News story: Civil news: 2018 contracts tender timetable

We are opening tenders for new 2018 civil legal aid contracts across all categories in mid-September 2017.

This follows publication of the government’s policy consultation response to contract procurement proposals for the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme (HPCDS).

Face to face and CLA timetable

The tender process to procure new face to face and Civil Legal Advice (CLA) contracts will open in mid-September 2017.

The tender will be open for 8 weeks, closing in November.

We expect to notify bidders of the outcome of sucessful:

• face to face tenders in March 2018
• CLA tenders in May 2018

HPCDS timetable

The tender process for HPCDS contracts will follow on from a number of market engagement events which will run in August and September. Dates and locations will be confirmed shortly.

During August we will also engage the consultative bodies in a consultation on the proposed 2018 HPCDS contract.

The tender for HPCDS contracts will then open in October. It will run for 6 weeks before closing in November.

The LAA expects to notify bidders of the outcome of their tenders in June 2018.

Contract extensions

It will be necessary to extend current contracts beyond 31 March 2018 as follows:

• Some face to face and CLA telephone advice contracts – 5 month extension with new contracts starting 1 September 2018
• HPCDS schedules – 6 month extension with new contracts starting 1 October 2018

We will be writing to notify providers of the contract extensions in due course.

Further information

HPCDS Policy consultation process – government response

Legal aid civil tender 2018 – information for organisations interested in delivering face to face civil, and/or specialist legal advice by telephone from 2018.