ID 4789374 DoF - DSO Legal Services Framework

Departmental Solicitors Office (DSO) intends to establish a Framework Agreement for the provision of specified legal services within Northern Ireland, on behalf their clients, the NICS Department and Agencies. The list of participating bodies can be found within Annex A of the Framework Agreement Specification. DSO are the in-house legal provision for the NICS Departments and Agencies.

This framework will act as an overflow to the services provided by DSO. DSO and the Client is not obliged to procure services exclusively from this Framework Agreement and are free to either use their own in-house service provision, or to procure services outside this Framework Agreement. The Framework will be used on occasions where DSO is unable to provide the client Departments and Agencies with the legal support required within the client Departments’ required timescales or, for specific project work that DSO cannot facilitate within its existing resource.

On such occasions this Legal Services Framework will supplement the legal services supplied by DSO. The Framework Agreement will contain five (5) Lots for the provision of legal services as described in the Framework Agreement Specification. The three highest ranked tenderers for each of the 5 Lots will be awarded a place on the Framework Agreement (in the event there is an insufficient number of tenderers which satisfy the qualification criteria and pass the Assessment Criteria for each Lot, a Lot may be established with this lower number of tenderers).

Tenderers can tender for one, multiple, or all Lots. There is no restriction on the number of lots a tenderer may be appointed to; however a tenderer must have the capability and capacity to deliver all lots tendered for.