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Tendering for a criminal

legal aid contract

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What we will cover

• What are you bidding for?

• Overall structure of the process

• The 2022 contract

• The tender documentation / Completing the tender

• Key lessons from previous tenders

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What are you bidding for?

• A contract to provide duty solicitor and own client criminal legal aid services

• For one year from 1 October 2022

• The LAA has the right to extend it for up to a further two years

• The first two duty rotas will each be for a period of three months

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Relationship to CLAIR• Sir Christopher Bellamy’s report and the MoJ’s response

are expected to be published before the end of the year• BUT they will probably not be published before the tender

deadline• There will be a consultation before the MoJ makes its

final decisions• It is possible that implementation of those decisions will

require a further tender – the 2022 contract will be at current rates of remuneration

• It is possible that some elements of CLAIR could be implemented as amendments to the draft 2022 contract

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Overall Structure of the Tender

Process

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Tender Timetable• The tender runs from 19th October to 5.00 pm on 30th

November

• The deadline for submitting questions was 23.59 on 7 November 2021

• The LAA will publish responses to questions during the week commencing 15th November

• The tender documentation consists of

• Selection Questionnaire

• Invitation to Tender

• Duty Information Form (only requires completion if you are bidding for duty work)

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Post-tender timetable

Please note this is an indicative timetable and may be subject to change

• January 2022 – notification of mandatory and discretionary fails

• Late February 2022 – notification of tender outcomes to successful bidders

• 23.59 on 27 March 2022 – deadline for completing verification

• 23.59 on 25 May 2022 - Deadline for the submission of CRM12s for the 3-

month Rotas beginning on 1 October 2022

• 23.59 on 5 September 2022 - Deadline for the submission of CRM12s for

the 3-month Rotas beginning on 3 January 2023

• 1 October 2022 – new contract starts

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The 2022 Contract –

changes to note

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Changes to Standard Terms 1

• 1.1 - Work related to gang injunctions, aka "gangbos" will be classed as Associated Civil Work

• 2.5 - LAA must notify you within five days of a change in your contract manager

• 7.3 - Duties to inform client when instructing advocate -now contains exception "save where the circumstances of the case mean that it is not practicable or appropriate to do so”

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Changes to Standard Terms 2

• 14.7 - Amendments to the Costs Assessment Manual will be subject to 28 days consultation with the consultative bodies and 28 days notice.

• 23.4 - Duty to report suspicion of breaches of Bribery Legislation - the threshold has been changed from "any suspicion" to "reason to believe“

• 28.10 - You can no longer serve documents on the LAA under the contract by fax, but you can now serve them by e-mail

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Changes to Specification• 1.2 There is a new definition of "release under investigation“ –

Note that the purpose is to help clarify existing processes and doesn’t change anything substantive:

• “Released Under Investigation” means where the police release a suspect under investigation (and prior to charge or postal requisition) otherwise than on bail and where a decision has not been made to take no further action.”

• 6.23 The requirement for a solicitor to undertake 14 hours per week in/from a particular office is changing to 50 hours per month, and will be measured on a rolling three monthly basis

• 10.192 Representation of clients in relation to committal proceedings in civil courts is now treated as a separate Unit of Work, but the substantive rules for this work are not changing

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Changes to Supervisor Standards

• These changes are coming in immediately under existing contracts

• Supervisors must be available to those they supervise, rather than being required to "work from one or any combination of your offices“

• Supervisors must arrange to be in the office along with the staff being supervised at least one day per month

• Supervisors must conduct supervision with both parties physically together at least once per month

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Changes not made

• Removal of clauses replicating existing

professional or legal obligations

• Updating the list of consultative bodies

• Objective deadlines for processing bills

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How to Complete the Tender

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How to Complete the Tender 1

There are two methods in which you can complete the SQ and ITT -

• Straight input of text into the Bravo portal.

• Inputting text into a spreadsheet for upload to the Bravo portal.

Minimum system requirements -

• We recommend that you avoid using Internet Explorer and use Chrome or Firefox.

• Stick to using a PC. A MAC may not be able to work with macros.

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How to Complete the Tender 2

• Check that the details at ‘Manage my profile’ are

accurate and up to date.

• Check that the correct people have access to the

system.

• Express interest in the 2022 Standard Crime

Contract ITT, this will move the ITT and SQ into

the ‘My ITTs’ of the system.

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How to Complete the Tender 3 – Selection Questionnaire

The SQ consists of four sections:

• Section A: Organisation and Contact Details

• Section B: Grounds for Mandatory Exclusion

• Section C: Grounds for Discretionary Exclusion

• Section D: Declarations

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How to Complete the Tender 4 – Individual Bid ITTThere are three options. You should select the options that are relevant for the work that you wish to deliver under the contract -

• Criminal Investigations and Criminal Proceedings, including appeals and review work

• Prison Law

• Appeals and Reviews only

Most providers will choose option 1, some providers will also choose option 2 and the occasional provider will choose option 3

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How to Complete the Tender 5 – Criminal Investigations and Criminal Proceedings

Own Client Work only• If you are not bidding for duty work then you don't need to

complete and submit a DIF.

• If you don’t have an address yet then firms may state ‘To Be

Confirmed’ in the office address & postcode fields.

• If this applies or the address does not have a current Contract

then there will not yet be a LAA Account Number associated with

that office and should state ‘not applicable’ in the relevant field.

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How to Complete the Tender 6 – Duty Schemes (Including Own Client)

• Where you bid to provide work via Duty Schemes, this will automatically enable you to provide Own Client Work in addition.

• If you are bidding to provide duty work from one office but Own Client from another office, the duty offices will be included in the DIF but the Own Client only offices within the ITT itself.

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Take care in answering question A.2.i correctly, for example,

if you wish to apply for a duty scheme outside London for

one office and have an Own Client contract for another office

you should tick b & c as pictured below:

How to Complete the Tender 6 - Continued

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How to Complete the Tender 7 – DIFs 1

• DIFs are excel spreadsheets which need to be uploaded as files to the ITT.

• You may struggle, depending on your security settings, to populate the

form immediately. For most computers we believe that your default setting

will be ‘protected view’ which means you will need to enable editing. The

spreadsheets run on macros which will be disabled for many computers

and will need enabling in order to work.

• Some I.T. departments for large firms automatically disable all macros for

fear of virus infection; this is something you need to plan for and work

around. For instance, you may request a non-macro form.

• There are two DIFs, one for outside London and one for inside London.

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How to Complete the Tender 8 – DIFs 2

• You only bid for the police station duty schemes linked to each office location, you cannot bid for Magistrates’ Court Duty Schemes at this stage.

• For London schemes, this is linked to the Police Station schemes applied for and will be included on the CRM12 to be submitted later in the verification process.

• For non-London schemes, solicitors will automatically be put on the magistrates schemes linked to each police station scheme.

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How to Complete the Tender - DIFs

• A completed DIF for a firm with an existing legal aid contract outside London will look like this:

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How to Complete the Tender 9 – DIFs 3

• The London DIF looks slightly different because schemes are based on London boroughs rather than postcodes but you still need to enter the postcode (or at least the first part of the postcode and first digit of the second part of the postcode if unknown – see below).

• If a new office, then there is a small tick box to indicate this and this will close the LAA Account number field. Entries will still need to be included in the other fields.

• If the firm does not have the address yet, then it may state ‘To Be Confirmed’ in the No & Street and Town fields (these cannot be blank as the DIF cannot be saved). The postcode field cannot be blank and must include at least the first part of the postcode and first digit of the second part of the postcode.

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How to Complete the Tender - DIFs• A specimen example for the London DIF is shown below:

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How to Complete the Tender 10 – DIFs 4

• The postcode tool has been replaced by a PDF document listing all of the available schemes. It can be downloaded from:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-contract-2022-tender#:~:text=2022%20Crime%20Contract%3A%20Duty%20Solicitor%20Postcode%20Tool

• Access the DIFs early to allow time to familiarise yourself with the forms.

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Which form?

• Enter postcode here to find out which local council area your office is in: https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council

• Check the Duty Solicitor Postcode Tool to identify which schemes you qualify for.

• If your office is not in a London borough, you will only need to complete the non-London DIF.

• If your office is in a London borough, you will need to complete a London DIF.

• If you also qualify for a scheme outside London, you will also need to complete the non-London DIF.

• Please refer to the flowchart in the IFA for further information.

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Submitting the Bid – Some Tips / Lessons Learned from Previous Tenders

• Make sure you read everything carefully before starting, including the guidance

• Make a list of FAQs

• Failure to respond to questions seeking verification or clarification of your answers

• Not checking tenders that have been ‘submitted’

• Not asking others for help

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Submitting the Bid – Some Tips / Lessons Learned from Previous Tenders

• Not checking that at least both the Selection Questionnaire and the Invitation to Tender have been submitted

• Ensure you complete and submit the DIF properly

• Ensure your DIF is for the correct region

• Ensure the DIF is attached to your submission

• CRM12

• Leaving it late