FM21116 - Arbitration Referral and Management Services

UK Shared Business Services Ltd (UK SBS) on behalf of Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA), wish to appoint a provider for Arbitration Referral and Management Services. Description The Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) is the independent regulator responsible for enforcing the statutory Pubs Code (the Code). The Code regulates the relationship between all pub companies (referred to as pub-owning businesses in the Code) owning 500 or more tied pubs in England and Wales and their tied tenants. Tied tenants are those that are obliged to purchase beer from their landlord. They may be tied for other products and services too. The Code has two over-arching principles - to ensure: 1. fair and lawful dealing by pub companies in relation to their tied tenants 2. that individual tied tenants should not be worse off than they would be if they were free of the tie (the 'no worse off' principle). The Code imposes (among others) information and transparency obligations on the pub companies. An important element of the Code is the introduction of the option for tied tenants in certain circumstances to request a Market Rent Only (or MRO) option to go 'free of tie'. The Pubs Code came into force on 21 July 2016. Dispute resolution under the Pubs Code is by way of a referral for arbitration. This contract is for the management of those referrals, including the process for any appointment of an alternative arbitrator. The PCA is looking to appoint a sole supplier that will take on the end to end case management and administration of the arbitration service. The sole supplier will not be required to conduct the arbitration themselves but will be responsible for sourcing a suitable arbitrator for appointment by the PCA if appropriate, and in accordance with the exercise of her statutory powers once a referral has been made. The remit of the sole supplier will not end on appointment of an arbitrator and the service provision following this is outlined in the specification. There are also Arbitrator training and knowledge management requirements covered within this appointment, further details can be found in the specification. This Framework Agreement is for a duration of 2 years with the option to extend for a further 1 year, and then again for a further 1 year (2+1+1). Bidders are to note that as this opportunity is to establish a framework agreement there will be no guaranteed minimum spend over the duration except the fixed one off payments for set up and maintenance of the service and contract delivery infrastructure, all work will be awarded to the sole supplier when a referral is raised. A brief summary of the requirement has been provided above, please ensure you review the specification for full details of this requirement. All details relating to this procurement can be found within the Stage One: Overview Section on the Delta eSourcing Portal. UK SBS is managing this procurement process in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended from time to time). See Section I.3) for access to procurement documentation. UK SBS will be using the Delta eSourcing Portal for this procurement. The access code is 54D62EEWY3