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AwardedFind a Tender · award

Lower Thames Crossing - Legal Advisers Phase 2

Buyer: National Highways Limited →

BuyerNational Highways Limited
StatusAwarded
DeadlineNot published
ValueValue not published
Published19 Dec 2025

What is being bought

Legal advice is required to support National Highways and the Department of Transport in all tasks relating to the delivery of the Lower Thames Crossing Project to the private sector under the Private Regulated Entity Model.

Delivery location

UK

Categories

Legal services 79100000Legal advisory services 79111000

Lot details

Lot 1

Legal advice is required to support National Highways and the Department of Transport in all tasks relating to Phase 2 to transfer the delivery of the Project to the private sector under the Private Regulated Entity Model. The main phases are expected to be as follows (model may be subject to alteration as detailed design progresses): a) The setting up of a company (LTC Co), into which contracts, people and assets relevant to the construction, operation and maintenance of LTC and the Dartford Crossing will be transferred; b) Establishing new legislation to enact the required model, including expanding the functions of an existing regulator or creating an Economic Roads Regulator, setting out its powers and duties and establishing the ability of LTC Co to impose and collect user charges for the use of infrastructure; and c)The sale of LTC Co resulting in the creation of a privately owned Regulated Company (Reg Co).

Statuscancelled

Award criteria
Quality — 80%
Commercial — 20%

What is included

ItemCategoryQuantity
1Legal servicesNot published

Comparable-procurement analytics

Benchmarked against retained Find a Tender procedures with CPV division 79. The category anchor is Legal services (79100000); this is a deliberately broad market comparator. The comparison is shown at several levels rather than pretending one company or region is always the best benchmark.

Comparison setProceduresReported bids per procedureNamed award suppliersPrice evidence
Market: CPV division 799,0024 median · 33.8 average (3,532 of 9,002 with a bid count)3.2 average (3,962 of 9,002 with named award suppliers)Not published
Same buyer21 median · 1 average (2 of 2 with a bid count)1 average (2 of 2 with named award suppliers)Not published
Delivery region: UK2,5104 median · 68.1 average (944 of 2,510 with a bid count)5.2 average (1,115 of 2,510 with named award suppliers)Not published

“Reported bids” is an official aggregate, sometimes reported per lot; it is the closest available competition measure. “Named award suppliers” are winners, not all applicants.

Price-outcome signal

Not enough comparable procedures currently publish both a GBP tender value and a usable lowest-valid-bid value to calculate a responsible price-reduction benchmark. Tenderline deliberately does not infer a saving from named award suppliers or from missing award values.

Procurement strategy & market signals

Framework agreementNot published
Dynamic purchasing systemNot published
Competitive procurementNot published
Recurring requirementNot published
Procurement method rationaleThis contract has been procured via a mini-competition process via use of the Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Framework - RM6179 Legal Services Panel - Lot 2.
Rationale classificationsThe procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive
Special regimeNot published
Covered byGPA
Submission policyNot published
Selection criteriaNot published
Risk detailsNot published

Planning & early market engagement

BudgetNot published
No-engagement rationaleNot published
Planning documents0
Planning milestones0

No planning milestones published.

Related procurements

No linked framework, prior procurement or reprocurement published.

Awards

Lower Thames Crossing - Legal Advisors Phase 2

Statusactive
SupplierAshurst LLP

Contracts

Lower Thames Crossing - Legal Advisors Phase 2

Statusactive
Value£1,350,000

Documents & submission route

No documents are published in the current source record.

Source data inventory

Diagnostic view. “Not published” means this current release does not provide a value.

OCIDocds-h6vhtk-05fad1
Latest release ID085093-2025
Latest release timestampFri Dec 19 2025 16:24:06 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Sourcefind-a-tender
Official notice URLNot published
Tender statuscomplete
Procurement methodlimited
Procurement method detailsAward procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
Main procurement categoryservices
Above thresholdNot published
Legal basis32014L0024
Tender period: startNot published
Tender period: endNot published
Expression of interest deadlineNot published
Enquiry deadlineNot published
Award period: startNot published
Award period: endNot published
Submission method detailsNot published
Submission languagesNot published
Electronic catalogue policyNot published
Total tender valueNot published
Tender lots in source1
Tender items in source1
Tender documents in source0
Awards in latest release1
Contracts in latest release1
Parties in latest release3

Notice history

DateEventReference
19 Dec 2025award, contract085093-2025

All source data

Unmodified official OCDS data retained by Tenderline for this procurement process.

Complete current OCDS release JSON
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  "tag": [
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  },
  "date": "2025-12-19T16:24:06Z",
  "ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-05fad1",
  "buyer": {
    "id": "GB-FTS-169809",
    "name": "National Highways Limited"
  },
  "awards": [
    {
      "id": "085093-2025-1",
      "title": "Lower Thames Crossing - Legal Advisors Phase 2",
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          "name": "Ashurst LLP"
        }
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  "tender": {
    "id": "ocds-h6vhtk-05fad1",
    "lots": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "status": "cancelled",
        "hasOptions": false,
        "description": "Legal advice is required to support National Highways and the Department of \tTransport in all tasks relating to Phase 2 to transfer the delivery of the Project to the \tprivate sector under the Private Regulated Entity Model.\nThe main phases are expected to be as follows (model may be subject to alteration as detailed design progresses):  \na) The setting up of a company (LTC Co), into which contracts, people and assets relevant to the construction, operation and maintenance of LTC and the Dartford Crossing will be transferred;\nb) Establishing new legislation to enact the required model, including \texpanding the functions of an existing regulator or creating an Economic Roads Regulator, setting out its powers and duties and establishing the ability of LTC Co to impose and collect user charges for the use of infrastructure; and \nc)The sale of LTC Co resulting in the creation of a privately owned Regulated Company (Reg Co).",
        "awardCriteria": {
          "criteria": [
            {
              "name": "Quality",
              "type": "quality",
              "description": "80%"
            },
            {
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              "type": "cost",
              "description": "20%"
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ],
    "items": [
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        "deliveryAddresses": [
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    "title": "Lower Thames Crossing -  Legal Advisers Phase 2",
    "status": "complete",
    "coveredBy": [
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    "legalBasis": {
      "id": "32014L0024",
      "scheme": "CELEX"
    },
    "description": "Legal advice is required to support National Highways and the Department of \tTransport in all tasks relating to the delivery of the Lower Thames Crossing Project to the private sector under the Private Regulated Entity Model.",
    "classification": {
      "id": "79111000",
      "scheme": "CPV",
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    "procurementMethod": "limited",
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    "procurementMethodRationaleClassifications": [
      {
        "id": "D_OUTSIDE_SCOPE",
        "scheme": "TED_PT_AWARD_CONTRACT_WITHOUT_CALL",
        "description": "The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive"
      }
    ]
  },
  "parties": [
    {
      "id": "GB-FTS-169809",
      "name": "National Highways Limited",
      "roles": [
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      "address": {
        "region": "UK",
        "locality": "Birmingham",
        "postalCode": "B4 6GA",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "streetAddress": "Three Snowhill, Snow Hill Queensway"
      },
      "details": {
        "url": "https://nationalhighways.co.uk/",
        "classifications": [
          {
            "id": "NATIONAL_AGENCY",
            "scheme": "TED_CA_TYPE",
            "description": "National or federal agency/office"
          },
          {
            "id": "01",
            "scheme": "COFOG",
            "description": "General public services"
          }
        ]
      },
      "identifier": {
        "legalName": "National Highways Limited"
      },
      "contactPoint": {
        "email": "ancillaryprocurement@lowerthamescrossing.co.uk",
        "telephone": "+44 03001235000"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "GB-FTS-169810",
      "name": "Ashurst LLP",
      "roles": [
        "supplier"
      ],
      "address": {
        "region": "UK",
        "locality": "London",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom"
      },
      "details": {
        "scale": "large"
      },
      "identifier": {
        "legalName": "Ashurst LLP"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "GB-FTS-169811",
      "name": "High Court of Justice England",
      "roles": [
        "reviewBody"
      ],
      "address": {
        "locality": "London",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom"
      },
      "identifier": {
        "legalName": "High Court of Justice England"
      }
    }
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "contracts": [
    {
      "id": "085093-2025-1",
      "title": "Lower Thames Crossing - Legal Advisors Phase 2",
      "value": {
        "amount": 1350000,
        "currency": "GBP"
      },
      "status": "active",
      "awardID": "085093-2025-1",
      "dateSigned": "2025-11-25T00:00:00Z"
    }
  ],
  "initiationType": "tender"
}
Complete JSON history (1 releases)
19 Dec 2025 · 085093-2025 · award, contract
{
  "id": "085093-2025",
  "tag": [
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    "name": "National Highways Limited"
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  "awards": [
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      "id": "085093-2025-1",
      "title": "Lower Thames Crossing - Legal Advisors Phase 2",
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      "suppliers": [
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          "id": "GB-FTS-169810",
          "name": "Ashurst LLP"
        }
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      "relatedLots": [
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  "tender": {
    "id": "ocds-h6vhtk-05fad1",
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        "id": "1",
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        "description": "Legal advice is required to support National Highways and the Department of \tTransport in all tasks relating to Phase 2 to transfer the delivery of the Project to the \tprivate sector under the Private Regulated Entity Model.\nThe main phases are expected to be as follows (model may be subject to alteration as detailed design progresses):  \na) The setting up of a company (LTC Co), into which contracts, people and assets relevant to the construction, operation and maintenance of LTC and the Dartford Crossing will be transferred;\nb) Establishing new legislation to enact the required model, including \texpanding the functions of an existing regulator or creating an Economic Roads Regulator, setting out its powers and duties and establishing the ability of LTC Co to impose and collect user charges for the use of infrastructure; and \nc)The sale of LTC Co resulting in the creation of a privately owned Regulated Company (Reg Co).",
        "awardCriteria": {
          "criteria": [
            {
              "name": "Quality",
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            },
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              "type": "cost",
              "description": "20%"
            }
          ]
        }
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    ],
    "items": [
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        "id": "1",
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            "id": "79100000",
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          }
        ]
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    ],
    "title": "Lower Thames Crossing -  Legal Advisers Phase 2",
    "status": "complete",
    "coveredBy": [
      "GPA"
    ],
    "legalBasis": {
      "id": "32014L0024",
      "scheme": "CELEX"
    },
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    "classification": {
      "id": "79111000",
      "scheme": "CPV",
      "description": "Legal advisory services"
    },
    "procurementMethod": "limited",
    "mainProcurementCategory": "services",
    "procurementMethodDetails": "Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition",
    "procurementMethodRationale": "This contract has been procured via a mini-competition process via use of the Crown Commercial Services (CCS) Framework - RM6179 Legal Services Panel - Lot 2.",
    "procurementMethodRationaleClassifications": [
      {
        "id": "D_OUTSIDE_SCOPE",
        "scheme": "TED_PT_AWARD_CONTRACT_WITHOUT_CALL",
        "description": "The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive"
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    ]
  },
  "parties": [
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        "locality": "Birmingham",
        "postalCode": "B4 6GA",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
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      },
      "details": {
        "url": "https://nationalhighways.co.uk/",
        "classifications": [
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            "id": "NATIONAL_AGENCY",
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          },
          {
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            "description": "General public services"
          }
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      },
      "identifier": {
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      "contactPoint": {
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      }
    },
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      "name": "Ashurst LLP",
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      "title": "Lower Thames Crossing - Legal Advisors Phase 2",
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    }
  ],
  "initiationType": "tender"
}