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AwardedFind a Tender · award

Academisation Legal Support

Buyer: Liverpool City Council →

BuyerLiverpool City Council
StatusAwarded
DeadlineNot published
ValueValue not published
Published24 Mar 2026

What is being bought

Under section 5B of the Academies Act 2010 (as amended), Liverpool City Council has a statutory duty to take all reasonable steps to facilitate school academisation. This requires the Council to assist with the granting of land interests, typically via a lease, and the transfer of school assets, contracts, and staff.

Delivery location

UKD72

Categories

Legal services 79100000Legal services 79100000

Lot details

Lot 1

Under section 5B of the Academies Act 2010 (as amended), Liverpool City Council has a statutory duty to take all reasonable steps to facilitate school academisation. This requires the Council to assist with the granting of land interests, typically via a lease, and the transfer of school assets, contracts, and staff.

Statuscancelled

Award criteria
price

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 7913,7404 median · 30.9 average (5,803 of 13,740 with a bid count)3.2 average (6,507 of 13,740 with named award suppliers)1 comparable price pairs
Same buyer31 median · 14 average (3 of 3 with a bid count)2 average (3 of 3 with named award suppliers)Not published
Delivery region: UKD72455 median · 10.1 average (23 of 45 with a bid count)1.8 average (23 of 45 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 rationaleDue to the highly specialised nature of academy conversions and the strict deadlines imposed by the Secretary of State for Education, the Council appointed Womble Bond Dickinson Ltd for an initial 12-month period. Womble Bond Dickinson is currently managing two active conversions, making it technically and operationally infeasible to switch suppliers mid-process.
Rationale classificationsThe works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator due to absence of competition for technical reasons
Special regimeNot published
Covered byNot published
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

Contracts

026704-2026-DN808826-1

Statusactive
Value£60,000

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-067279
Latest release ID026704-2026
Latest release timestampTue Mar 24 2026 11:28:23 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
24 Mar 2026award, contract026704-2026

All source data

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

Complete current OCDS release JSON
{
  "id": "026704-2026",
  "tag": [
    "award",
    "contract"
  ],
  "bids": {
    "statistics": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "value": 1,
        "measure": "bids",
        "relatedLot": "1"
      }
    ]
  },
  "date": "2026-03-24T11:28:23Z",
  "ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-067279",
  "buyer": {
    "id": "GB-FTS-145191",
    "name": "Liverpool City Council"
  },
  "awards": [
    {
      "id": "026704-2026-DN808826-1",
      "status": "active",
      "suppliers": [
        {
          "id": "GB-COH-OC317661",
          "name": "Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP"
        }
      ],
      "relatedLots": [
        "1"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "tender": {
    "id": "DN808826",
    "lots": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "status": "cancelled",
        "hasOptions": false,
        "description": "Under section 5B of the Academies Act 2010 (as amended), Liverpool City Council has a statutory duty to take all reasonable steps to facilitate school academisation. This requires the Council to assist with the granting of land interests, typically via a lease, and the transfer of school assets, contracts, and staff.",
        "awardCriteria": {
          "criteria": [
            {
              "type": "price"
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ],
    "items": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "relatedLot": "1",
        "deliveryAddresses": [
          {
            "region": "UKD72"
          }
        ],
        "additionalClassifications": [
          {
            "id": "79100000",
            "scheme": "CPV",
            "description": "Legal services"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "title": "Academisation Legal Support",
    "status": "complete",
    "legalBasis": {
      "id": "32014L0024",
      "scheme": "CELEX"
    },
    "description": "Under section 5B of the Academies Act 2010 (as amended), Liverpool City Council has a statutory duty to take all reasonable steps to facilitate school academisation. This requires the Council to assist with the granting of land interests, typically via a lease, and the transfer of school assets, contracts, and staff.",
    "classification": {
      "id": "79100000",
      "scheme": "CPV",
      "description": "Legal services"
    },
    "procurementMethod": "limited",
    "mainProcurementCategory": "services",
    "procurementMethodDetails": "Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition",
    "procurementMethodRationale": "Due to the highly specialised nature of academy conversions and the strict deadlines imposed by the Secretary of State for Education, the Council appointed Womble Bond Dickinson Ltd for an initial 12-month period.\nWomble Bond Dickinson is currently managing two active conversions, making it technically and operationally infeasible to switch suppliers mid-process.",
    "procurementMethodRationaleClassifications": [
      {
        "id": "D_TECHNICAL",
        "scheme": "TED_PT_AWARD_CONTRACT_WITHOUT_CALL",
        "description": "The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator due to absence of competition for technical reasons"
      }
    ]
  },
  "parties": [
    {
      "id": "GB-FTS-145191",
      "name": "Liverpool City Council",
      "roles": [
        "buyer"
      ],
      "address": {
        "region": "UKD72",
        "locality": "Liverpool",
        "postalCode": "L31DS",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "streetAddress": "Cunard Building"
      },
      "details": {
        "url": "http://www.liverpool.gov.uk",
        "classifications": [
          {
            "id": "REGIONAL_AUTHORITY",
            "scheme": "TED_CA_TYPE",
            "description": "Regional or local authority"
          },
          {
            "id": "09",
            "scheme": "COFOG",
            "description": "Education"
          }
        ]
      },
      "identifier": {
        "legalName": "Liverpool City Council",
        "noIdentifierRationale": "notOnAnyRegister"
      },
      "contactPoint": {
        "name": "Ryan Stewart",
        "email": "commerical.procurement@liverpool.gov.uk"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "GB-COH-OC317661",
      "name": "Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP",
      "roles": [
        "supplier"
      ],
      "address": {
        "region": "UKI",
        "locality": "LONDON",
        "postalCode": "SE1 2AU",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "streetAddress": "4 MORE LONDON RIVERSIDE"
      },
      "details": {
        "scale": "large"
      },
      "identifier": {
        "id": "OC317661",
        "scheme": "GB-COH",
        "legalName": "Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "GB-FTS-4530",
      "name": "Liverpool City Council",
      "roles": [
        "reviewBody"
      ],
      "address": {
        "locality": "Liverpool",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom"
      },
      "identifier": {
        "legalName": "Liverpool City Council"
      }
    }
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "contracts": [
    {
      "id": "026704-2026-DN808826-1",
      "value": {
        "amount": 60000,
        "currency": "GBP"
      },
      "status": "active",
      "awardID": "026704-2026-DN808826-1",
      "dateSigned": "2026-03-24T00:00:00Z"
    }
  ],
  "initiationType": "tender"
}
Complete JSON history (1 releases)
24 Mar 2026 · 026704-2026 · award, contract
{
  "id": "026704-2026",
  "tag": [
    "award",
    "contract"
  ],
  "bids": {
    "statistics": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "value": 1,
        "measure": "bids",
        "relatedLot": "1"
      }
    ]
  },
  "date": "2026-03-24T11:28:23Z",
  "ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-067279",
  "buyer": {
    "id": "GB-FTS-145191",
    "name": "Liverpool City Council"
  },
  "awards": [
    {
      "id": "026704-2026-DN808826-1",
      "status": "active",
      "suppliers": [
        {
          "id": "GB-COH-OC317661",
          "name": "Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP"
        }
      ],
      "relatedLots": [
        "1"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "tender": {
    "id": "DN808826",
    "lots": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "status": "cancelled",
        "hasOptions": false,
        "description": "Under section 5B of the Academies Act 2010 (as amended), Liverpool City Council has a statutory duty to take all reasonable steps to facilitate school academisation. This requires the Council to assist with the granting of land interests, typically via a lease, and the transfer of school assets, contracts, and staff.",
        "awardCriteria": {
          "criteria": [
            {
              "type": "price"
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ],
    "items": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "relatedLot": "1",
        "deliveryAddresses": [
          {
            "region": "UKD72"
          }
        ],
        "additionalClassifications": [
          {
            "id": "79100000",
            "scheme": "CPV",
            "description": "Legal services"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "title": "Academisation Legal Support",
    "status": "complete",
    "legalBasis": {
      "id": "32014L0024",
      "scheme": "CELEX"
    },
    "description": "Under section 5B of the Academies Act 2010 (as amended), Liverpool City Council has a statutory duty to take all reasonable steps to facilitate school academisation. This requires the Council to assist with the granting of land interests, typically via a lease, and the transfer of school assets, contracts, and staff.",
    "classification": {
      "id": "79100000",
      "scheme": "CPV",
      "description": "Legal services"
    },
    "procurementMethod": "limited",
    "mainProcurementCategory": "services",
    "procurementMethodDetails": "Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition",
    "procurementMethodRationale": "Due to the highly specialised nature of academy conversions and the strict deadlines imposed by the Secretary of State for Education, the Council appointed Womble Bond Dickinson Ltd for an initial 12-month period.\nWomble Bond Dickinson is currently managing two active conversions, making it technically and operationally infeasible to switch suppliers mid-process.",
    "procurementMethodRationaleClassifications": [
      {
        "id": "D_TECHNICAL",
        "scheme": "TED_PT_AWARD_CONTRACT_WITHOUT_CALL",
        "description": "The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator due to absence of competition for technical reasons"
      }
    ]
  },
  "parties": [
    {
      "id": "GB-FTS-145191",
      "name": "Liverpool City Council",
      "roles": [
        "buyer"
      ],
      "address": {
        "region": "UKD72",
        "locality": "Liverpool",
        "postalCode": "L31DS",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "streetAddress": "Cunard Building"
      },
      "details": {
        "url": "http://www.liverpool.gov.uk",
        "classifications": [
          {
            "id": "REGIONAL_AUTHORITY",
            "scheme": "TED_CA_TYPE",
            "description": "Regional or local authority"
          },
          {
            "id": "09",
            "scheme": "COFOG",
            "description": "Education"
          }
        ]
      },
      "identifier": {
        "legalName": "Liverpool City Council",
        "noIdentifierRationale": "notOnAnyRegister"
      },
      "contactPoint": {
        "name": "Ryan Stewart",
        "email": "commerical.procurement@liverpool.gov.uk"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "GB-COH-OC317661",
      "name": "Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP",
      "roles": [
        "supplier"
      ],
      "address": {
        "region": "UKI",
        "locality": "LONDON",
        "postalCode": "SE1 2AU",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom",
        "streetAddress": "4 MORE LONDON RIVERSIDE"
      },
      "details": {
        "scale": "large"
      },
      "identifier": {
        "id": "OC317661",
        "scheme": "GB-COH",
        "legalName": "Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "GB-FTS-4530",
      "name": "Liverpool City Council",
      "roles": [
        "reviewBody"
      ],
      "address": {
        "locality": "Liverpool",
        "countryName": "United Kingdom"
      },
      "identifier": {
        "legalName": "Liverpool City Council"
      }
    }
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "contracts": [
    {
      "id": "026704-2026-DN808826-1",
      "value": {
        "amount": 60000,
        "currency": "GBP"
      },
      "status": "active",
      "awardID": "026704-2026-DN808826-1",
      "dateSigned": "2026-03-24T00:00:00Z"
    }
  ],
  "initiationType": "tender"
}