Public procurement solicitors

Anthony Collins’ public procurement specialists give clients the technical assurance needed to interpret the Procurement Act 2023 and the Provider Selection Regime with confidence, implementing procurement processes that achieve the best outcomes for public benefit. We help commissioners when they are faced with challenges to their procurement processes, and also advise suppliers when they are unhappy with the way that a procurement process has been conducted. We assist clients navigate use of frameworks set up regionally and nationally as well as establish their own.

Public procurement disputes can disrupt essential services, delay major projects and expose organisations to significant legal, financial and reputational risk. Anthony Collins’ procurement disputes solicitors advise public bodies and businesses delivering public contracts on procurement challenges, contract management disputes and complex delivery issues, helping clients resolve conflict early where possible and act decisively where formal proceedings are needed.

Strategic support for commissioners and suppliers

Anthony Collins has a large team of procurement solicitors with specialisms in local government, health and social care and housing. The demands on these key sectors are high, as they all seek to achieve the best services, housing and care possible for all people. This means that we make it our business to know the context within which a procurement is planned, we are practical in achieving the right route forwards and our advice is grounded in a clear grasp of the powers and duties of councils, and the governance of both housing and social care providers (including their regulatory regimes).

We like to be involved advising clients throughout the entire commissioning cycle, from before early market engagement through to contract award and post-award contract management, because we bring value and perspective across each point of the process. We particularly believe in embedding social value requirements into the core of a contract (for example specifying targeted employment and training deliverables), rather than as ancillary add-ons.

Contact our procurement solicitors for guidance today

Procurement strategy, planning and process

From early-stage planning to contract management, our public procurement solicitors help organisations design clear, compliant and commercially effective procurement strategies that support wider organisational goals, and reduce the risk of challenge.

Our expert public procurement solicitors can help your team with:

• If you are a contracting authority, aligning procurement strategies with your wider corporate plan to ensure that any activity supports the purpose of your organisation
• An understanding of the processes that you have to go through, from business case to contract completion and management, in setting clear expectations, KPIs and standards for evaluating tenders and managing contracts
• Insight on how you are best structured as an organisation or group both in terms of the public services that you provide and the commercial activities that you engage in, for example through trading companies (e.g. LATCOs) and in developing a mixed economy of service provision
• If you are engaged in capital programmes, such as social and affordable housing or an important public facility, how you navigate whether to treat the entire project as a land transaction – with the bear traps that this entails – or as a public works contract with an accessible, flexible procedure designed for the moment
• If a commissioner, fire-proofing your process so that the risk of successful challenge is managed successfully including defending claims
• If a provider, not only entering contracts or making procurement challenges, but also assisting through the tender process, with a watching and guiding brief
• If you are a framework operator, how to develop the most attractive and viable processes possible for attracting commissioners and suppliers alike, within the legal parameters now set out in the Procurement Act 2023

Contact our procurement solicitors for guidance today

Resolving procurement disputes in the most cost-effective way

Public procurement disputes can disrupt essential services, delay major projects and expose organisations to significant legal, financial and reputational risk. Anthony Collins’ procurement disputes solicitors advise public bodies and sector-focused organisations on procurement challenges, contract management disputes and complex delivery issues, helping clients resolve conflict early where possible and act decisively where formal proceedings are needed.

About procurement disputes

Procurement disputes arise when the process of awarding, managing, varying or ending a public contract is challenged or begins to break down. For local authorities, housing providers, charities, education bodies and health and social care organisations, those disputes rarely sit in isolation. They often affect service continuity, governance, stakeholder confidence and long-term operational planning.

Disputes can arise at every stage of the contract lifecycle, from tender design and bidder challenges through to contract performance, modification, termination and re-procurement. Under the Procurement Act 2023, contracting authorities also face detailed transparency and notice obligations during pre-tender, award and contract management stages, increasing the importance of legally robust processes and clear decision-making.

Anthony Collins advises organisations on procurement disputes from a resolution-first perspective. Where issues can be resolved through early engagement, negotiation or mediation, that is always the preferred route. Where formal challenge, adjudication, litigation or urgent court action is required, the team is fully prepared to act.

How our procurement disputes solicitors can help

Anthony Collins’ procurement dispute lawyers advise on the full range of procurement disputes and contract management issues affecting public and regulated organisations. The team supports clients both in bringing and defending challenges, combining public procurement, construction, governance and sector insight to help organisations make sound decisions under pressure.

Our procurement disputes service covers:

• Bid and award challenges
• Advice on procurement design, process risk and evaluation issues
• Procurement Act 2023 compliance, including notice and transparency requirements
• Contract modification, change control and termination disputes
• Supplier performance and contract management disputes
• Re-procurement strategy and transition disputes
• Urgent advice on injunctive relief, standstill and challenge risk
• Procurement disputes linked to major projects, regeneration, infrastructure and outsourced service delivery