An official at the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), the body responsible for general government procurement, is currently meeting with panel firms on an individual basis.
The discussions are expected to give a forum to widespread dissatisfaction with Catalist, which was launched last year with claims that it would hand out £240m of legal fees over its four-year term.
A significant number of issues have been levelled at the Government body’s handling of the panel, with several firms including Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and DLA Piper understood to have last year met the OGC to raise initial concerns about the general tender process.
Crucially, despite being billed as a major improvement on its predecessor, the 32-firm L-Cat, many firms argue that Catalist has been a step backwards, failing to deliver the promised workflow or gain wider support from Government bodies.
It is also claimed that most firms have only seen small amounts of work through Catalist, despite calls for top City firms to join the roster, and that the expansion of the approved line-up is too large for the amount of work on offer.
Senior category specialist Jeff Cushion, who oversees Catalist for the OGC division OGCbuying.solutions, told Legal Week: “We want to meet as many firms as we can to discuss what is not working and how the framework can be used to best advantage.”
One partner at a panel firm told Legal Week: “There are three main issues: the inconsistent and onerous original tender process; the way the OGC runs the panel - they take 1% of fees and, frankly, they aren’t worth an inch of that; and, thirdly, how people use the panel, with many people poorly educated about how it works.”
Another partner added: “People are desperate to get traction. Panel firms are undercutting to win work and they just turn to the cheapest provider.”
However, Cushion defended Catalist and the decision to expand the number of firms from L-Cat, adding: “We need to ensure we represent the interests of all of the firms represented and not just the larger firms. We are still finding out how the framework is working.”
