Our expertise
Public procurement
Public procurement is a niche area of law that requires specialist advice to ensure the purchasing activity of contracting authorities complies with a suite of procurement legislation. Our lawyers have direct experience of advising on the full range of current procurement legislation including the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2009, the Concessions Contracts Regulations 2016 and the Utilities Regulations 2016.
Our advice to contracting authorities includes:
- Route to market
- Advising on the procurement procedure to be used
- Contract drafting
- Contract management and KPIs
- Employment and TUPE considerations
- Property considerations, including drafting leases and licenses
- Protection of Intellectual Property
- Frameworks and Dynamic Purchasing Systems (DPS)
- Drafting and advising on tender documents
- End to end management of the procurement process
- Tender evaluation
- Award letters and the standstill period
- Procurement challenges
Subsidy control
Subsidy control is a complex area of law that many in-house lawyers from the public sector require expert assistance. The consequences of subsidy control breaches are potentially serious and costly.
Seeking expert advice early on can mitigate against the risk of breach and our experienced team can advise on:
- whether projects are captured by the subsidy control regime
- de minimis rules
- the use and application of exemptions – in particular the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER)
- subsidy control considerations in alternative delivery models for public services
- subsidy control implications when local authorities undertake commercial activities
- advising on the structure of projects to ensure there is no unlawful subsidy control
Public law
Our recent experience includes:
- Providing training to all Local Authorities (LAs) in Wales on the role and responsibilities of a Monitoring Officer
- Providing training to board members of a Local Authority Trading Company (LATC) in north Wales. Advice included members role both as board members and elected members of the parent local authority
- Advising on the future delivery of leisure services on behalf of a Local Authority in Wales. At the end of the options analysis, the client chose to establish a LATC and we advised on its establishment. We advised on the powers of the LA to transform its leisure services, the options available, EU procurement law and commercial considerations, company law implications, property issues (including subsidy control considerations), charity law and employment and TUPE issues. We also provided training to board members on their role both as board members and elected members of the parent local authority
- Advising the seven Community Health Councils (CHCs) in Wales (which are coterminous with the seven Welsh Local Health Boards) and providing advice and assistance to the Board whose function it is to advise, assist and monitor the performance of CHCs. We have given detailed advice regarding codes of conduct and procedures to be followed in the event of concerns raised about the conduct of CHC members and CHC staff
- We are also the sole source of legal advisors to Social Care Wales’s Regulatory Committees, including acting as advisors in its fitness to practice panels
