Procurement of Legal Investigation and Advocacy Service in Fitness to Practise

The Authority is looking for two 2 Suppliers to deliver the following as part of the Service:

a. conduct further investigation and prepare cases for Fitness to Practise hearings or meetings;

b. undertake pre-hearing case management procedures in accordance with agreed performance targets and in collaboration with other parties to the hearing; and

c. ensure the presentation of cases before adjudicators at hearings (those hearings are predominantly carried out remotely using video conferencing software but can, on occasion, be in-person at our offices in Sheffield).

Over a period of 3 - 5 years, the Authority aims to work with the Suppliers to eliminate the current backlog of circa 400 cases awaiting a final hearing. By the end of this period, the intention is to have worked successfully in partnership with the Suppliers to both eliminate the backlog and to be managing a 'steady state' of circa 150 cases being processed per annum.

This contract has a maximum value of £40.9 million. Contract 1 and Contact 2 notice values of £20.45 million, represents an estimated allocation and is provided for indicative purposes only.