5 - Full Service - This covers all the services / legal specialisms in Lots 1 to 4 combined. It is designed for projects which require advice across a number of legal specialisms. However, the University reserves the right to use the Full Service contract for any requirement for legal services which falls within the scope of Lot 5. 
The estimated value given in this award is for all Lots combined over the maximum five-year term. This is an estimate only as the University's overall spend will vary from year to year, as will the amount of annual spend under each Lot. For any year, spend under each Lot could be up to £400,000 GBP but overall, the estimated value across all Lots combined over the maximum five (5) year term (as set out in section II.1.7) is estimated as £2,000,000 GBP. 
This procurement falls within the scope of the Light Touch Regime of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
For any of the Lots, the University may require advice on the applicable law in other jurisdictions. If legal advisors are unable to provide this advice themselves, they should have a network of international legal firm contacts who they have worked with and who they can recommend to the University as potential sources of advice in such other jurisdictions. 
The Legal advisors appointed are expected to have a deep understanding of the higher education sector, the technical, legal, and regulatory environment which the University operates within. Legal services provided must take account of and reflect that understanding and context. 
Legal advisors were able to apply for one or more of the Lots but could only win a maximum of two (2) Lots. 
Where a legal advisor has won two Lots, the resulting contract awarded is in the form of a single contract with the advisor which covers both lots. 
Each contract shall be for an initial period of three (3) years with an option to extend, at the University's discretion, by up to two (2) further periods of up to one (1) year each, giving a maximum contract term of five (5) years.