Official UK procurement notice
Legal Services · UK public procurement notice
Authority: APUC Ltd (Public body)
What is being bought8 lots · detail below
Published requirement descriptionAPUC were seeking Contractor(s) for the provision of specialist Legal Services for the further and higher education sector in Scotland.
APUC are looking to obtain, through this tendering process, price normalisation for all institutions regardless of size and demand.
- Recurrence: August 2029
CPV: Legal advisory and information services · Legal advisory and representation services · Legal advisory services · Legal documentation and certification services · Legal expenses insurance services · Legal insurance and all-risk insurance services · Legal representation services · Legal services
How this framework works
From the published notice- Places
- up to 48 suppliers · 7 bids on the busiest of 8 lots (0.1 per place) · 7 appointed
Lots and requirements (8)Procurement structure
8 lots · no lot values published · same evaluation weights on every lotLot #1Commercial-BusinessAwardedRenewal
Provision of legal services in Commercial-Business specialism including, but not limited to, the following:
- Procurement & other contract law
- Commercial corporate governance
- Joint ventures
- Banking, finance, insurance and taxation
- Company formation
- Corporate finance
- Bond Issuance, mergers and acquisitions
- Competition law
- Freedom of Information
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Intellectual Property
- Technology Law including Software Licensing Agreements
- Software Licensing Agreements
- Debt collection
- Commercial and consumer debt collection Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015
Lot #2Property & EstatesAwardedRenewal
Provision of legal services in Property & Estates specialism including but not limited to the following:
- Conveyancing
- Landlord and tenant law
- General estate management issues
- Planning law
- Major building projects
- Student accommodation
- Construction and Engineering
- Environmental law
- CONTEST
- Martyn’s Law Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
Lot #3People / HR MattersAwardedRenewal
Provision of legal services in People / HR Matters specialism including, but not limited to, the following:
- Employment relations
- Employment contracts and policies
- UK Visas & Immigration matters
- Equality and diversity
- Organisational change
- Health and safety
- TUPE
- Pension law and advice
- Student support and regulatory matters
- Data protection
- Freedom of Information
- Fair Working Practices
- Employment dispute resolution including tribunals Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
Lot #4CharityAwardedRenewal
Provision of legal services in Charity specialism including, but not limited to, the following:
- Charity law
- Fundraising and sponsorship
- Constitutional and parliamentary issues (including bulls, charters and statutes)
- Charity corporate governance. Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
Lot #5InternationalAwardedRenewal
Provision of legal services in International specialism including, but not limited to, the following:
- Public International Law
- Law of the Sea
- International Criminal Law
- International ventures
- International Humanitarian Law
- International Human Rights Law
- Refugee Law
- Private International Law
- Supranational Law Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
Lot #6Dispute Resolution (Including Student Matters)AwardedRenewal
Provision of dispute resolution legal services including student matters including, but not limited to, the following:
- Resolution of disputes including litigation, adjudication, mediation and arbitration
- Commercial and property related litigation and dispute resolution
- Health and Safety and Regulatory matters, including the defence of regulatory investigations and prosecutions
- Personal injury litigation, including stress and disease claims
- Reputation management, including defamation
- Judicial review
- Briefing and recommendation of Counsel
- Student academic appeals, student complaints, student disciplinary matters, failure to educate, fitness to practise issues and other student procedures and processes
- Data protection in a staff and student matters context
- Representation on behalf of the University at appeal / complaint / disciplinary hearings as required
- Student contract issues including the procedures for the making of offers and for enrolment
- Compliance with the requirements of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and other regulatory bodies in relation to the student contract for tuition (including fee issues)
- Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
- Ensuring compliance with relevant regulatory requirements in Scotland and provide full assistance with any investigations undertaken by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
Lot #7Education Law and ResearchAwardedRenewal
Provision of legal services in Education and Research specialism including, but not limited to, the following:
- Academic research (including grants) & research originated knowledge transfer.
- Compliance with broader regulatory frameworks, including Material Asset Transfers, the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), and international protocols such as the Nagoya Protocol. Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015
Lot #8One-Stop-ShopAwardedRenewal
Institutions shall be entitled to appoint a single firm to advise and/or represent on all matters of law, which may include some or all of the specialist areas in technical expertise described above. This may involve the provision of a full legal advice service to an Institution or may involve working in partnership with an in-house legal resource, providing supplementary legal resource or expertise from time to time as caseload requires across more than one of the specialisms. Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (2)
- Technical: 60%
- price: 40%
Published award criteria (2)
- Technical: 60%
- Price: 40%
- Suitability
Providers must be accredited by the professional body relevant to the delivery of these services (Law Society of Scotland).
- Condition of participationno text publishedMinimum: Please refer to Question 4B.5 of the SPD and Economic and Financial Standing section of the Contract Notice. Tenderers must confirm that they can provide the following supporting evidence prior to award: Professional Risk Indemnity: 3,000,000.00 GBP Employer's (Compulsory) Liabil…
- Technical & professional ability
Bidders must be a member of the Law Society of Scotland. Please see SPD Question 4A.1a
- Staff
- Names and qualifications of delivery staff must be submitted
- Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
- “Legal Services” is a framework: the contest is a place on its panel, up to 48 suppliers, not a single contract.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record · publisher note attached- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Framework agreement
- Who may use this agreement
- Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Yes · August 2029
- First published
- 29 Jan 2025, 13:42 GMT
- Last source update
- 12 Mar 2026, 16:06 GMT
- Award evaluation window
- 21 Oct 2025 – …
- Authority reference
PFB1047 AP- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-022512- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04d700Find a Tender
- Electronic trading
- e-invoicing allowed · electronic ordering · electronic payment
- Performance terms
Submission of Management Information following commencement of the Framework Agreement, the Contractor will provide a performance report to the Authority on a quarterly basis to include spend by Institution under the Framework Agreement for the reporting period. Contractors must provide the information on a quarterly basis, within 10 working days following the start of each quarter. Data must be uploaded to the website: ucsp.ac.uk ↗.
Publisher note: Economic operators could have been excluded from this competition if they had been in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015. Suppliers were asked to confirm if they will be in a position to complete (at point of award) the following: Appendix A Form of Tender Appendix B Freedom of Information Appendix D APUC Sustain Supply Chain Code of Conduct (SC Ref:825746)
How it was run
Official notice- Appointment period ends
- 21 Oct 2025, 14:00 BST
- Submission channel
- {"electronicSubmission"}
- Accepted languages
- en
- Bid validity
- 180 days from the deadline
- Bids opened
- 21 Oct 2025, 15:00 BST
Timeline
20 Jun 2025 → 12 Mar 2026 · 4 dates- Next notice expected20 Jun 2025, 00:00 BST
- Admission / appointment period ends370 days ago · period end, not a bid countdown21 Oct 2025, 14:00 BST
- Bids opened370 days ago21 Oct 2025, 15:00 BST
- Notice published228 days ago12 Mar 2026, 16:06 GMT
Notice history
5 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 17 Sept 2025- Published value updated to £12,000,00017 Sept 2025, 12:01 BSTwas £4,000,000
- Status changed to active17 Sept 2025, 12:01 BST
- Procurement method changed17 Sept 2025, 12:01 BST
- Deadline published: 21 Oct 2025, 14:00 BST17 Sept 2025, 12:01 BST
- Status changed to complete12 Mar 2026, 16:06 GMT
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast8 suppliers are admitted to this framework without individual award values or dates, see the supplier list below.
Contracts
All 4 of these contracts carry the same published figure, £1,200,000, the framework's maximum for the whole notice, not each contract's own value. They are not eleven separate sums.
Commercial-Business
- Signed
- 16 Dec 2025
- Value
- £1,500,000
- Status
- active
Property & Estates
- Signed
- 16 Dec 2025
- Value
- £1,500,000
- Status
- active
People / HR Matters
- Signed
- 16 Dec 2025
- Value
- £1,500,000
- Status
- active
Charity
- Signed
- 16 Dec 2025
- Value
- ceiling above
- Status
- active
International
- Signed
- 16 Dec 2025
- Value
- ceiling above
- Status
- active
Dispute Resolution (Including Student Matters)
- Signed
- 16 Dec 2025
- Value
- ceiling above
- Status
- active
Education Law and Research
- Signed
- 16 Dec 2025
- Value
- ceiling above
- Status
- active
One-Stop-Shop
- Signed
- 16 Dec 2025
- Value
- £2,700,000
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Lot | Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Commercial-Business | 6bids · 6 electronic · 6 from abroad | 2 | — | — |
| 2 · Property & Estates | 5bids · 5 electronic · 5 from abroad | 2 | — | — |
| 3 · People / HR Matters | 5bids · 5 electronic · 5 from abroad | 2 | — | — |
| 4 · Charity | 4bids · 4 electronic · 4 from abroad | 2 | — | — |
| 5 · International | 5bids · 5 electronic · 5 from abroad | 2 | — | — |
| 6 · Dispute Resolution (Including Student Matters) | 7bids · 7 electronic · 7 from abroad | 2 | — | — |
| 7 · Education Law and Research | 4bids · 4 electronic · 4 from abroad | 1 | — | — |
| 8 · One-Stop-Shop | 5bids · 5 electronic · 5 from abroad | 2 | — | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeOther public bodies
- European UnionFunder
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- Sheriff Court HouseReview body
Framework contractors & participating bidders
7 commercial parties on the notice- Anderson Strathern LLPFramework contractor
- Brodies LLPFramework contractor
- DWF LLPFramework contractor
- Morton Fraser MacRoberts LLPFramework contractor
- Pinsent Masons LLpFramework contractor
- TLT LLPFramework contractor
- Thorntons Law LLPFramework contractor
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.