Contents What you have to do summary

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1 1 of 8 04/05/ :04 If you are having difficulty displaying this , click here to view online. March 2010 Issue 20 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 20 In this enews LSC Tendering Step by Step What you have to do - summary Pre-qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) Invitation to Tender - ITT 'Publishing' your bid Accreditation - update Subscribe Sign-up to receive Legal Aid enews by clicking on the link below and entering your address in the subscription form. Subscribe here Comment Click below to comment on any of the issues raised in this e-newsletter. [POST COMMENT] Links LSC Tendering Step by Step A Life Saving Guide around the LSC s etendering system This guide is intended to help you manage and prepare your tender for a legal aid contract it is not definitive and if you have any queries you are strongly recommended to check the LSC s Frequently Asked Questions or to get help from the BravoSolutions support team. Contents What you have to do summary 1. Register on the etendering portal 2. Register an interest in the Pre Qualification Questionnaire PQQ 3. Select the ITT(s) you are interested in 4. Common issues arising from the PQQ Invitation to Tender - ITT Documents you need to upload Supervisors Tender Form Essential criteria Selection Criteria Publishing your bid Accreditation update Archive Issue 19 December 22, 2009 Vol. 1 Issue 19 Issue 18 December 3, 2009 Vol. 1 Issue 18 Issue 17 November 6, 2009 Vol. 1 Issue 17 Issue 16 July 31, 2009 Vol. 1 Issue 16 To help firms who are applying for a legal aid contract, we have introduced an additional accreditation round. If you wish to register for the next round, simply notify us of your intention to apply, no later than 15th April 2010, by or on a form available from Central Office. The timetable is set out in full below. What you have to do - summary Step 1 Register on the etendering portal

2 egal Aid of 8 04/05/ :04 Issue 15 June 23, 2009 Vol. 1 Issue 15 Issue 14 March 13, 2009 Vol. 1 Issue 14 Issue 13 January 13, 2009 Vol. 1 Issue 13 Issue 12 November 21, 2008 Vol. 1 Issue 12 Issue 11 July 17, 2008 Vol. 1 Issue 11 Issue 10 April 30, 2008 Vol. 1 Issue 10 [MORE] It is well worth printing off the LSC s leaflets which include screen shots and brief descriptions of the most common technical processes you will need to register on the site and complete Pre-Qualification Questionnaires (PQQs) and Invitations to Tender (ITTs): QG01: Registering and logging in for the first time QG02: Creating additional users QG03: Responding to PQQs/ITTs QG04: Communicating with the LSC etendering team QG05: Downloading and uploading attachments You will need to get used to the way the website works. Often a page will appear to be blank, and you will need to click reply or edit response on the left hand side of the page before the page is enabled. You can complete the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) and Invitation to Tender (ITT) over a number of sessions, if you need to. As long as you save your work regularly, the system will retain the data you have put in. Step 2 Register an interest in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ), complete it and submit it ( publish in LSC terminology) You select pqq_7 - Pre Qualification Questionnaire 2010 Civil and Crime Contracts from the PQQs open to all suppliers option. There is more information about the PQQ below - click here. Step 3 Select the invitation(s) to tender you are interested in from the ITTs open to all suppliers option, or by clicking on the Projects button at the top left hand side of the page. When you have completed it, you submit it ( publish in LSC terminology) You will find the ITTs for Family law listed as Social Welfare Law and Family with the name of individual procurement area (e.g. London Borough of Camden). In addition, there are three national ITTs which some firms may be interested in itt_176 - Child Abduction Services in England and Wales itt_177 - Family Mediation Services in England and Wales itt_178 - Family Services Exclusively For Children There is more information about completing ITTs below - click here. You will need to read the Information for Applicants. It is a crucial information document. It tells you: About the services the LSC wants to procure How tenders will be assessed and Matter Starts awarded The selection criteria and the scoring scheme (in the annexes)

3 3 of 8 04/05/ :04 You can download it from the LSC s main website at: Pre-qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) You prepare a single response to the Pre-qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) regardless of the number of ITTs you are interested in, or the number of Offices you wish to deliver services from. The PQQ is generic and applies to all tenders, e.g. Crime, Mental Health, Family etc. You will get a warning that the PQQ must be submitted by the deadline for the next tender. So, for example, you will receive a warning that it must be submitted by 12 March, as that is the deadline for Crime and 31 March, as that is the deadline for Mental Health; but for Family (and social welfare law), the deadline is 21 April, as that is the deadline for the tender itself. The LSC has issued some answers to frequently asked questions on the PQQ that may deal with your queries. You can download it from: /crime_contracts_for_2010.asp Documents you need to upload Private Sector Application Form You should complete and upload Private Sector Application Form at section 1 question 6. It can be found if you click in the 'Buyer Attachments and Messages box towards the top left side of the screen. It is optional and will not be assessed as part of the bid; but the LSC would prefer you to submit it. You will have to supply the required information anyway under the 2010 Standard Contract. QM1 and Office Manual In section 8, you only need to complete and upload QM1 and your Office Manual if you are not already got Specialist Quality Mark (SQM) accreditation. If you have a contract, you will have the SQM, even though the LSC has not audited you for a number of years. Common issues arising from the PQQ Several questions refer to key personnel, these are defined in the Invitation to Tender (p. 61) as:.any person who has powers of representation, decision or control of an organisation including partners, directors and trustees. Section 1- Q3 Even though it does not tell you to, you should put 'not applicable' in the box. It will not let you 'publish' it unless you do. This seems to be an error on the form. Section 4 - Q3 "Do you confirm that there have been NO client and non-client complaints about the applicant organisation or any of its Key Personnel (irrespective of what organisation they were working for) that have been

4 4 of 8 04/05/ :04 referred to and upheld and sanctions applied by an external Regulatory Body / complaints body in the three-year period preceding the date of this PQQ?" Many firms have a complaint from a client that has been dealt with by the Legal Complaints Service. However, even if upheld, it is unusual for sanctions to be applied. Sanctions would be applied by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. You only need to report complaints which have been upheld AND sanctions applied. If you are in any doubt about whether sanctions have been applied you should check with the Solicitors Regulation Authority Section 4 - Q8 "Do you confirm that there have been NO claims of professional negligence made against the applicant organisation or in relation to the work of any of the Key Personnel (irrespective of what organisation they were working for) in the three-year period preceding the date of this PQQ which resulted either in a judgment against the applicant organisation or its Key Personnel or were settled out of court (or the organisation for which they were working)?" Again, many firms have received an allegation of negligence; but you only have to declare claims where there is a judgment or an out of court settlement. If compensation has been paid at an early stage and no proceedings issued, it would not be considered to be 'settled out of court'. Section 5 - Qs 3, 5, 7 You need to enter details in the boxes (e.g. name of insurer, policy number, level of cover, date of expiry). Section 6 - Q19 You need to enter your firm s Information Commissioner s Office registration number. Section 8 - Q6 Even though it does not tell you to, you should put 'not applicable' in the box. It will not let you 'publish' it unless you do. This seems to be an error on the form. Publishing the form It is important to check that all documents have uploaded correctly. You will be able to see the file names in the boxes. You will also be able to open the files from the boxes on the form and then re-load them. When you click the publish button, it will tell you that there are no attachments; but as long as you are sure they were uploaded you do not need to worry. This is due to a technical issue. You will receive an confirming that the PQQ has been received. Invitation to Tender - ITT You need to prepare a separate response for each Invitation to Tender (ITT) you are interested in. So, if you have offices in more than one procurement area, you will need to submit more than one ITT. Similarly,

5 5 of 8 04/05/ :04 if you want to bid for a Mediation Contract or Child Abduction work as well as work covered under the tenders for private and public Family law, you would need to submit additional ITTs. Documents you need to upload Supervisor Self Declaration Form(s) (in section 1a). See below for more information about supervisors. Tender Form (in section 2). See below for more information about the Tender Form. Supervisors Having a supervisor by October 2010 is an essential requirement. You need 1 full time supervisor (or part time supervisors doing 35 hours a week between them) to every 6 fee earners who do not qualify as supervisors. People who have the following accreditation qualify as supervisors: Law Society Family Panel Law Society Children Panel Resolution Accredited Specialist There is a distinction between people who meet the supervisor requirements and other accreditation which may score you points under the selection criteria, see below. Tender Form You must complete one of these forms per ITT providing information about each office from which you intend to deliver services (including the number of Matter Starts you wish to bid for and deliver from the office). It can be found in the Buyer Attachments tab towards the top left of the ITT screen on the etendering website. There is a very useful guidance paper on how to complete it in the Other Procurement Documents section in the box on the right hand side of the page at You have to state: Matter Starts to be delivered from each office Whether you would like an allocation for tolerance work Any existing LSC account number for the Office Office address Names of staff that will deliver LSC services from each office or whether posts are vacant Whether individuals are supervisors or caseworkers The information about staff relates to the hours and the roles of staff delivering work at that particular office. For example, if a full time staff member staff will work half their time in one office and half in another, you would enter their details in the forms for each office, giving their time as 17.5 hours (half a full FTE week of at least 35 hours) in both cases. The form will automatically calculate the FTE of every staff member for whom details are provided based on the number of hours per week entered. If you have vacant posts, you type vacant into the Name field and chose the appropriate description for the person you hope to recruit, e.g. supervisor. Essential criteria

6 6 of 8 04/05/ :04 There are seven essential criteria. You have to answer them before you can answer the selection criteria. Most of them require a yes answer but question 3 is different. It asks whether you have had a confirmed Peer Review rating of 4 or 5 in the Family Category of Law since 26 February Since a score of 4 or 5 means you have failed peer review, the answer that meets this criterion is no. If you have not had a peer review at all, answer no. If you have had a peer review score of 3 or better answer no. A peer review score is 'confirmed' once any representations have been submitted, the appeal has been heard, any follow up peer review conducted and the outcome notified to you. So, if you have had one score of 4, you can still answer no as long as you have not had a subsequent peer review with a 4 (or 5) result. Selection criteria The selection criteria will be used to distinguish between bids when the LSC receives bids for more NMS than are available. They apply at individual office level and you need to answer the selection criteria questions for each office. The LSC will award contracts first to those who score highest. If they are big firms with lots of fee earners they could, in theory at least, take all the matter starts for a procurement area. You can gain some information about the possible strength of the competition by considering the Procurement Plan for your area. This will tell you whether the LSC is making more or less matter starts available than August 2008 September 2009 and how many firms might be interested in bidding (although you should bear in mind that new firms may want to bid as well). Procurement Plans can be downloaded from: You should score your bid. If you get maximum points, you will get a contract. You may get less than the matter starts you bid for, as the LSC may allocate matter starts on a pro rata basis. There is more information about this in the Information for Applicants. If you do not score maximum points, you may get a contract; but that is subject to local competition and is not certain. If you do not get maximum points, you should consider whether there is anything you can do to improve your score. You cannot respond to the selection criteria questions on the Tender Form until the essential criteria are answered and you have filled in office details. You must respond to the selection criteria confirming how each of your offices meets each of the selection criteria in a particular procurement area or access point. Details provided for each office constitute an Individual Bid. Most are generic to all ITTs; but some selection criteria are additional and relate to a particular ITT. 'Publishing' your bid You may want to wait until after the LSC publishes the final Q&As relating to the tender before you consider your bid completed. An answer

7 7 of 8 04/05/ :04 might be relevant to your bid. However, the LSC says that you can change your answers, even after the bid has been published, right up to the close of the tender. The closing date and time for submitting bids is 12 noon on Friday 21 April Don t leave it to the last minute to submit your bid you could have a power cut or lose your internet connection! After you publish your response to the ITT, you will receive an confirming that it has been received. However, if you amend your bid after you have submitted it, you will not get any further acknowledgement. Accreditation - update To help firms who are applying for a legal aid contract, we have introduced an additional accreditation round. If you apply in this round you will be able to claim the additional point on the tender. If you are already accredited, but want to add domestic abuse to your existing specialist portfolios, you can apply for an additional specialism. If you wish to register for the next round, simply notify us of your intention to apply, no later than 15th April 2010, by or on a form available from Central Office. Full details are available by contacting Lisa Ribbens lisa.ribbens@resolution.org.uk The timetable 15th April th April th May th May st July th July 2010 Deadline to notify central office of your interest Prospectus and application form sent out Deadline to return application form Part 2 portfolio papers sent out Part 1 core assignment sent out Deadline for return of all papers If you are a solicitor or FILEX with 5 years or more PQE and you have done at least 550 hours a year family law case work in each of the past 3 years you can apply to become accredited. If you are a solicitor or FILEX with 2 years PQE and you have done at least 600 hours family law case work over the last 2 years you can apply to take Part 1 in this round and then take Part 2 when you have been qualified for 5 years and satisfy the casework criteria. For publicly funded work the 15% uplift will still apply to work done on a time and item basis in other words, exceptional cases that escape the fixed fee and work that is outside the fixed fee schemes. And for the next three years the LSC is continuing to reimburse the application fee to successful candidates. Published by Resolution Legal Aid e-news is a free newsletter offering relevant news, information, training and best-practice tips relating to legal aid. The publication is provided for informational purposes only. Resolution makes no warranties as to the TELL A FRIEND

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